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<DIV style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial'; COLOR: #000000; FONT-SIZE: 18pt"><FONT
face="Times New Roman"><FONT style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Please take advantage of
this easy way to provide public comment concerning<BR>air travel for people with
disabilities.<BR><BR><BR><BR>Eric<BR><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR>FOR RELEASE: Monday,
Sept. 19, 2011<BR><BR>Contact: Kathleen Corcorabn<BR><BR>Phone: (703)
299-6738<BR></FONT></FONT><FONT style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><A
href="mailto:kmc327@cornell.edu"><FONT
face="Times New Roman">kmc327@cornell.edu</FONT></A><BR><BR><FONT
face="Times New Roman">Cornell e-Rulemaking Initiative's Regulation Room
Bolsters Public<BR>Participation in New Department of Transportation Proposals
Affecting Air<BR>Travelers with Disabilities<BR><BR>ITHACA, N.Y. - The Cornell
University e-Rulemaking Initiative (CeRI) and the<BR>Department of
Transportation (DOT) are working together to make it easier<BR>for the public to
comment on proposed new federal regulations requiring air<BR>travel websites and
airport check-in kiosks to be fully accessible to<BR>travelers with
disabilities.<BR><BR>The U.S. Census Bureau estimates there are more than 15
million adults in<BR>the United States with vision, auditory, or mobility
disabilities. About 30<BR>percent of adults with disabilities travel by air, and
the DOT expects this<BR>number to rise if it were easier to buy tickets and
other services online,<BR>and to check-in using kiosks. Airlines and online
travel agencies have<BR>argued, however, that the costs of achieving full
accessibility are too<BR>great.<BR><BR>Travelers with disabilities, web
designers, usability experts, and others<BR>with an interest in this proposal
can use CeRI's online participation site,<BR>Regulation Room (</FONT><A
href="http://www.regulationroom.org"><FONT
face="Times New Roman">www.regulationroom.org</FONT></A><FONT
face="Times New Roman">), to get easy-to-read explanations<BR>of the proposal,
look at the cost and benefit estimates, and discuss how the<BR>proposal could be
improved. Then, CeRI will summarize the discussion on<BR>Regulation Room and
submit it as a public comment that DOT will consider in<BR>finalizing the
accessibility regulations.<BR><BR>"The Department's partnership with the Cornell
eRulemaking Initiative makes<BR>it easier than ever for the public to comment on
our proposed rules," said<BR>U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. "I
encourage everyone interested<BR>in our proposed website and kiosk accessibility
to share their thoughts on<BR>the user-friendly Regulation Room
site."<BR><BR>"CeRI and DOT are both committed to getting more of the public
involved<BR>meaningfully in the rulemaking process, and we believe that
Regulation Room<BR>efforts so far have been quite successful," said Cynthia
Farina, Professor<BR>of Law and CeRI principal researcher. "We are especially
excited about<BR>doing the air travel accessibility rule. DOT needs help from
travelers with<BR>disabilities and from others with practical experience in
accessible design<BR>to answer many questions the Department has about creating
reliable,<BR>cost-effective standards for websites and kiosks."<BR><BR>This is
the fourth rulemaking in which DOT and CeRI are using Regulation<BR>Room to make
it easier for ordinary people to participate effectively in<BR>important
government policy decisions. "We look forward to again providing<BR>an open,
transparent, and collaborative forum for people to have their<BR>voices heard on
an important federal policy initiative," said Professor<BR>Farina.<BR><BR>The
Cornell e-Rulemaking Initiative (CeRI) is a multidisciplinary
research<BR>collaboration bringing together Cornell University faculty and
students from<BR>Computing and Information Science, Law, and the Scheinman
Institute on<BR>Conflict Resolution. Working with legal informatics
professionals at the<BR>Legal Information Institute at Cornell Law School
(law.cornell.edu), CeRI<BR>researchers consult with government agencies on, and
engage in theoretical<BR>and applied research about, the technology and practice
of e-rulemaking and<BR>related areas of e-government.<BR><BR>Regulation Room
(</FONT><A href="http://www.regulationroom.org"><FONT
face="Times New Roman">www.regulationroom.org</FONT></A><FONT
face="Times New Roman">) is a CeRI pilot project that<BR>provides an online
environment for people and groups to learn about,<BR>discuss, and react to
selected rules proposed by federal agencies.<BR>Contributions become part of a
formal public comment prepared by CeRI<BR>researchers and submitted to the
federal agency for use in preparation of a<BR>final ruling. Regulation Room is
supported by grants from the National<BR>Science Foundation, Google, and the IBM
Center for the Business of<BR>Government.<BR><BR>Regulation Room on Facebook:
</FONT><A href="http://www.facebook.com/regulationroom"><FONT
face="Times New Roman">http://www.facebook.com/regulationroom</FONT></A><BR><BR><FONT
face="Times New Roman">Regulation Room on Twitter: </FONT></FONT><A
href="http://twitter.com/regulationroom"><FONT face="Times New Roman"><FONT
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">http://twitter.com/regulationroom</FONT></FONT></A><BR><BR></DIV></DIV></BODY></HTML>