[nfbmi-talk] just wht I thought about these new regs too

Wed Nov 20 17:00:46 UTC 2013

I am very glad that Dr. Maurer has taken this affirmative action, speaking out against the Obama administration's intentional act which will result in the continuation of second-class status for those of us who are blind.  

Christine

On Nov 19, 2013, at 12:05 PM, joe harcz Comcast <joeharcz at comcast.net> wrote:

> Skies are still unfriendly for the blind
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> By Marc Maurer - 11/18/13 09:00 AM EST
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> The Wednesday before Thanksgiving is usually the busiest travel day of the year, so most planning to fly home for the holidays are prepared for high fares,
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> long lines, and potentially substandard service. Thankfully, passengers have ways to prepare for the complications – compare fares online to get the lowest
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> rate, monitor flight delays using mobile apps, print boarding passes ahead of time, and check bags using the kiosk – but the blind and other disabled passengers
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> are denied access to these services.
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> 
> 
> And after years of being relegated to a second-class travel experience, the Obama administration has released a rule that will allow this inequality to
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> continue for years to come. No one would tolerate the nightmare of holiday travel for every flying experience. Why should the blind?
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> 
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> According to the Air Carrier Access Act (ACAA), we do not have to. The ACAA prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability in air travel and requires
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> air carriers to accommodate passengers with disabilities. Although the ability to make technology accessible to people with disabilities has existed for
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> many years, most air carrier and travel websites are completely inaccessible to people with disabilities, and so are the kiosks available as an alternative
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> to long lines at the curb and ticket counters.
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> 
> 
> In 2008, the Obama administration acknowledged this inequality as a violation of the ACAA, and blind Americans have been waiting for five years for a solution.
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> The much-anticipated final rule was released last week, and we are profoundly disappointed. The rule takes only a fraction of the measures that were initially
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> proposed, and establishes a timeline so liberal (read: slack) that the technology will likely be obsolete when carriers are finished making changes.
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> 
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> The Obama administration waited far too long to take action, and then released a meaningless rule.  It would have been better for the administration to
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> do nothing – this weak rule sets a bad precedent that will drive future disability regulations throughout the federal government.  This is a terrible setback
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> for disabled Americans.
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> 
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> Technology offers more than just convenience: it can create opportunities to expand the circle of participation. For example, consider how airlines display
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> departure and arrival information. First, the information was on tablets displayed behind the ticket counter. Later, digital screens provided a streamlined
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> and frequently updated presentation of information on multiple flights across multiple airlines. Now, live information is instantly available online and
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> on your phone. The first two ways of disseminating information are inherently inaccessible to those who cannot read print, but disseminating information
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> electronically over websites or mobile apps allows blind people to have the same instant access to flight data as everyone else.
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> 
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> This opportunity is missed when airlines refuse to make their websites and apps accessible to users with disabilities, despite readily available solutions.
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> Guidelines to make websites accessible have been available since the 1990s, and the most up-to-date set of criteria, known as “WCAG 2.0 AA,” has been around
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> since 2008.  The WCAG 2.0 AA guidelines are flexible prescriptions for web designers to make content accessible, but most airlines have resisted following
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> them. The same organization of experts that created these guidelines released best practices for mobile apps, but those have also been widely ignored.
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> The rule requires airlines to make websites WCAG 2.0 AA compliant, but gives them two years to make only web pages with “core travel services” accessible.
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> The rule allows an extra year for airlines to fix the rest of their sites.  Why offer three years for airlines to incorporate five-year-old solutions?
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> Even more puzzling, the rule excludes apps, mobile websites, and travel agent sites.
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> 
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> The rule also gives airlines an appalling ten years to make only twenty-five percent of kiosks at each location accessible. This means disabled passengers
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> have to wait an entire decade for only a quarter of kiosks to be usable.
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> 
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> Technology changes so fast that by the time the government mandates accessibility, the technology in question has evolved into a new product or been replaced
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> with a new innovation.  When airlines finally update their web pages in three years, most passengers will be using mobile apps. When airlines finally update
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> their self-service machines in ten years, kiosks may be obsolete. Maybe then the federal government will take action on mobile apps, and the cycle of delayed
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> “access” will continue.
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> 
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> Those flying this Thanksgiving will do a lot of waiting; at the security line, at the gate, and on the tarmac. Disabled passengers have spent years waiting
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> for access to the same services as non-disabled passengers, and now the Obama administration is telling us to wait longer. We are tired of waiting. The
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> government must end this discrimination by amending this rule so the timeline makes sense and the access is not partial, spotty, or incomplete, but fully
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> available to all. Until then, the only thing I will be giving thanks for is the option to take a train.
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> 
> 
> Maurer is president of the National Federation of the Blind (NFB). With 50,000 members, the NFB is the largest and oldest nationwide organization of blind
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> people.
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> 
> 
> The Hill
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> 
> 
> Source:
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> http://thehill.com/opinion/op-ed/190436-skies-are-still-unfriendly-for-the-blind
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