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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2> Hi, all.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>For your information.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Jim Sofka.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message -----
<DIV style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; font-color: black"><B>From:</B> <A
title=mrichert@afb.net href="mailto:mrichert@afb.net">AFB DirectConnect</A>
</DIV>
<DIV><B>To:</B> <A title=afbweb@afb.net href="mailto:afbweb@afb.net">AFB
Subscriber</A> </DIV>
<DIV><B>Sent:</B> Monday, April 19, 2010 12:32 PM</DIV>
<DIV><B>Subject:</B> ALERT!--Justice Department, Congress, Advance ADA and Web
Accessibility</DIV></DIV>
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<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center" <b>ALERT!--With Milestone Justice Department and
Congressional Action,<BR>ADA and Web Accessibility to Proudly Take Center
Stage</B></P><BR><BR>For further information, contact:<BR><BR>Mark Richert,
Esq.<BR>Director, Public Policy, AFB<BR>(202) 822-0833<BR><A
href="mailto:mrichert@afb.net">mrichert@afb.net</A><BR><BR>Assistant Attorney
General for Civil Rights, Tom Parez, confirmed late last week that the
long-awaited refresh of the Justice Department’s Americans with Disabilities Act
(ADA) regulations pertaining to state and local government and public
accommodations will, when published soon, include provisions bringing greater
clarity to the ADA’s applicability to e-commerce. The new rules are expected to
favorably resolve, among other things, the question of whether retailers and
other public accommodations doing business exclusively online must ensure the
accessibility of their online premises to people with disabilities.
<BR><BR>Advocates will recall that AFB coordinated the vision loss and
disability community’s response to the Justice Department’s proposed ADA rules
to call on the Department to address this critical issue and to promulgate rules
with more meaningful impact on the wider availability of accessible electronic
and information technologies used and offered by government and public
accommodations. The call for such modernization of federal rules was most
recently joined by the Federal Communications Commission’s own National
Broadband Plan which specifically urges the Justice Department and other federal
agencies to undertake these significant improvements.<BR><BR>The Assistant
Attorney General’s announced commitment came simultaneously with an announcement
by the House Judiciary Committee, Subcommittee on the Constitution, to hold a
hearing this Thursday, April 22 entitled Achieving the Promise of the Americans
with Disabilities Act in the Digital Age: Current Issues, Challenges, and
Opportunities. The hearing is intended to highlight the relevance of the ADA to
technology and Internet accessibility generally and to further build the record
for the expected Justice Department rulemaking. <BR><BR>Confirmed witnesses to
testify at the hearing include Mark Richert, AFB Policy Director, Judy Brewer,
Web Accessibility Initiative, and Dan Goldstein, Brown, Goldstein and Levy,
counsel representing the National Federation of the Blind in its litigation
against Target for failure to make Target.com accessible to people who are
blind.<BR><BR>Advocates willing to share personal stories about the impact of
Internet accessibility or inaccessibility in daily life and who are willing to
have such short personal stories considered for inclusion in the official
hearing record of AFB’s testimony are encouraged to email such content, no more
than the equivalent of one-half printed page, to <A
href="mailto:afbgov@afb.net">afbgov@afb.net</A>.<BR>
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