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1993-06-04
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American Council of the Blind
1155 15th Street, NW, Suite 720
Washington, D.C. 20005
phone: (202) 467-5081
toll-free: 1-800-424-8666
June 4, 1993
FROM THE DISK OF PAUL W. SCHROEDER
Director of Governmental Affairs
TO: Members of an Informal ACB Network on Telecommunications
RE: Initial Information
I am sending you this disk(s) because at some time you have
identified yourself to me as being interested in computerized
information and telecommunication issues. I hope I have included
material with this mailing to stimulate your interest and
interaction. I believe the digitization of information and
networking of computers across telephone lines and other
telecommunications delivery media will be a tremendous leap
forward in increasing the independence and productivity of blind
people. However, I need your technical expertise and your help
in identifying other ACB members who should be brought into this
informal network.
Policy-makers at the state and national level are wrestling with
the possibilities afforded by high-speed computer communications
and digitization of information. Several bills have been
introduced into Congress to stimulate these advances. Several
groups are working on policy statements and other material to
help move the public policy on telecommunications forward. ACB
is active in several of these groups including: the Consortium
for Citizens with disabilities, the Alliance for Public
Technology and the Electronic Frontiers Foundation Forum on
Telecommunications.
Many of you have far more technical expertise in the use of
computers, computer programming, communications networks (such as
CompuServe, GE-NIE, and America Online), data manipulation and
management and telecommunications equipment than I do. I would
like to help channel our expertise within ACB into the public
policy framework so that we can ensure that our needs will be met
as part of the new "communications revolution."
On this disk(s) you will find the following documents in both
wordperfect (WP) and ASCII (TXT) formats:
NETWORK The list of individuals to whom this material has been
sent so far. Please let me know if additional individuals should
be included.
PRINCIPLE a short document which contains the first draft of
telecommunication principles developed by the Consortium for
Citizens with Disabilities Task Force on Telecommunications,
which I Co-chair. This draft is in the process of being amended
and I welcome your views on whether this list is adequate as a
guide to help policy makers change telecommunications policy so
as to expand access for people with disabilities.
VISION A paper developed by the Alliance for Public Technology
(of which ACB is a member along with other education and public
interest groups) which stresses the benefits of high-speed
computer communication over fiber optic networks.
FRONTIER A draft statement of principles to guide policy reform
in telecommunications developed by the Electronic Frontiers
Foundation, an organization begun by some of the big names in
software developments.
HR1757 Legislation sponsored by Rep. Rick Boucher (D-VA) to help
foster the development of communications networks. This
legislation is expected to be amended very soon to include some
disability-access provisions requested by the CCD Task Force and
others.
OWENS The testimony by Rep. Major Owens (D-NY) who spoke to
Boucher's Subcommittee about the need for provisions important
for people with disabilities and other minorities.
CLINTON A document prepared by the CCD Task Force on
Telecommunications which was included with material distributed
to the Clinton transition team. It provides some useful vision
of what people with disabilities might wish to achieve in
telecommunications policy.
RESOLUTIONS A few ACB resolutions which speak to the
telecommunications issues.
AGREEMENT The text of the agreement which ACB and other
disability organizations negotiated with representatives of the
Regional Bell Operating Companies (RBOC) to require that new
telecommunications equipment and services designed or provided by
the RBOCs would be accessible to people with disabilities.
FORUM1 An article from the March Braille Forum on the Alliance
for Public Technology paper;
FORUM2 An article from the June Braille Forum which address the
Boucher bill.
FORUM3 An editorial relating to our expectations and the
possibilities afforded by telecommunications and other
communications policy.
CQTCOM A collection of a few articles from Congressional
Quarterly's Weekly Report which may help put some of this into
perspective.
TERMS A glossary of some of the oft-mentioned terms in the
telecommunications debate.
Reading This Material, Priorities
I suggest that you consider the following files in this mailing
to be of higher priority. Some of the remaining files are really
more reference or background material.
Priority list: CLINTON, FRONTIER, CQTCOM, FORUM1, FORUM2,
PRINCIPLE AND VISION.
Housekeeping
Please let me know if you wish to continue receiving this kind of
information. Second, let me know what format is best for you,
e.g., electronic file (disk size and density, WP or ASCII), or
Braille. I assume that most of you can and do use electronic
files or you wouldn't be interested in this information. Also,
please let me know if you will be attending the National
Convention and if you would be interested in setting aside an
hour or so to talk about these issues.
Expectations
It is my hope that ACB can become much more active on the
telecommunications issue. The Clinton-Gore Administration has
shown an interest in moving our nation forward in terms of
communication of volumes of information over computer networks.
This "communications revolution" could be of tremendous benefit
to blind people, but several unresolved questions may impede or
otherwise decrease the benefit. Some of these factors include:
1. Inertia--who will be responsible for the development of high-
speed, high-volume communication networks and who will be able to
provide the electronic information to be distributed over the
networks?
2. How much should the equipment required for use of the
networks cost? And likewise, how should the cost of services
and information made available on the network be determined and
allocated? Should government regulate these costs, subsidize
these costs, or should the free market do the job? Should
government build the communication networks?
3. How can accessibility of the network equipment and services
be ensured for people with disabilities such as blindness?
4. Is excessive corporate control of the networks, services and
information a problem? As the telephone companies and the Cable
TV companies begin to cooperate and merge to provide Cable, video
and voice services, some are concerned that access to the network
for "public interest, or nonmainstream providers of information
will be limited. Others are concerned that unregulated corporate
control of networks, services and information will result in
costly or inappropriate or confusing gaps or mazes in accessing
network services.
5. How will standards and protocols which allow users and
providers to communicate and interact across various networks and
using different kinds of equipment be developed?
Issues
Some of the above questions are probably not under our control.
However, we certainly must make our voice heard and we must
ensure that our specific concerns are met. We must also be among
the leaders in demanding affordable, accessible and comprehensive
communications networks as an appropriate public policy. Here
are a couple of initial issues which I believe we must examine.
1. Appropriate access standards should be developed so that
information providers and users can use communications networks
with ease and without barriers because of disabling conditions;
2. Policy must be developed to ensure that manufacturers of
communications equipment, designers and owners of
telecommunications networks and information provider all meet
comprehensive and appropriate access standards. Access
requirements and standards must apply to customer equipment, the
network itself and the service(s) or information distributed.
3. Policies must be established to ensure the affordability of
both communications equipment (especially if specialized
adaptations are necessary for people with disabilities), and the
services and information provided over networks (subscription
charges);
4. Individuals must be ensured of full user capability to
retrieve, search, store and otherwise use information in the most
convenient form.
Again, I hope this first selection of material is helpful. I
will try to gather more information for you and I hope to enlist
your support in designing public policy which will enable blind
people to become fully integrated into the information age.