[rsva-l] ALERT!--Justice Department, Congress, Advance ADA and Web Accessibility

[Ardis Bazyn]

ALERT!--Justice Department, Congress, Advance ADA and Web
Accessibility
----- Original Message -----
From: AFB DirectConnect
To: AFB Subscriber
Sent: Monday, April 19, 2010 12:32 PM
Subject: ALERT!--Justice Department, Congress, Advance ADA and
Web Accessibility

ALERT!--With Milestone Justice Department and Congressional
Action,
ADA and Web Accessibility to Proudly Take Center Stage

For further information, contact:

Mark Richert, Esq.
Director, Public Policy, AFB
(202) 822-0833
mrichert at afb.net

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.

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.

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.

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.

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
afbgov at afb.net.

Ardis Bazyn
For inspirational speaking, business coaching, or writing: 
www.bazyncommunications.com
newsletter: http://www.bazyncommunications.com/newsletter.php
Blog: abazyn.blogspot.com
Ask about Yoga cd package especially for blind and visually impaired