Welcome to the Washington Connection, the legislative and information service of the American Council of the Blind. The Washington Connection is brought to you by the ACB national office. If you have any questions or comments on the information provided, don’t hesitate to contact us and ask to speak with Swatha Nandhakumar.
The Washington Connection is updated any time we have new information to share with you. The following articles are available as of October 15, 2024. Messages 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 7 are new.
• New! Sen. Markey, Rep. Eshoo Applaud FCC Vote Advancing Video Conference Accessibility Features
• New! Family Seating on Airplanes
• New! ACB’s Comments for the Access Board’s Hearing on Artificial Intelligence
• New! Justice Department Sues LA Fitness for Disability Discrimination at Its Gyms
• New! Social Security Announces 2.5 Percent Benefit Increase for 2025
• Access Board and AI
• New! Justice Department Sues Virginia for Violating Federal Law’s Prohibition on Systematic Efforts to Remove Voters Within 90 Days of an Election
• Website and Software Application Accessibility Act: ACB Needs Your Stories
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Sen. Markey, Rep. Eshoo Applaud FCC Vote Advancing Video Conference Accessibility Features
WASHINGTON, Sept. 26, 2024 – Sen. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), a member of the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee and author of the 21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act (CVAA), and Rep. Anna G. Eshoo (D-Calif.), senior member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, today applauded the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) vote to approve rules to strengthen accessibility standards across video conferencing platforms.
“Today’s FCC vote is a critical step toward bringing our digital accessibility rules into the modern era,” said Senator Markey. “These new requirements — which mirror the proposal in the Communications, Video, and Technology Accessibility Act — will ensure platforms have essential accessibility features, such as accurate captioning tools and third-party sign language interpretation and will allow users to customize accessibility features to meet their individual needs. Thanks to today’s FCC action, people with disabilities will have better access to video conferencing services that are critical for work, education, health care, and keeping in touch with loved ones. I thank Chairwoman Rosenworcel for her leadership on accessibility issues and congratulate all the advocates for their work to make video conferencing platforms accessible for everyone. I continue to call upon my colleagues in Congress to pass the Communications, Video, and Technology Accessibility Act, which would provide critical updates to our accessibility laws to keep pace with emerging technologies. Accessibility should never be an afterthought.”
“Technology has evolved rapidly over the last two decades and much of our economy and day-to-day lives have moved online, but unfortunately accessibility standards have stayed largely the same. Video conferencing and video streaming platforms used every day are not required to have audio descriptions or closed captions, leaving people with disabilities unable to use these tools that are essential to learn, work, connect with loved ones, and access critical services,” said Rep. Eshoo. “I applaud the FCC’s actions to increase access for people with disabilities. Congress should pass the Communications, Video, and Technology Accessibility Act to fully update our laws so everyone can stay connected and have full access to the technology that is necessary to participate equally in the 21st century.”
Senator Markey is the author of the 21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act, which became law in 2010 and mandates accessibility of devices and services for the millions of Americans with disabilities and enables the use of a wide range of devices and services needed in the digital era. In July 2023, Senator Markey and Representative Eshoo reintroduced the Communications, Video, and Technology Accessibility Act (CVTA) to amend the CVAA due to the proliferation of emerging technologies that have come online since 2010. The CVTA would strengthen standards for television programming and emergency communication; expand accessibility requirements, including closed captions and audio descriptions, to online platforms and video conferencing services; and equip the federal government with the ability to improve accessibility of emerging technologies.
Family Seating on Airplanes
ACB submitted a comment to the U.S. Department of Transportation on a Notice of Proposed Rule-Making that regarded family seating on airplanes. Families often struggle to procure seating together with their minor children without paying additional fees during air travel. This presents difficult situations where young children cannot travel safely with their guardians.
The U.S. Department of Transportation put out a Notice in hopes of creating new ways to ensure that parents can procure seats next to their children without paying additional fees. The new rule identified a few different possibilities to accommodate traveling families.
Although this issue is not directly concerning blindness, ACB decided to submit comments to verbalize its concerns that any new seating policies might inadvertently impact blind and low-vision passengers from procuring seating they need as an accommodation. ACB wants to make sure that the seating needs of blind travelers are not superseded by traveling families.
For instance, one proposed new policy would require airlines to identify a block of seats specifically for families. ACB is concerned that a designated block of seats may inadvertently include bulkhead seating which is often preferred for persons traveling with a guide dog.
The proposed rules did not explicitly call for new policies that will hinder access to blind passengers; ACB simply verbalized that any new policies should be assessed to ensure that they do not conflict with the seating needs of blind or low vision passengers. ACB’s comments can be read online at www.regulations.gov.
ACB’s Comments for the Access Board’s Hearing on Artificial Intelligence
The American Council of the Blind appreciates the opportunity to submit comments for the Access Board’s hearing on artificial intelligence and its impact on people with disabilities. AI has the potential to enhance the quality of life for blind and low-vision individuals; however, AI can only be beneficial if it is designed to be accessible and inclusive at the outset.
One way that AI has been utilized is the development of autonomous vehicles. Blind and low-vision individuals cannot drive, so being able to use AVs to get around their community would be life-changing. This can only happen if AVs are designed to be accessible with an audible way to locate the vehicle on arrival, accessible ingress and egress, and accessible methods of getting riders to their destinations. AVs must also be able to recognize and stop for pedestrians with disabilities, including blind and low-vision pedestrians. These can only be achieved if manufacturers design with accessibility in mind and include the disability community in early development stages.
Another area where AI is increasingly being used is in employment. AI tools that are being used to interview, screen, and monitor employees must be designed in ways that accommodate individuals with disabilities. Such tools should not automatically screen out or terminate an interview candidate that cannot make eye contact due to a visual disability, or employees with performance patterns due to the use of assistive technology. If employment technology manufacturers do not develop AI tools with accessibility or disability in mind, then such outcomes where individuals with disabilities are screened out or terminated will occur.
AI also offers opportunities for new assistive technology for persons who are blind. AI can read documents out loud and interpret the environment around the person. More should be done to enhance such technology.
Justice Department Sues LA Fitness for Disability Discrimination at Its Gyms
The Department of Justice sued LA Fitness under the Americans with Disabilities Act for preventing members with disabilities from accessing their pools and fitness equipment by, for example, having broken pool lifts and elevators, and charging extra to people with disabilities.
If you or someone you know had trouble accessing an LA Fitness gym because of a disability or were charged an extra fee to have someone help you access the gym’s equipment, please call 1-888-392-5417 (toll-free), or email Claims.LAFitness@usdoj.gov.
For more information on the case, please read the press release.
Social Security Announces 2.5 Percent Benefit Increase for 2025
Social Security benefits and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) payments for more than 72.5 million Americans will increase 2.5 percent in 2025, the Social Security Administration announced today. On average, Social Security retirement benefits will increase by about $50 per month starting in January.
Over the last decade the COLA increase has averaged about 2.6 percent. The COLA was 3.2 percent in 2024.
Nearly 68 million Social Security beneficiaries will see a 2.5 percent cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) beginning in January 2025. Increased payments to nearly 7.5 million people receiving SSI will begin on December 31, 2024.
Some other adjustments that take effect in January of each year are based on the increase in average wages. Based on that increase, the maximum amount of earnings subject to the Social Security tax (taxable maximum) is slated to increase to $176,100 from $168,600.
For more information, visit www.ssa.gov/cola.
Access Board Hearings on Artificial Intelligence
On August 8th, the U.S. Access Board held two public hearings on artificial intelligence and its opportunities and challenges for the disability community. The hearings included panel discussions with members of the disability community, including representatives from prominent disability organizations like the American Association of People with Disabilities, National Disability Institute, American Foundation for the Blind, and the Disability Rights Office of the Center for Democracy and Technology. Speakers highlighted the benefits of AI and the ways that it was being used to the benefit of people with disabilities.
Apps like Seeing AI and Be My AI were referred to as game-changers for the blind and low-vision community, and there is work on creating an AI-based ASL interpretation device for both deaf and hearing individuals to be able to interact with greater ease.
Autonomous vehicles were also mentioned as a positive. Speakers also discussed the potential negatives of AI and its potential to show bias against disabled individuals. They emphasized the need for inclusion of the disability community at the outset of AI technology development both in ensuring that the technology is accessible and beneficial for users with disabilities, and in how the AI is trained and the sorts of data it receives. AI, especially when used in hiring employees or assessing employee productivity, must be trained to accommodate the differences in how someone with a disability may interview or work with assistive technology or other adaptations, so that it does not unintentionally screen out candidates or flag otherwise productive employees for termination or disciplinary action. AI in AVs must be able to detect pedestrians with mobility aids and wheelchairs as well to keep them as safe as non-disabled pedestrians.
The hearing ended with a call from the Access Board for comments from the public. Comments must be 300 words or fewer and are due on October 31st. Submit comments by email to events@access-board.gov.
Justice Department Sues Virginia for Violating Federal Law’s Prohibition on Systematic Efforts to Remove Voters Within 90 Days of an Election
WASHINGTON, October 11, 2024 — The Justice Department announced today that it has filed a lawsuit against the State of Virginia, Virginia State Board of Elections and Virginia Commissioner of Elections to challenge a systematic state program aimed at removing voters from its election rolls too close to the Nov. 5 general election in violation of the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 (NVRA).
Section 8(c)(2) of the NVRA, also known as the Quiet Period Provision, requires states to complete systematic programs aimed at removing the names of ineligible voters from voter registration lists no later than 90 days before federal elections. The Quiet Period Provision applies to certain systematic programs carried out by states that are aimed at striking names from voter registration lists based on a perceived failure to meet initial eligibility requirements — including citizenship — at the time of registration.
“As the National Voter Registration Act mandates, officials across the country should take heed of the law’s crystal clear and unequivocal restrictions on systematic list maintenance efforts that fall within 90 days of an election,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “By cancelling voter registrations within 90 days of Election Day, Virginia places qualified voters in jeopardy of being removed from the rolls and creates the risk of confusion for the electorate. Congress adopted the National Voter Registration Act’s quiet period restriction to prevent error-prone, eleventh-hour efforts that all too often disenfranchise qualified voters. The right to vote is the cornerstone of our democracy and the Justice Department will continue to ensure that the rights of qualified voters are protected.”
The Quiet Period is an important protection for voters, because systematic removal programs may be error-ridden, cause voter confusion and remove eligible voters days or weeks before Election Day who may be unable to correct the State’s errors in time to vote or may be dissuaded from voting at all. States may remove names from official lists of voters in various ways and for various reasons, but they may not carry on this kind of systematic removal program so close to a federal election.
On Aug. 7, the governor of Virginia signed an executive order requiring among other things that the commissioner of the Department of Elections certify that the Department of Elections was conducting “Daily Updates to the Voter List.” These updates included “compar[ing] the list of individuals who have been identified as non-citizens” by the State Department of Motor Vehicles “to the list of existing registered voters.” Local registrars were then required to “notify any matches of their pending cancellation unless they affirm their citizenship within 14 days.” The letter directs recipients who are in fact U.S. citizens and eligible to vote to complete and return an Affirmation of Citizenship form. The notice informs voters that, if they do not respond to the notice within 14 days, they will be removed from the list of registered voters. This process has led to U.S. citizens having their voter registrations cancelled.
The process laid out in the executive order formalized an ongoing list maintenance procedure that has been carried out into the quiet period, including at least as recently as late September. This systematic voter removal program, which the State is conducting within 90 days of the upcoming federal election, violates the Quiet Period Provision.
The Justice Department seeks injunctive relief that would restore the ability of impacted eligible voters to vote unimpeded on Election Day and would prohibit future quiet period violations. The department also seeks remedial mailings to educate eligible voters concerning the restoration of their rights and adequate training of local officials and poll workers to address confusion and distrust among eligible voters accused of being noncitizens.
Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, U.S. Attorney Jessica Aber for the Eastern District of Virginia and U.S. Attorney Christopher R. Kavanaugh for the Western District of Virginia made the announcement.
Individuals who are eligible voters and believe that they may have been removed from the voter rolls as a result of Virginia’s systematic removal process should contact the Civil Rights Division’s Voting Section through the internet reporting portal at civilrights.justice.gov or by telephone at 1-800-253-3931. More information about voting and elections, including guidance documents and other resources, is available at www.justice.gov/voting. More information about the NVRA and other federal voting laws is available at www.justice.gov/crt/voting-section. The department recently announced a new guidance document addressing limits on when and how jurisdictions may remove voters from their voter lists. Complaints about discriminatory voting practices may be reported to the Civil Rights Division’s Voting Section through the internet reporting portal at civilrights.justice.gov or by telephone at 1-800-253-3931.
Website and Software Application Accessibility Act: ACB Needs Your Stories
We have a Hill meeting coming up soon where we are talking about the Website and Software Application Accessibility Act. As a membership organization, we hope to bring concrete stories from the blind and low vision community. If you have a specific story where you needed to visit a specific website and could not access it because of the inaccessibility of the site, please consider sharing that story with us.
We know there are so many stories out there, and many of us can appropriately make broad generalizations. However, for this activity, the more specific the better. Additionally, details about the situation would be helpful to paint a picture of the problems such inaccessibility brings about.
For instance, perhaps you were trying to apply for a job and the online application was inaccessible. As a result, you did not get the job. Or, you needed to purchase a specific item online for your child and the online store was inaccessible. As a result, you had to get help to purchase the essential item. These are the kind of stories we are looking for. If you have any questions, please reach out. Stories can be sent to advocacy@acb.org.