Law Office of Lainey Feingold
Disability Rights Legal Advocacy

Breaking News Update! The U.S. Department of Justice has announced that on July 26 it will issue Advanced Notices of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM) on four issues of importance to the disability community. The Notices will address web accessibility for entities covered by the ADA, movie captioning and video description, accessibility of next generation 9-1-1, and accessibility of equipment and furniture in covered entities.

Posted here is a news report from the Philippines about a legislative push for Talking ATMs in that country. Reading this news on the eve of the 20th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act is fitting.

Although the law being celebrated this month is focused on “Americans”, disability advocacy in one part of the globe often has ripple affects across the world. Today we have a global economy and multi-national corporations. We also have global advocacy and international advances in disability access. Especially when it comes to accessible technology.

On July 15 2010, the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science & Transportation adopted “The Equal Access to 21st Century Communications Act,” Senate Bill S. 3304. By a unanimous voice vote the bill was moved to the full Senate floor. The Law Office of Lainey Feingold thanks the disability advocates in the Coalition of Organizations for Accessible Technology (COAT) whose tireless commitment and endless work got this important legislation to this critical juncture.

We urge the Board to adopt language in the area of self-service kiosks that will ensure that people with disabilities have real access to the new built environment – the environment where one machine dispenses prescriptions, another boarding passes, and yet another allows a student to select college classes.— Comments to the U.S. Access Board

The United States Access Board is currently considering proposed changes to the ADA Accessibility Guidelines (ADAAG) that would require certain self-service kiosks to be accessible to people with disabilities. Based on their experience with Talking ATMs and tactile point of sale devices, the Law Office of Lainey Feingold and Linda Dardarian of Goldstein, Demchak, Baller, Borgen & Dardarian, prepared comments on the Board’s proposal for use by persons interested in accessible devices. Those comments, all or parts of which were incorporated into submissions filed with the Board by several organizations, are posted here.

On July 29, 2010, the United States Access Board will hold a public meeting about accessibility standards to be developed for diagnostic medical equipment. This meeting marks the beginning of a rule making process on these issues mandated by the federal health care bill passed in March, 2010.

In this post you can read the press release announcing the meeting, at which Lainey Feingold will be a panelist. Accessible medical equipment is crucial to the health and safety of people with disabilities. The Board’s rulemaking process should allow for public input on a wide range of issues such as the need for mammography equipment and dental chairs that can be accessed by wheelchair users, and the need for blood glucose meters and similar devices that can provide information in a format blind people can access.

July 26, 2010 marks the twentieth anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act. This is LFLegal’s tribute to both the ADA and the dedicated organizations and individuals who got the law passed and continue to implement it. In this post you can read about ADA Twentieth Anniversary Resources and my personal thanks and congratulations to the disability community on this historic occasion.