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PUBLIC AND PRIVATE INITIATIVES TO CREATE
DIGITAL OPPORTUNITY FOR PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES
September 21, 2000
Leading high-tech CEOs pledge to develop a corporate-wide policy on
accessibility: In a letter to President Clinton, the CEOs of leading
high-tech companies, including 3Com, Adobe, AOL, AT&T, Bell South,
Compaq, eBay, Global Crossing, Handspring, Hewlett-Packard, Macromedia,
Microsoft, NCR, PeoplePC, Qualcomm, Red Hat, and Sun Microsystems, have
committed to develop a corporate-wide policy on accessibility within six
months. Currently, very few high-tech companies have such a policy.
These policies will include "best practices" such as:
Training their workers to develop accessible products and services;
Giving their developers adequate resources to design accessible
products and services;
Identifying and fixing accessibility problems in new versions of
their hardware and software; and
Supporting research and development to improve the state-of-the-art
of assistive technology.
Presidents of 25 of the nation's top research universities agree to
expand research and education on accessibility: In a letter to President
Clinton, the presidents of 25 of the nation's top research universities
including University of California, University of Michigan, and MIT,
have agreed to take a number of important steps to expand research and
education on accessibility, including: ensuring that computer scientists
and engineers receive training on accessibility; expanding the number of
faculty who conduct research on accessibility; and ensuring that
university online resources are accessible to people with disabilities.
For example, the College of Engineering of the University of Wisconsin
will create a new educational program on design and human disability
that will involve the creation of additional tenure track faculty
positions.
SmartForce, an e-learning company, will provide $20 million worth of
free access to its online training material to at least 5,000 people
with disabilities: SmartForce will donate $20 million worth of
"e-scholarships" to people with disabilities, working in partnership
with the Association of Rehabilitation Programs in Computer Technology
at Western Michigan University. At least 5,000 people per year for the
next three years will be able to get free access to on-line training in
areas such as information technology and financial management. An
online support center will provide e-testing and mentoring during the
learning process.
President Clinton will direct his Cabinet to create a task force on
Medicare/Medicaid coverage of assistive technology: President Clinton
will direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services and other members
of his Cabinet to form an interagency Task Force on Health Care Coverage
of Assistive Technologies. Currently, the Medicare and Medicaid
programs provide essential health coverage to nearly 12 million people
with disabilities. The task force will be charged with examining
existing Medicare and Medicaid coverage of assistive technologies, and
making recommendations on how to best enhance such coverage in order to
support independent living and employment for people with disabilities.
This review is particularly important and timely because the historic
Ticket to Work and Work Incentives Improvement Act signed by President
Clinton allows people with disabilities to maintain their Medicare and
Medicaid coverage even after they return to work.
President Clinton will call on Congress to reauthorize AmeriCorps and
will announce that AmeriCorps will today award $9 million in grants to
support 1,200 AmeriCorps volunteers to help close the digital divide,
including people with disabilities: AmeriCorps grants will support
efforts by 1,200 AmeriCorps volunteers to help close the digital divide.
AmeriCorps volunteers will be helping teachers learn how to use
technology, staffing Community Technology Centers, and giving at-risk
youth the skills they need to become technologically literate. Several
of the projects focus on the needs of people with disabilities, such as
a project in North Carolina that will give 300 blind and visually
impaired students of all ages computer and Internet skills. This
example of the work that AmeriCorps can do to close the digital divide
will be cited by the President as a reason to reauthorize AmeriCorps and
include an "E-Corps" component in the reauthorization. E-Corps will
encourage the training of AmeriCorps volunteers in computers and
technology in communities to help bridge the digital divide.
National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research will
invest $2.5 million to expand partnership with industry to make World
Wide Web accessible for people with disabilities: The Department of
Education's National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research
(NIDRR) will provide $2.5 million in funding over the next 5 years to
the World Wide Web Consortium's Web Accessibility Initiative at MIT.
This initiative will develop guidelines to ensure that Web content and
Web software is accessible for people with disabilities, and will
educate developers about the importance of implementing these
guidelines. This work is critical because the Web now provides access
to over 2 billion pages of information, and is becoming increasingly
important in the workplace, for electronic commerce, and for government
services.
Department of Education will fund new partnership to make online
learning accessible to people with disabilities: The Department of
Education will provide a $1.8 million grant under the Administration's
Learning Anytime Anywhere Partnership to a new initiative that will help
make online learning accessible for people with disabilities. The
project will be led by the WGBH National Center for Accessible Media and
the IMS Global Learning Consortium. Industry partners include
Blackboard, Inc., Educational Testing Service, Pearson Education, Sun
Microsystems, PeopleSoft, and Saba Software. The project will impact
the accessibility of online resources in all learning environments,
including K-12 education, post-secondary education, and workplace
training.
Department of Education will provide a $7.5 million grant to the
Georgia Institute of Technology to increase the accessibility of
electronic and information technology: The Department of Education will
provide a 5-year, $7.5 million grant to the Georgia Institute of
Technology's Center for Rehabilitation Technology. This grant will
provide training and technical assistance on universal design to
technology manufacturers, product designers, and purchasers of
information technology. It will also help improve the implementation of
federal laws such as Section 255 of the Telecommunications Act and
Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act.
The C.S. Mott Foundation will fund a "Task Force on Equal Access to
Technology and Opportunity. With funding from the Mott Foundation, the
Disability Network of Flint, Michigan, will create a one-year
blue-ribbon commission that will bring together diverse sectors of
society to address long-term challenges in the accessibility of
information technologies. First, the Task Force will address the
problem of affordability. Many people with disabilities are unable to
afford basic computer technology and Internet access, let alone high-end
and costly specialized assistive devices. The Task Force will explore
financing mechanisms and strategies for building on the foundation of
the Tech Act Projects. Second, the Task Force will focus on education
and outreach to colleges and universities to help with improve the
integration of accessibility and usability into academic curricula and
university services. The Task Force will consist of 15-20 members
representing industry, colleges and universities, technology experts,
disability advocates, and government. It will meet four times over the
coming year, issue a report, and develop model action plans for
dissemination to different sectors of society.
Microsoft, Community Options, and other public and private partners
will create a business incubator - with special emphasis on
entrepreneurs with disabilities: Microsoft, Community Options, the New
Jersey Community Loan Fund, the New Jersey Technology Council, the New
Jersey Association of Women Business Owners and other partners will
create a business incubator targeted to low-income individuals, with
priority given to people with disabilities. The New Jersey-based
incubator will provide low-cost office space, customized technology
support, and business planning expertise.
Sun Microsystems will partner with GNOME Foundation to make open
source desktop software accessible for people with disabilities: Sun
Microsystems will create a new accessibility lab that will make GNOME
software accessible for people with disabilities. Sun is also committed
to establishing a fund that will be able to accept contributions from
companies and individuals to make open source software accessible for
people with disabilities. GNOME is a free, open-source desktop
environment that makes it easier for people to use Linux and other
similar operating systems. Open source software may be freely
distributed and modified by end-users.
President's Committee on Employment of People with Disabilities will
announce expansion of High School/High Tech program to 4 new cities and
3 new states: The High School/High Tech provides opportunity for
students with disabilities to explore exciting careers in science and
technology. The program uses site visits, mentoring, shadowing, and
paid summer internships to allow students to prepare for careers in
scientific, engineering and technology-related fields. The President's
Committee on Employment of People with Disabilities has identified local
partners that will expand High School/High Tech in 4 urban areas
(Atlanta, Los Angeles, Orlando, Chicago) and 3 states (Col., Wisc., and
Michigan).
CompTIA will partner with Compaq and National Cristina Foundation to
provide scholarships and training for certification in IT jobs, with
some resources targeted to people with disabilities: CompTIA, the
Computing Technology Industry Association, will dedicate $1 million to
create scholarships for the general population, including people with
disabilities, to provide training for IT service and support positions.
Compaq will match this commitment with $100,000 for scholarships
targeted specifically to people with disabilities. In conjunction with
these commitments, CompTIA is partnering with the National Cristina
Foundation to develop a National Computer Re-Utilization Network to
provide training organizations that serve teens, veterans, people with
disabilities, and other under-served communities with re-furbished
technology.
Department of Education will award a $2 million grant to strengthen
Community Technology Centers, make them more accessible for people with
disabilities: The Department of Education will award a $2 million grant
to the "America Connects Consortium" to help create, improve and sustain
Community Technology Centers through technical assistance. These
centers provide access to technology and the skills needed to use it,
typically to low-income families that do not have computers and Internet
access. One of the consortium partners, the Alliance for Technology
Access, will help the centers ensure that they are accessible to people
with disabilities and are meeting their needs. The Department of
Education is already supporting or expanding 595 CTCs; President Clinton
has proposed a $100 million budget initiative in FY2001 to create an
additional 1,000 centers.
National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research will
award $6.6 million in grants to create or expand state loan programs for
assistive technology, bridge the digital divide for children: The
Department of Education's NIDRR will award $3.8 million to six states to
expand loan programs in 6 states: Virginia, Kansas, Missouri, Maryland,
Pennsylvania and Utah. This program will increase the ability of people
with disabilities to purchase assistive technology devices and services.
NIDRR will also award a 4-year, $2.8 million grant to create the
University of Kentucky Assistive Technology Research Institute to
conduct research on assistive technology that has potential to help
bridge the digital divide for children with disabilities.
NCR will provide free training on benefits of accessibility from a
business perspective:
NCR is partnering with IDEAL at NCR and EASI (Equal Access to Software
and Information) to create a workshop, "The Global Business Benefits of
Designing Accessible and Usable Electronic and Information Technology."
This workshop will be offered on-line to 400 participants free of
charge.
Department of Commerce will help small community-based organizations
provide Web-based services to people with disabilities: The National
Telecommunications and Information Administration's Technology
Opportunities Program will provide a grant to the Pangea Foundation,
based in San Diego, California. The foundation will create Web-based
templates that will make it easy for organizations to enter information
in a format that is accessible to people with disabilities. People with
disabilities will be able to find information on local services through
a central clearinghouse on the Web in a format that they can use. The
Administration has proposed tripling the budget for the Technology
Opportunities Program from $15 million to $45 million so that the
government can support creative uses of information technology for
underserved communities.
Center for Applied Special Technology will develop improved version
of Web accessibility tool with private sector support: CAST will upgrade
its freely available tool for improving the accessibility of Web sites.
The new version will have an improved ability to analyze the
accessibility of web sites, and the ability to interactively repair
problems that are found. Current sponsors include IBM, Microsoft,
Mitsubishi Electric Foundation, Sun Microsystems, and HalfthePlanet.com.
The Colorado Computer Training Institute will sponsor the first
annual Rocky Mountain Accessibility Internet Rally: CCTI will provide
training to Web site developers to make them accessible to individuals
with hearing, visual, learning or physical impairments. On December 2,
web developers from participating companies will unveil those parts of
their web sites that have been redesigned. On the same day, web
designers will compete to develop accessible web sites for local
non-profit groups. This replicated a successful Accessible Internet
Rally organized by the Austin-based nonprofit, Knowbility.