[RTC List] Accessibility Webcast for Broadband Grant Applicants

[Sean McLaughlin]

FYI -

Federal funding programs bring accessibility requirements ...

>
> Are you interested in the federal government's plans to expand access to
> broadband technologies throughout the United States?  Are you applying for
> Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP) or Broadband Initiatives
> Program (BIP) funds to help build this important public infrastructure
> and/or related services?
>
> If so, you should know that numerous disability-access related federal laws,
> regulations, and technical standards apply to broadband technologies and
> services (see http://www.access-board.gov/recovery/ and
> http://www.ada.gov/reinvestact.htm).
>
> The BTOP Grant Guidelines and Applications distributed at regional workshops
> during the week of July 6, 2009, include the following criterion for one of
> the grant programs-- the Public Computing Centers Program:
>
> "14. Accessibility. Please describe the ways in which your center(s) will be
> accessible and welcoming to people with disabilities.
> Public computer centers funded by BTOP should be accessible (physically,
> technologically, and culturally) to people with disabilities, such as
> limited mobility, vision, or hearing..."
>
> Inclusive Technologies and WGBH's National Center for Accessible Media
> (NCAM) have put together a collaborative team to help applicants for these
> funds assure that their project outcomes will be accessible to people with
> disabilities. Both organizations are recognized as expert leaders in the
> field of accessible information and communications technologies, and
> participated in the development of federal accessibility requirements and
> early meetings with NTIA and the White House on assuring full inclusion in
> the outcomes of broadband grant-funded projects.
>
> We are offering a free, accessible online workshop on July 29, 2009 from
> 2:00-3:00pm (ET) to help BTOP/BIP applicants understand their obligations to
> assure that project outcomes will be accessible to people with disabilities,
> and the competitive advantage accessibility will add to your proposal. This
> 60-minute session will cover:
>
> -- accessibility laws and regulations;
> -- common accessibility barriers and solutions in broadband technologies;
> -- where and how accessibility fits in the BTOP and BIP programs.
>
> To register for this Webcast (hosted by our partner LearningTimes) go to
> http://learningtimes.net/btopaccess.
> To get more information about accessibility in the BTOP and BIP programs,
> please contact us at BTOPaccess at wgbh.org or visit our Web site at
> http://ncam.wgbh.org/BTOPaccess.
>
>
> Webcast Presenters
> Larry Goldberg, director of the Carl and Ruth Shapiro Family Shapiro
> National Center for Accessible Media (NCAM) at WGBH, advises government
> agencies and media and technology companies on access issues. He directs
> WGBH's media access activities which include the development of television,
> Web, movie theater and museum captioning and video description and numerous
> media and technology access R&D innovations. He was a member of the Federal
> Communications Commission's (FCC) Technological Advisory Council and
> Consumer Advisory Committee, and currently serves on the FCC's working group
> on DTV closed captioning and video description.  Larry also served on the
> U.S. Access Board's Advisory Committees that established and updated rules
> (Section 508) for federal IT accessibility.  He testified in May 2008 before
> the House Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet on the "21st
> Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act."
>
> Jim Tobias, president of Inclusive Technologies, has worked in the field of
> technology and disability for 25 years.  He worked for ten years at Bell
> Labs and Bellcore, providing telecommunications and disability consulting
> for Bell companies and other telecommunications and information industry
> clients.  In addition, he specializes in market research and analysis and
> technology policy in the public and private sectors.  He recently co-chaired
> the U.S. Access Board's Advisory Committee that updated rules for federal
> agency accessibility.
>
> ________