Fw: Access letter to industry partnership

["Wolf-Dietrich Trenner" <taubblind_bEi_post.de>]

Hallo,
 
eine Reihe von Leuten kuemmert sich vorausschauend um Entwicklungen der
Softwareindustrie in Amerika, die Menschen mit verschiedenen Behinderungen
betreffen koennten oder werden. Deshalb folgend ein Brief der
Staatssekretaerin im US-Erziehungsministerium und der Vorsitzenden des
US-Behindertenrats an die Geschaeftsfuehrer von Netscape, Oracle, IBM, SUN
und Novell in Kopie zur Kenntnis.
 
Herzlichen Gruss, Wolf
 
Wolf-Dietrich Trenner
Foerdergemeinschaft fuer Taubblinde e.V.
http://selbsthilfe.seiten.de
 
------------>
>The letter was addressed to each CEO as follows:
>
>Mr. James Barksdale
>Chief Executive Officer
>Netscape Communications Corporation
>501 East Middlefield Road
>Mountain View, CA  94043
>
>Mr. Lawrence Ellison
>Chief Executive Officer
>Oracle Corporation
>500 Oracle Parkway
>Redwood Shores, CA  94065
>
>Mr. Louis V. Gerstner, Jr.
>Chairman of the Board and CEO
>IBM Corporation
>New Orchard Road
>Armonk, NY  10504
>
>Mr. Scott McNealy
>Chief Executive Officer
>Sun Microsystems, Inc.
>Mailstop UPAL01-501
>901 San Antonio Road
>Palo Alto, CA  94303
>
>Mr. Eric Schmidt
>Novell Inc.
>2180 Fortune Drive
>San Jose, CA  95131
>
>A copy of the letter went to:
>
>Senator Robert Dole
>c/o Verner, Liipfert et al
>901 15th Street, N.W.
>Suite 410
>Washington, DC  20005
>
>
>Dear <CEO>: :
>
>We are writing to you as leaders of two Federal agencies which
>have as their over-arching goal the achieving of equality for
>people with disabilities throughout the country and the world.
>The Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services
>(OSERS), in the U.S. Department of Education,  seeks to improve
>the lives of individuals with disabilities through the provision
>of special education and vocational rehabilitation services, and
>the conduct of research on disability-related topics.  The
>National Council on Disability (NCD) is an independent federal
>agency  with a fifteen member board appointed by the President
>and confirmed  by the U.S. Senate.  Its mandate is to promote
>policies and practices  that facilitate the personal independence
>and  economic self sufficiency of America's 54 million people
>with disabilities.
>
>
>BACKGROUND
>
>As officials of the Clinton Administration in charge of national
>disability policy, we have been following with interest the
>agreement between your company and four others to establish a
>far-reaching Internet platform based on Java and related
>technologies. By joining together to realize this outcome, it is
>no doubt your hope to pivotally influence the computer industry
>as a whole, and in particular, the direction that connectivity
>and telecommunications policies and protocols will take into the
>next century.
>
>We are writing to you, and to the other members of your
>five-member partnership, to request, in the strongest possible
>terms, that you ensure that this new platform includes, in its
>core design, provisions that will guarantee its accessibility to
>individuals with disabilities--including visual, hearing, manual,
>or cognitive limitations.  To put it succinctly, the
>accessibility of the future Internet to disabled people, if
>appropriately designed, will have a profoundly positive and far-
>reaching effect on educational and employment outcomes for the
>estimated one out of every five Americans who have disabilities.
>The reverse is also true:  if the future Internet moves towards
>an environment that locks out this nation's 54 million disabled
>people, the effects on education and employment outcomes will be
>devastating.  It is critical then that any future, Java-based
>Internet applications be designed according to established and
>progressing standards of accessibility.
>
>We know that at two of the companies involved in this project,
>IBM and Sun Microsystems, there are dedicated efforts by special
>needs staff to include accessibility features in present and
>future releases of Java development kits. We are concerned,
>however, that given the fast-track nature of plans by the
>five-company partnership, accessibility as a design feature will
>either fall by the wayside or be left out altogether.
>
>RELATED EFFORTS
>
>The appropriateness of universal design principles in the new
>connectivity architecture are underscored by a number of recent
>developments, which have brought accessibility to the forefront
>of activity both within government and the computer industry.
>
>For example, the U.S. Department of Education has issued specific
>software accessibility requirements for inclusion in all software
>development contracts. In meeting these obligations to employees
>and customers with disabilities, any future software developed
>under contract for the Department must meet these specific
>accessibility requirements, which we have enclosed for your
>information.
>
>Additionally, in October 1997 Education Secretary Richard Riley
>signed a ground-breaking "Dear Colleague" letter (copy enclosed),
>which, along with a technical assistance package on access to
>technology, has been sent to every school district throughout the
>country. This material emphasizes the responsibility of school
>systems under several Federal statutes to provide technology
>access and stresses the desirability of considering access issues
>as an early and integral part of technology procurement. We see
>this work as critical to the success of President Clinton's
>technology Initiative, which calls for every classroom to be
>connected to the Internet by the year 2000.
>
>The Department has also supported a White House initiative to
>promote the accessibility of the world wide web. It transferred
>funds to the National Science Foundation to support the "Web
>Accessibility Initiative" of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C)
>in five areas key to ensuring access to persons with
>disabilities: (1) technology development--protocols and data
>formats; (2) tools supporting content in formats useable by
>persons with disabilities; (3) technology guidelines; (4)
>educational outreach; and (5) research and advanced development.
>The W3C's attention to accessibility-related criteria in the
>release of HTML 4.0, and their drafting of guidance for Web page
>authors on accessible Web design (press release enclosed) are two
>positive outcomes of this effort.
>
>In February 1996 President Clinton signed the landmark
>Telecommunications Act. This law makes clear that the millions of
>Americans with disabilities are entitled to share fully in the
>benefits of telecommunications services and equipment which have
>become such an integral element of our educational, social,
>political, and economic future. In adopting Section 255 of the
>Act, Congress expressed the clear intent that telecommunications
>services and equipment be made accessible to and usable by all
>people with disabilities, whenever readily achievable.  Through
>its Tech Watch Task Force, a cross-disability group of technology
>advisors, the National Council on Disability has provided policy
>recommendations at every stage of the Act's implementation.  In
>August 1997 the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) issued
>regulations concerning the accessibility of video programming
>delivered by telecommunications providers (copy enclosed).  In
>January 1998 The Access Board published guidelines concerning the
>accessibility of telecommunications and customer premises
>equipment (copy enclosed).
>
>The National Council on Disability and the Department of
>Education have also actively promoted the strengthening of
>Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act, currently being
>reauthorized by Congress, which requires Federal agencies to use
>equipment and data that is accessible to and usable by
>individuals with disabilities.  Pending legislation assigns new
>authority to the Access Board for developing technical
>requirements and new responsibility to the Office of Management
>and Budget for developing procurement procedures and an
>enforcement mechanism.
>
>Other countries too, especially in Europe, are also paying more
>attention to deploying accessible technology, so designing for
>accessibility would no doubt benefit your partnership in the
>global market as well.
>
>And lastly, the enclosed letter from the Department of Justice to
>Senator Tom Harkin provides clear Congressional intent that the
>Internet must comply with the accessibility provisions of the
>Americans with Disabilities Act.
>
>REQUESTED ACTIONS
>
>Given the movement toward increased emphasis on accessibility
>standards in the marketplace, we are asking for your commitment
>in the following areas:
>
>1.   Although two of the members of this consortium (IBM and Sun)
>     have established laudable corporate efforts on access for
>     people with disabilities, there is no indication that the
>     five-member group is utilizing developments in this area in
>     a manner that will ensure platform accessibility by disabled
>     people. Accordingly, we believe it is necessary to implement
>     a comprehensive and meaningful partnership policy on
>     accessibility, including goals, timelines, and resources;
>     this would include the assigning of responsibility for
>     accessibility to a top-level team which reports directly to
>     the partnership leadership, and which can ensure that
>     decisions affecting accessibility are given high priority.
>     This should include a high-level accessibility presence
>     within Netscape, to ensure that future versions of Navigator
>     and related products meet accessibility standards.  For
>     example, the Java-based Netscape web browser, reportedly now
>     in development, might implement Sun's Java access protocol
>     in its core design.
>
>2.   Work with organizations representing the interests of people
>     with disabilities to provide training on accessibility
>     issues
>work-place barriers keep almost 70% of working-age adults with
>disabilities still unemployed  or severely under employed. We are
>committed to breaking down these many barriers which keep
>disabled people from taking their rightful place as fully
>participating citizens, and we are asking for your help to bring
>this about.
>
>>From a marketing standpoint, as individuals with disabilities
>increasingly participate in the   mainstream of work, education
>and recreation, purchasers of technology are increasingly
>inclined to consider accessibility issues when making buying
>decisions. Accordingly, improvements in accessibility, once
>regarded by many technology developers as a low priority, will
>quickly become an important source of competitive advantage for
>those   producers who go beyond the minimum requirements of the
>law.  We are thus moving toward a world and an environment in
>which accessibility for people with disabilities to all facets of
>life will be a commonplace, naturally-occurring phenomenon. As
>this happens, the barriers that keep so many people with
>disabilities from taking their rightful place as fully
>contributing members of our society will vanish. It is our hope,
>that through your leadership, you and the other members of your
>group will help bring this new era about.
>
>Sincerely yours,
>
>
>
>Judith Heumann                     Marca Bristo
>Assistant Secretary for            Chairperson
>Special Education and              National Council on Disability
> Rehabilitative Services
>U.S. Department of Education
>
>
>cc: Honorable Robert Dole, Esq.
>
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>End of Document
>