FCC Faces Some Unresolved Disabilities Access Issues
The FCC must resolve some accessibility issues where advocates for the disabled and the TV and consumer electronics industries couldn’t reach consensus, participants in the recently completed work of an advisory committee said. The Video Programming Accessibility Advisory Committee wrapped up its work April 9, as mandated under a 2010 disabilities access law to finish the last three of four reports. A report on device and user interface accessibility, and one on getting emergency information had areas where VPAAC members couldn’t reach consensus. So the commission sought comment (http://xrl.us/bmhahx) Wednesday on those issues (CD April 26 p12), which participants in the panel said will inform the rulemakings the agency will undertake on proceedings that must, by law, be competed next year.
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The device report covers an area that’s less technologically developed than Internet Protocol captioning, subject of the VPAAC’s first report, and where there are more unresolved issues, noted panel co-Chairman Larry Goldberg. The IP captioning report, on which the committee also didn’t reach full consensus, was the basis for a rulemaking notice and then in January an order (CD Jan 17 p3). The committee recommended (http://xrl.us/bm5afh) the commission give industry at least two years to comply with accessibility rules for controlling devices after the mandates take effect, with a phased-in schedule for compliance. For people with sight disabilities to get emergency alerts, the VPACC asked the agency to “explore issues surrounding implementation deadlines” in its rulemaking process (http://xrl.us/bm5afd).
FCC staff “has work to do” on the upcoming rulemakings required by the 21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act, because the IP captioning report was “beautifully” done, said Goldberg, director of the National Center for Accessible Media at public-TV station WGBH Boston. That report last year “was a high bar to set,” he said. The committee this round “couldn’t get to” that because the issues weren’t “as thoroughly vetted, so they're going to have to do additional work,” Goldberg said of the commission. “I suspect they will be exactly tracking their required deadlines for rules."
The law requires the agency to by April 9, 2013, identify ways to convey emergency information to those with problems seeing, a public notice said. By Oct. 9, 2013, the FCC must give guidance on how user controls on video gear can be accessible and ensure on-screen text menus have visual indicators and make on-screen menus and guides “audibly accessible in real-time upon request,” another notice said. It asked for feedback on whether commenters agreed with the device accessibility report’s recommendations and whether there are other issues the commission should consider in the rulemaking. “Innovation in meeting user needs is encouraged; taking advantage of the creativity of product designers and the advancing capabilities of new devices as technology inevitably evolves,” the report said. “If a physical button is used for the Control mechanism, the button should be easily identifiable either through its location, shape, or feel.” Given “current television broadcasting practice does not always accommodate the visually impaired population when presenting emergency information,” the video description report recommended broadcasters air a brief audio message when a screen crawl with an alert starts. Stations should “include aurally in the main program audio a truncated or abbreviated version of the emergency information from the scroll related to potential risks to life, health, and property,” the committee said.
CEA wants the commission to “follow the VPAAC’s recommendations in the report,” a spokesman said. “In cases where consensus was not reached,” the agency should “use the reports to guide further input,” he continued: “Putting the report out on public notice is an appropriate tool to gather additional input prior to release of a” rulemaking notice. Representatives of the Consumer & Governmental Affairs Bureau had no comment for this story. CGB Deputy Chief Karen Strauss told a VPAAC meeting this winter that while consensus was ideal, it wouldn’t likely be reached on all issues (CD Feb 10 p1).
The CEA, NCTA and other industry representatives couldn’t reach agreement with disabilities groups on proposals for rules covering what’s considered reasonably comparable when it comes to having dedicated buttons to control volume level and channel selection, the VPAAC said. An alternative proposal to the disability groups’ plan floated by the NCTA and backed by CEA and that association’s members led “consumer representatives” to say they “were concerned that this language was too broad,” the report said. On including a caveat in a universal symbol that captioning is available on a device, there were “dissenting opinions,” the report said. “Industry representatives were concerned that the symbol that will be used may not fit within the bounds of all physical buttons and/or may not be supportable by all user interfaces. Consumers were concerned that the phrase ‘wherever practical’ is too vague, open ended, and allows for inconsistent identification of the button that controls closed captions.”