The U.S. Access Board has released a summary report on its four-part series of virtual meetings on making autonomous vehicles (AVs) accessible to passengers with disabilities. The sessions featured presentations by invited speakers who shared information and research results on design considerations and solutions for making AVs accessible to passengers with mobility, sensory, or cognitive disabilities. They also provided an opportunity for members of the public to pose questions and to share information and ideas during the session or through an online discussion platform. 

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The Internet has opened up a whole new world for society, but it's far from being fully accessible to all people. Accessible websites allow users to absorb digital content by senses like sound and sight. They also have keyboard-based and voice-based navigation abilities. One of the challenges of improving website accessibility is that hundreds of new websites are created each minute. 

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Late in July, we celebrated the 31st anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The Biden-Harris administration released a fact sheet about what they've done to ensure people with disabilities receive resources and are included in key administration proposals. 

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Recently, the US Department of Justice and the US Department of Health and Human Services released guidance that explains that explains when “long COVID” may be a disability under the ADA, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, and Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act.  Many people are experiencing long-term effects of COVID and the government is committed to ensuring that people understand their rights under federal nondiscrimmination laws. 

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Most use the Internet on a daily basis. The opportunities that the Internet brings are endless. However, for people with visual impairments, these opportunities are significantly more limited. While equipment like screen readers have improved, the opportunity for people with visual impairments to use the Internet is far from perfect. The author of this article explains why she thinks businesses should make web accessibility a priority. 

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ACL Policy Update: Your input is needed on the “No Surprise Billing” rule

By: Vicki Gottlich, Esq., Director, Center for Policy and Evaluation

On July 13, an interim final rule with comment period (IFC) was published in the Federal Register that implements requirements set forth in the No Surprises Act to establish protections against surprise billing and excessive cost-sharing in health care.

Surprise billing can occur when someone receives care from a provider outside of their insurance carrier’s network. This often occurs in emergency situations, when people do not have control over where they are taken for medical care. It also can occur if someone visits their in-network doctor, but another provider who is outside of the insurance carrier’s network assists that person’s doctor in their care.

In those instances, if the person’s insurance carrier doesn’t cover the cost for the care received from the out-of-network provider, or only covers part of the cost, the person may be billed for the difference between what insurance covered and the total cost – even if they have met their deductible or out-of-pocket limits. Those surprise bills often do not count toward deductibles or out-of-pocket limits.

Medicare, Medicaid, Indian Health Services, Veterans Affairs Health Care, and TRICARE already provide protections against surprise billing and excessive cost-sharing. The new rule adds these protections for people who are covered by commercial health plans.  

People with disabilities and older adults are more likely to have to go to the doctor frequently or have medical emergencies than people without disabilities or younger adults. For people with disabilities and older adults who are covered by health plans through their employer, a federal or state-based Marketplace, or the individual market, this rule means those visits will be protected against surprise billing and excessive cost-sharing. The rule also ensures that no one can be charged for out-of-network costs without notice. That notice must be accessible to people with disabilities and people with limited English proficiency. This means that language assistance services and/or auxiliary aids and services must be provided at no cost to the individual. These include:

• Interpreters
• Large print materials
• Accessible information and communication technology
• Open and closed captioning
• Other aids or services for persons who are blind or have low vision, or who are deaf or hard of hearing

Patients also have to provide informed consent to the notice, meaning that they have to be able to understand the information in the notice and be free to make a decision about whether to consent to the out-of-network costs they are receiving notice for.

Input from the aging and disability networks, and the older adults and people with disabilities that we serve, is critical. HHS is particularly looking for comments on:

• Whether the provisions and protections related to communication, language, and literacy sufficiently address barriers that exist to ensuring all individuals can read, understand, and consider their options related to notice and consent
• Additional or alternate policies HHS may consider to help address and remove such barriers

Comments on the rule can be submitted online or by mail until September 7, 2021 at 5pm.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) recently released a public notice seeking nominations for membership on the Communications Equity and Diversity Council (CEDC) for the new two-year charter through June 29, 2023. 

The purpose of the CEDC is to provide recommendations to the FCC on advancing equity in the provision of and access to digital communication services and products for all people, without discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, or disability.

The FCC seeks applications from representatives of various sectors of the communications industry, representatives of state and local regulators, and representatives of consumer and community organizations. 

No specific nomination form is required; however, each nomination must include the following information:

• Name, title, and organization of the nominee and a description of the organization, sector, or other interest the nominee will represent (if any);
• Nominee’s mailing address, e-mail address, and telephone number;
• A statement summarizing the nominee’s qualifications and reasons why the nominee should be appointed to the Committee;
• A statement, if the nominee will represent a specific organization, describing the organization as well as the benefit of having the organization represented on the Committee; and
• A statement confirming that the nominee, if seeking appointment for the individual’s expertise and not as a representative of an organization or entity, is not a registered federal lobbyist.

All nominations, including the requisite statements listed above, should be submitted by e-mail to CEDC@fcc.gov. 

Application Deadline: August 10, 2021

General information about CEDC is available at https://www.fcc.gov/communications-equity-and-diversity-council. For additional information about the Committee, please contact Jamila Bess Johnson, the Designated Federal Officer for the Communications Equity and Diversity Council, at 202-418-2608, or Jamila-Bess.Johnson@fcc.gov.  Individuals who use videophones and are fluent in ASL may call the FCC’s ASL Consumer Support Line at (844) 432-2275 (videophone).