Draft Legislation: Access by Persons with Disabilities to Broadband Services and Equipment - American Foundation for the Blind

Draft Legislation: Access by Persons with Disabilities to Broadband Services and Equipment

Staff of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce and the Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet are working on a rewrite of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 which provides for access to telecommunications equipment and services for individuals with disabilities. While Internet/Broadband equipment and services were being deployed at that time, the 1996 amendments never covered any of these services. This draft legislation, if finally introduced and enacted, would provide new access requirements for what is now widely deployed equipment and services that are radically restructuring the way people communicate and create information. The draft legislation has not yet been introduced as a bill and, therefore, has no identifying number. The text of Section 404, Access by Persons with Disabilities, of the draft bill follows.