Lex Frieden, Chairperson
May 2006

The Bulletin, which is free of charge and at NCD’s award-winning Web site (www.ncd.gov), brings you the latest issues and news affecting people with disabilities. To subscribe to the NCD listserv, go to http://listserv.access.gpo.gov, click on Online mailing list archives, select NCD-NEWS-L, click on Join or leave the list, then complete the short subscription form. Please send your editorial comments to Bulletin editor Mark S. Quigley (mquigley@ncd.gov).

ADA Town Hall Meeting 2006

NCD and its federal partners continue to plan for this year’s ADA interactive town hall meeting, which will celebrate the 16th anniversary of ADA. The meeting, which is officially known as “A National Dialogue on the State of Disability,” will be held July 26, 2006, from 9:00 a.m. until 1:00 p.m., at the National Press Club, National Press Building, 529 14th Street, NW, 13th Floor, Washington, DC.

The day will begin with a presentation by NCD chair Lex Frieden on the current state of disability, which will be based on findings from NCD’s soon-to-be released annual report, National Disability Policy: A Progress Report. Mr. Frieden’s presentation will be followed by a keynote address by a noted disability advocate.

We’ll then move to the interactive portion of the town hall meeting, with three consecutive panels and an opportunity for audience members to question all the panelists. The three panels are based on the four goals of ADA: equality of opportunity, full participation, independent living, and economic self-sufficiency. Each panel will consist of four or five high-ranking federal officials and one or two consumers with disabilities. Each panelist will have three minutes to respond to the findings in Mr. Frieden’s statement. At the conclusion of all opening statements, the moderator will open up each panel to the audience for a question and answer session.

This town hall meeting is open to the public and free of charge.

Accessible Airline Self-Service Kiosk Systems

On May 17, NCD released an NCD Position Paper on Access to Airline Self-Service Kiosk Systems (www.ncd.gov/newsroom/publications/2006/kiosk.htm), calling on the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) to adopt an updated Air Carrier Access Act (ACAA) standard for accessible design applicable to these kiosk systems. The position paper also calls on  DOT to initiate settlement negotiations with covered air carriers and airports to bring their kiosk systems into full compliance.

U.S. air carriers and airports have obligations under federal accessibility laws and regulations to provide cross-disability access to their kiosk systems. Those carriers and airports operating kiosk systems not in conformity with the Americans with Disabilities Act’s standard for accessible design, which is also ACAA’s standard, are out of compliance.

Advances in information technology (IT) have enabled the airline industry to improve the quality and efficiency of its services delivery while reducing operating costs. But the airlines have left travelers with disabilities out of the IT loop, failing to offer them the same benefits and convenience of service available to other travelers. The airlines’ resistance to providing customer services through fully accessible kiosks and Web sites disregards the capacity of accessible IT to empower people with disabilities to do for themselves.

Kiosk technology is an essential component of the IT-based customer self-service business model that is pervading the air-travel industry. Automated kiosks employed by the industry (frequently called self-service or check-in kiosks) are networked peripheral IT devices whose interfaces give consumers direct access to companies’ centralized customer-service systems.

The air carrier industry has failed to acknowledge its legal obligations to provide equal access to passengers with disabilities, advances in access technology, and the significant economic benefit the industry derives from air travelers with disabilities.

Although no airline-kiosk vendor serving the U.S. market has included accessibility among its product features, vendors confirm that they foresee no significant technical obstacles to development and deployment—using existing access technology—of fully accessible kiosk systems. A leading authority on accessibility technology estimates that the costs of access hardware and software modifications for a fully accessible system would not exceed 1 to 2 percent of the overall cost. However, the airline industry has yet to acknowledge the need for such a product.

Voting Rights Act Reauthorization

On May 17, NCD released a statement (www.ncd.gov/newsroom/news/2006/r06-510.htm) supporting the reauthorization of the Voting Rights Act (VRA), which is set to expire in 2007.

NCD is aware of the April 27, 2006, hearing on Renewing the Temporary Provisions of the VRA in the Senate Judiciary Committee. The foundation of our democratic form of government is the right to vote. Voting is the most important tool Americans have to influence the policies the government adopts that affect every aspect of our lives—from tax policy, to preserving our environment, to protecting equal opportunity in housing and employment. To ensure that all Americans have this important tool, we must make sure that every American has an equal opportunity to cast an effective ballot. Unfortunately, even today, many eligible voters continue to face barriers that inhibit the exercise of this basic right. It is under these circumstances that NCD emphasizes the need for the reauthorization of the VRA.

NCD made four key recommendations in its 2001 paper Inclusive Federal Election Reform (www.ncd.gov/newsroom/publications/2001/electionreform.htm) that remain relevant to current deliberations surrounding reauthorization of the VRA: (1) The President and Congress must enact federal legislation that incorporates the use of modern technological concepts and systems capable of ensuring full participation by all citizens; (2) The President and Congress must address complex issues and concerns surrounding existing federal legislation [such as the VRA] and effective ways to improve those laws through amendments or regulatory action while maintaining current rights and protections; (3) Bipartisan national, state, and local voter registration and get-out-the-vote initiatives are encouraged for people with disabilities and other disenfranchised Americans; and (4) The President and Congress must contact key citizens from disenfranchised groups and include them on any commission or similarly named body to investigate the status of the full range of voting accessibility issues in America.

The VRA is still needed to ensure that all citizens, including people with disabilities, as well as seniors, people within lower socioeconomic levels, people from diverse racial and ethnic groups, and people with language needs, are provided an equal opportunity to participate in the political process. The existing VRA paved the way for more Americans to vote and set the stage for initial dialogue that resulted in the enactment of supplementary laws addressing the enfranchisement of people with disabilities. Since the VRA’s enactment, the rise in voter registration has brought to the forefront a number of needs that should be considered at reauthorization, such as accessibility enforcement components and the coordination of new technologies, including universal design. In collaboration with other pertinent laws, reauthorization of the VRA can boost full participation in the political process by all citizens.  

NCD urges our nation’s leaders to respond in a timely manner to these recommendations in order to ensure full participation in the democratic processes. Full participation by all eligible citizens allows our society to harness the knowledge and resources of the community as a whole. Inclusion strengthens and enlivens America’s political and public life, and our society at large will be the ultimate beneficiary.

Forced Drugging of a Texas Inmate

On May 2, NCD released a statement (www.ncd.gov/newsroom/news/2006/r06-509.htm) speaking out against the forced drugging of a Texas inmate with a psychiatric disability so he can be executed.

A state district judge in Texas has ordered inmate Steven Kenneth Staley to take psychiatric medication so that he can be declared mentally fit for execution. In 2003, the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals permitted officials in Arkansas to forcibly administer medication to control an inmate’s behavior, making him “competent” enough to be executed.

In the National Council on Disability’s 2000 Report From Privileges to Rights: People Labeled with Psychiatric Disabilities Speak for Themselves (www.ncd.gov/newsroom/publications/2000/privileges.htm), NCD stressed that forced drugging should be viewed as inherently suspect and that practices that would often be illegal if administered to people without disabilities are routinely used on people with psychiatric disabilities in the name of “treatment.” But the notion of administering psychiatric medication to someone so that he is considered “fit” for execution should shock the conscience of all Americans.

In Atkins v. Virginia, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that executions of people with cognitive disabilities found guilty of a crime are “cruel and unusual punishments” prohibited by the Eighth Amendment. The Court reasoned that it was “not persuaded that the execution of mentally retarded criminals will measurably advance the deterrent or the retributive purpose of the death penalty.” The Court also referred to the growing number of states prohibiting the execution of people with mental retardation as a reflection of society’s view that those with cognitive disabilities are less culpable for their offense. The Supreme Court should take the Atkins decision one step further and weigh in on the unresolved issue of the constitutionality of medicating inmates to make them competent to be executed.

The forced treatment of Mr. Staley, particularly for purposes of execution, has severe implications for people with disabilities. NCD urges that in the absence of judicial clarity, a closer look be taken at death penalty legislation and the possibility of  modification to establish forced treatment of inmates as cruel and unusual punishment and hence unconstitutional.

Legislative Update

On May 9, H.R. 5316 was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives to reestablish the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) as a cabinet level, independent establishment in the executive branch that is responsible for the nation’s preparedness for, response to, recovery from, and mitigation against disasters, and for other purposes.

Among other things, the bill instructs the director of FEMA to coordinate with the heads of other appropriate federal agencies, including NCD, to complete a comprehensive review of the national response plan for the purpose of identifying areas for revision.

The bill was referred to the Committees on Transportation and Infrastructure, Homeland Security, and Government Reform.

Quarterly Meeting

NCD’s next quarterly meeting will be held July 25, 2006, from 9:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m., at the Embassy Suites Hotel, 1300 Jefferson Davis Highway, Arlington, VA. This meeting will be open to the public and free of charge.

Thank you.

Mark S. Quigley
Director of Communications
National Council on Disability