TDPH Monthly Newsletter

October was National Disability Employment Awareness Month (NDEAM), a national initiative to raise awareness about disability employment issues. The 2014 theme was: "Expect. Employ.

In September there was legislative activity in the area of disability access, but the legislation was not specific to advanced technology access so the details are not reported in this newsletter.  Nevertheless, such legislative advances address important issues and should not go unmentioned.  The three Bills introduced by Senator Tom Harkins as part of his “Access for All” agenda for individuals with disabilities include: the Exercise and Fitness for All Act [S. 2888], the Universal Home Design Act [S.

This August, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) announced requirements and compliance deadlines that impact communications and technology accesses for people with hearing loss.  The first was the order requiring closed captioning of internet video clips [MB Docket No. 11-154] which establishes an effective date of September 4, 2014. They also adopted rules that complement previous commitments made by wireless carriers to support text-to-911 by May 2014.

With July marking the 24^th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), the President took steps to accelerate employment opportunities for people with disabilities by signing the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) [H.R.

The 24^th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is approaching, and preparations are underway to celebrate achievements and further educate people, businesses and organizations on how to further realize the ADA’s goals.  To that end, the Southeast ADA Center of the ADA National Network has released an ADA Anniversary Tool Kit with information on the background of the ADA, current disability statistics, and other resources helpful for ADA implementation.