Assistive Technology

June 2014 –Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman, Tom Wheeler announced a tentative agenda for July’s Open Meeting. Reports to be considered by the Commission include: Modernizing E-Rate to Deliver Digital Learning, Connect America Fund Rural Broadband Experiments, and Closed Captioning of Internet Protocol-Delivered Video Clips. Regarding the latter, the FCC has planned a vote to determine if online video clips will be included in closed captioning mandates.  The meeting is scheduled for Friday, July 11, 2014 at 10:30a.m. EDT.

June 2014 – Sprint Good Works^SM launched their Neurodiversity ID Pack, a mobile applications collection assisting consumers with neurodevelopmental disabilities and cognitive conditions, such as autism, dyspraxia, and dyslexia. As the third largest wireless networking corporation in the U.S., Sprint is demonstrating their commitment to wireless accessibility with this collection of apps, weblinks, educational tools, developmental games for children, and support apps for parents.

June 2014 – For the first time, the Federal Communications Commission has launched a service they are calling the “ASL Consumer Support Line.” This video-based support line will engage deaf and hard of hearing consumers who communicate through American Sign Language (ASL). Prior to this, the deaf and hard of hearing community was only able to communicate via relay services or through a complaint form that could be filed online.

During the 2014 spring semester, 83 industrial design students at Georgia Tech and Virginia Tech participated in the Wireless RERC’s fifth annual “Getting Wireless” design challenge.

June 2014 – The FCC issued a Public Notice denying petitions for exemption from closed captioning rules.  Sixteen different entities were named in the Notice, 12 of which br8adcast religious programming.  Under the current process, programming providers, owners or producers are able to file a petition for exemption from closed captioning their content if they could show the process to be “economically burdensome.” Regarding the 16 entities cited, the FCC reviewed their initial requests but required further information before processing.