David Geeslin

1. Access Board Guidelines 

I am urge you the FCC to adopt the Access Board Section 255 guidelines for 
both manufacturers and service providers. These guidelines are 
needed to provide clear guidance on the obligations 
of companies to make their products and services accessible. 
Why telecommunications access is important because of 
I am Deaf and I need it for my job in order to communicate 
with my boss who does not know how to use American Sign Language 
and I got promotion in my job because of my performance and 
accessiblity that are provided, My family is hearing and 
it help to provide to access to my family members and friends, etc. 
It would help if you can describe how the denial of such 
access has affected you. 

2. Readily Achievable 

The FCC wants to allow companies to be able to consider 
whether they will be able to recover the costs of providing access, 
and the extent to which they will be able to market an accessible 
product. These factors may allow a company to get out of its access 
obligations merely because the market for certain accessible products 
may be smaller. This goes against the whole purpose of Section 255. Section 
255 was intended to 
require access to people with disabilities because market forces alone were not 
enough to ensure that access. Allowing a company to consider whether 
it will recover the costs of achieving such access has never been 
permitted under other disability laws. 

Many companies are more than willing to invest in dolby sound system 
or THX sound system for their movies and any kind of media and often 
it cost more than 500 dollars while providing accessible items for Deaf people 
to enjoy the same accessiblilty only cost under 500 dollars. Therefore, it is not
reasonable to put confidence or faith in companies for making their own decisions of
whether to make their marketable items accessible. The companies shoudl be required
to do that and build that cost in any developing  materials they want to market and it
can be tax deductible so it should have no bearing or harmful affect on their business
operations. Its a matter of human dignity to provide accessible to citizens of USA 
in order to exercise the true spirit of democracy. What is democracy 
if citizens could not exercise its full rights?