FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION 
Office of the Secretary 
Room 222 Washington, DC 20554 

In the Matter of 
Implementation of Section 255 of the 
Telecommunications Act of 1996

WT Dkt. No. 96-198

COMMENTS OF: 
The Long Island Center for Independent Living, Inc. 
3601 Hempstead Turnpike 
Suite 208 Levittown, NY 11756 


I. Introduction 

The Long Island Center for Independent Living, Inc. (LICIL), submits these comments
to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on its proposed Section 255 rules.
We urge the strict enforcement of those rules. 

LICIL is one of the over 3G independent living centers in New York State. LICIL
provides to Nassau County residents a wide range of services --without regard to age,
sex, race, religion, or disabling condition. These services include peer counseling 
as well as information on Social Security, Medicare, housing, Supplemental Security
Income, and Medicaid. In addition, LICIT; provides appropriate referrals, as well as
training in independent living skills such as dressing, wheelchair transfer-, 
and shopping. 

LICIL also lends equipment from its Equipment Loan Bank. This equipment includes
manual and electric wheelchairs and a TTY Porta-printer. LICIL also provirdes
transportation for its consumers. Over 100 trips a month have taken riders to job
interviews, movies, museums, parks, shopping centers, and meetings. 

Therefore, L, ICIL applauds the FCC for issuing proposed rules to implement Section
255 of the Telecommunications Act of 1996. Increased access to all aspects of
telecommunications is vital for all men, women, and children with disabilities. 

We, at LICIL, urge the FCC to adopt the suggestions contained in these comments so
that the needs of all disabled Americans are served when they need to communicate
over the wires or via cellular and digital phone networks. 

Persons with disabilities urgently need greater access to telecommunications for
increased employment, greater access to information, vital links to family, friends, and
emergency services. Neither a hearing, visual, cognitive, or physical disability should
bar anyone from telecommunications. With the technical advancements and abilities of
design engineers and telecommunications experts and innovative industries, the ability
to create accessible telecommunications equipment for all is no 
longer costly, impractical, or impossible. 

A lack of such vital telecommunications links can cause isolation, unemployment,
illness and death. 

II. Adoption of Access Board Guidelines 

LICIL strongly urges the FCC to adopt the Section 255 guidelines which were issued
by the Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board (Access Board)
on February 3, 1998. Congress had given the Access Board the primary authority to
draft these guidelines, which should now be enforced by the FCC. Although the
Access Board guidelines apply to equipment manufacturers, we, at LICIL, recommend
that the FCC apply these as well to service providers. 

In addition to the guidelines to achieving accessibility, we, at LICIL, urge the FCC to
adopt and enforce the following for both service providers and equipment
manufacturers: 

-- Disabled persons must be included in market research on new telecommunications
services, products and equipment; 

-- Disabled persons must be included in test trials of new telecommunications services,
products and equipment; 

-- Reasonable efforts should be made to validate access solutions through testing with
individuals with disabilities or related organizations: 

-- Manufacturers and service providers must be required to provide access to product
and service information in a format disabled persons can use. In other words the
manuals, customer support, technical advice and support provided to the nondisabled
must be provided to the disabled individual in an accessible form; 

-- Whenever a product or service or device is updated, modified, changed, or
improved, the product or service must be made accessible to individuals with
disabilities; 

-- No update, modification, change, or improvement that any telecommunication
product or service undergoes should decrease its accessibility to the disabled: 

-- All products, services, and designs must be compatible with TTY and hearing aides,
including cellular phones and services; 

-- All firmware, software and hardware used in telecommunications must becompatible
with and accessible to the needs of the disabled user. 


III. Universal Design 

We, at LICIL, support the FCC's decision to require an assessment of accessibility and
compatibility for each product used to telecommunicate. This is what Section 255
requires, and as stated in the Access Board guidelines, the assessment as to whether
access can be achieved "cannot be bypassed simply because another product is already
accessible." Rather, the goal of Section 255 is to achieve, where achievable, universal
design for as many disabilities as possible. Only if that is not achievable, then is it
reasonable to view the overall accessibility of the provider's products or services to
determine how other functionally similar products and services can be made accessible. 


IV. Enhanced Services 

Disabled persons, under the Telecommunication Act of 1996, must not be simply
provided with basic access to basic services. Under Section 255 all disabled persons
must be provided with access to all services, basic and enhanced. Voice mail, cellular 
services, Internet, and interactive teleprompt services must all be accessible to all
disabled persons. 

V. Readily Achievable Determinations 

In accordance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), all products and
services used by the public, such as telecommunications, must be made accessible to
persons with disabilities if  "readily achievable."  We accept the FCC's suggestion that
technical feasibility also may be considered in determining whether access to a product
or service can be achieved. However, we oppose considering the extent to which an
accessible product can be marketed (when compared to inaccessible products), and the
extent to which the cost of providing access will be recovered, in readily achievable
determinations. These are not permissible factors under the ADA, and should not be
included in a readily achievable analysis under Section 255. 


VI. Complaint Process 

We, at LICIL, are confused by the FCC's proposed complaint process, and in
particular are uncertain as to when an individual has the right to move from the "fast
track" to the "informal or "formal" complaint processes, or when a complaint would be
moved to an alternative dispute resolution process. We request clarification of these
points in the final rules, so that consumers may fully understand the means available to
seek redress under Section 255. Additionally, we adamantly oppose a rule that would
require consumers to first receive approval from the FCC before being permitted to
bring a formal FCC complaint. This is not a requirement for other formal complaints
brought before the Commission and appears to be discriminatory against individuals
with disabilities. 

We do support the following FCC proposals concerning consumer complaints: 

-- There should be no filing fees for formal or informal complaints, and fees that
currently exist for filing complaints against common carriers should be waved for
complaints brought under Section 255. Waving these fees would be in the public
interest. 

-- There should not be any time limit for filing complaints, because one never knows
when he or she will discover that a product or service is inaccessible. 

-- Consumers with disabilities should be able to file a complaint by any accessible
means available.

-- Manufacturers and service providers should be required to establish contact points
in their companies that are accessible to consumers with disabilities. 


Conclusions 


We, at LICIL, and I, Patricia Moore (Executive Director, LICIL, Inc.), thank the FCC
for the opportunity to submit these comments, and urge the FCC to act promptly in
issuing rules that will fully ensure telecommunications access by individuals with 
disabilities to all forms of telecommunications now and in the future. 



Respectfully submitted, 


Patricia Moore, Executive Director, 
The Long Island Center for Independent Living, Inc.
3501 Hempstead Turnpike 
Suite 208 
Levittown, NY 11756