FCC Adopts Rules for Disabled Access

Telephones and communications services such as voicemail will become increasingly accessible to disabled people under rules approved by the Federal Communications Commission. The agency said telecommunications equipment manufacturers such as Motorola Inc. and Nokia Corp. and service providers such as Bell Atlantic Corp. will be free to decide how to include features to make telephones more accessible to an estimated 54 million Americans with disabilities. Solutions range from putting a small bump on the five key of a phone keypad, allowing a blind person to figure out where each button is located, to including interfaces for text-based calling equipment or voice-activated controls. The agency ordered companies to evaluate accessibility features during the earliest phases of the design process and to include access features that can be accomplished easily and without much added cost. The new rules also cover voice mail and interactive services, a requirement not directly called for by the 1996 Telecommunications Act. Manufacturers, who had feared more burdensome government mandates, generally welcomed the new rules.