News Archive

In June, U.S. Senators Bob Casey (D-PA) and Susan Collins (R-ME), and U.S. Representatives Jim Langevin (D-RI-2) and Chris Smith (R-NJ-4) introduced the Real Emergency Access for Aging and Disability Inclusion (REAADI) for Disasters Act [S. 1755 and HR. 3208] in the Senate and House, respectively. Extensive support for the legislation came from, among others, the collaboration of twenty-eight associations, the American Network of Community Options and Resources (ANCOR), who composed letters to the House and Senate in support of the REAADI for Disasters Act.

In May, the eighth annual Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD) was celebrated to bring about awareness and activities that support access and inclusion for people with all types of disabilities. The primary audience of GAAD is the “design, development, usability, and related communities who build, shape, fund, and influence technology and its use.” As a result, many companies launch accessibility initiatives on GAAD. This year saw access and inclusion news from Procter and Gamble’s Herbal Essences, Lloyds Banking Group, Google, Microsoft, Be My Eyes, Verizon, and Apple, among others.

Graduate Research Assistant Dara Bright presented a paper "The Impact of Education Policies on African Americans: The Case of the Higher Education Act from 2008-2016" at the APPAM DC Regional Student Conference held at American University in Washington, DC on March 29th-30th, 2019. The paper presented research analyzing the effects of politics and agenda setting on African American students' completion of a post-secondary degree.

April saw the introduction of The Digital Equity Act of 2019, seeking to reduce the digital divide and the homework gap. If passed, the Act would create and implement digital equity plans, launch digital inclusion projects, and support evidence-based research. To accomplish this, the Act would fund federal grants, distributed by the National Telecommunication and Information Administration, to support projects that align with this initiative.

CACP Executive Director Brad Fain was an invited speaker at the Spring 2019 meeting of the Georgia Association of Higher Education Retiree Organizations on Tuesday, April 16, at the GTRI Conference Center in Atlanta. He gave an overview of Homelab, Georgia Tech’s home-based research network focused on the development of innovative technologies useful for seniors.

Click here for more information about the GA-HERO Spring 2019 Meeting

CACP was recently well represented at the Southern Gerontological Conference April 9 – 13, 2019, in Miramar Beach, Florida. CACP Executive Director Brad Fain gave a presentation: “Mild Cognitive Impairment Empowerment Program,” Paul M.A. Baker presented “Technologies of Inclusion, Enhanced Aging, and the Role of Policy,” and Sarah Farmer presented “HomeLab: A Living Lab for Evaluations.”

Click here for more information about the SGS Conference

Though February is the shortest month in the year, it was not short on activity. The Notice of Renewal of the Disability Advisory Committee’s (DAC) Charter [DA 19-55] was published in the Federal Register, starting the third two-year term for the DAC. The Committee will address, among other things, hearing aid compatibility, advanced communications and equipment services, and 9-1-1 access.

Paul M.A. Baker (CACP) and Maribeth Gandy Coleman (Wireless RERC/IMTC) were panelists on the "High-level views of the challenges" panel part of Computing Community Consortium (CCC) Content Generation for Workforce Training workshop held March 14-15, 2019 in Atlanta, Georgia. The visioning workshop was designed to discuss and articulate research visions for authoring rich media content for new workforce training, and summarize the current state of the practice in this area.

Though February is the shortest month in the year, it was not short on activity. The Notice of Renewal of the Disability Advisory Committee’s (DAC) Charter [DA 19-55] was published in the Federal Register, starting the third two-year term for the DAC. The Committee will address, among other things, hearing aid compatibility, advanced communications and equipment services, and 9-1-1 access.

Nathan Moon and Fran Harris (CATEA, Georgia Tech) recently gave an invited presentation at State of the Science Conference for the University of New Hampshire's Rehabilitation Research and Training Center on Employment Policy and Measurement (EPM-RRTC). The conference was held at the National Academy of Sciences Building in Washington, DC, on February 12, 2019.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has a statutory obligation to evaluate the impact of their regulations that implement the Twenty-First Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act (CVAA). Every two-years the FCC submits a report to Congress on the state of industry compliance with the CVAA. In anticipation of the FCC’s call for stakeholder input to inform their 2018 CVAA Biennial Report, the Wireless RERC conducted a 2017 Mobile Phone Accessibility Review (Accessibility Review/Review).

Brad Fain, principal research scientist at the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) and at the Center for Advanced Communications Policy (CACP), has been appointed as executive director of CACP. The appointment was announced on January 2, 2019 by Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts Dean Jacqueline Royster.

In the regulatory space, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is seeking input from people with disabilities and other stakeholders about how best to facilitate the coordination of communications providers, power companies, and the Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau to enable a robust and rapid response to emergencies. Specifically, the concern is keeping people connected to communications in the event of power outages or service interruptions.

New Wireless RERC Research Brief: Accessibility, Usability, and Social and Cultural Acceptance of Next Generation Wireless Devices

Twenty-one years after arriving at the Georgia Institute of Technology, Regents' Researcher Helena Mitchell is stepping down from her role as the executive director of the Center for Advanced Communications Policy (CACP).