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Topic – Possibility of revising the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Regulations to address accessibility for the disabled to wireless technology and services.
Take Action - Submit comment to the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) by January 24, 2011. Submit comment yourself or forward this information to folks you know with Implanted Medical Devices or who experience hypersensitivity to electromagnetic fields.
TAKE ACTION
Tell the DOJ in CRT Docket No. 110 (also RIN 1190-AA61) - related to web access - or in CRT Docket No. 113 (also RIN 1190-AA64) - related to equipment and furniture - how increasing wireless electromagnetic radiation has made and will make it more difficult for you to work, access services of State and Local Governments, and/or public accommodations by causing a disabling functional impairment for you or by rendering treatments for your disability ineffective due to electromagnetic interference.
The DOJ Dockets address hearing, speech and vision disabilities. Your input is needed so that the DOJ includes the functional impairment brought on by environmental exposure to wireless devices in this proceeding.
WHY?
Unless we educate our government about the disabling functional impairment wireless communication can cause for those with radiofrequency sickness and medical implants, it may assume that making all libraries, public buildings, public spaces, shopping malls, hotels, motels, transportation services, etc., wireless will help all disabled Americans. The Disability Rights section of the DOJ is updating its rules for the ADA. It is studying how to help people who are disabled gain access to Web information, and to Services of State and Local Government Entities, and Public Accommodations that use wireless technology. It seeks input on how its rules on equipment and furniture need to be updated to improve accessibility for the disabled. See *** below for points to include.
HOW?
Submit comments, identified by RIN 1190-AA61 (or Docket ID No. 110) and RIN
1190-AA64 (or Docket ID No. 113), by any one of the following methods:
Electronic: Link to the original docket related to websites and accessibility. Federal eRulemaking Web site: www.regulations.gov. Follow the Web site's instructions for submitting comments. Direct link:
http://www.regulations.gov/search/Regs/home.html#submitComment?R=0900006480b20b1a
Regular U.S. Mail:
Disability Rights Section
Civil Rights Division
U.S. Department of Justice
P.O. Box 2885
Fairfax, VA 22031-0885
Overnight, courier, or hand delivery:
Disability Rights Section
Civil Rights Division
U.S. Department of Justice
1425 New York Avenue, NW
Suite 4039
Washington, DC 20005.
DEADLINE: Postmarked or filed electronically by January 24, 2011.
***Enough comments submitted on the topic of radiofrequency sickness as discussed below could have very positive results. Please read and participate.
While access to the internet has tremendous potential value for people with disabilities, the Department of Justice needs to recognize that wireless technology emitting microwave radiation in workplaces, public buildings, places of public accommodation (government buildings, hospitals, doctor's offices, schools, airports, airplanes, buses, trains, restaurants, shopping malls, museums, etc), transportation, and other areas of American life is seriously limiting the ability of a growing segment of the American population to participate in civil society and community life.
The DOJ Dockets address hearing, speech and vision disabilities. Your input is needed so that the DOJ includes the functional impairment brought on by environmental exposure to wireless devices in this proceeding.
The microwave radiation from wireless technology causes serious functional impairment to many whose symptoms have been characterized under the name radiofrequency sickness. The symptoms can range from discomfort to life-threatening depending on the exposure and the individual involved. Please see “Provocation Study using Heart Rate Variability Shows Radiation from 2.4 GHz Cordless Phone Affects Autonomic Nervous System” (Eur. J. Oncol. Library, vol. 5) at http://electromagnetichealth.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/Havas_HRV_Ramazzini1.pdf to read about how potentially serious the effects can be on the heart.
The ADA Dockets ask a number of questions related specifically to different aspects of website and physical accessibility. At the end of the Docket 110 - related to internet access – is the question: " Are there additional issues or information not addressed by the Department's questions that are important for the Department to consider?” Please provide as much detail as possible in your response."
Docket 113 relates to furniture and equipment. WiFi deployed in a building, wireless inventory systems or communications systems, etc., would all constitute problematic furniture and equipment.
Please submit your testimony under both dockets.
Below are some points to consider and incorporate in your comments. Please be sure to personalize your comment with examples from your experience. You do not need to worry about providing a comprehensive summary of the science. The EMR Policy Institute will cover that in its comment.
Points:
DOJ should issue a supplemental NPRM (Notice of Proposed Rule Making) to explicitly address radiofrequency sickness and related environmentally-induced functional impairments. Accommodations for disabilities in hearing, speech and vision do not address all disability issues for emerging electronic technologies.
Radiofrequency Sickness, a functional impairment which is caused by exposure to transmitted radiofrequency radiation and electrical pollution, needs to be clearly addressed by the DOJ in the rules governing Title I, Title II and Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act.
ADA rules need to explicitly reflect the very serious nature of radiofrequency sickness and require that workplaces, public places and places of public accommodation provide internet access on wires or fiber optic cables only. (List examples of places you are excluded from due to your environmentally-induced functional impairment.)
ADA rules also need to explicitly require utility companies to exempt persons with radiofrequency sickness from installation of transmitting utility meters at their homes and neighboring homes. Persons with relatives with radiofrequency sickness should be able to request this accommodation as well so that sufferers is able to visit and are not excluded from family life due to transmitting meters.
Additional actions the DOJ should consider:
The preemption of state and local authority over emissions from Personal Wireless Services Facilities found in Section 704 of the 1996 Telecommunications Act is an unreasonable restriction of the right to free speech and to redress of grievances and should be repealed.
Persons with radiofrequency sickness need an entity where they can file complaints and that can and will take action on their behalf. Thus far, the Consumer Product Safety Commission, FDA, and FCC have refused to fulfill these roles.
Radiofrequency radiation exposures increase risk of disease among the whole population and in the natural world. True safety regulations need to be enacted to protect the health of the public (including babies, children, pregnant women, the ill, persons with Implanted Medical Devices) and the environment during real-life daily exposures experienced from multiple real-life sources of wireless technology and electrically-polluting devices (see www.electricalpollution.com for more information). The EPA’s efforts to do this were halted in the 1990s. It time for the EPA to complete this work. Under the current inadequate guidelines the number of people who are succumbing to radiofrequency sickness is rising daily.
There should be a nationwide moratorium on additional antennas and additional wireless devices until true safety regulations are in place.
Please try to make as many of these points as possible in the context of your personal experience. It is essential that a significant number of people file comments. We need numbers or we will be ignored so please pass this on to other affected individuals. The Department of Justice does have a history of listening where other agencies have not. Do help us and help yourself by filing a comment.
If you are concerned about having personally-identifying information posted on the internet, please read the instructions in the dockets below for instructions on how to avoid that when filing your comment.
http://www.regulations.gov/search/Regs/home.html#documentDetail?R=0900006480b20b1a Link to the DOJ docket related to websites and accessibility.
http://www.regulations.gov/search/Regs/home.html#documentDetail?R=0900006480b20b7a
Link to the DOJ docket related to furniture and equipment.
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