Center for Advanced Communications Policy

The Southern Surprise: Georgia’s Ascendancy

Georgia ranks second, with graduates earning $19,110 more than the state’s median. Atlanta’s transformation into a southeastern hub for fintech, cybersecurity, and logistics has redefined the regional economy. Major firms like Coca-Cola, Delta, and UPS now share the skyline with a new generation of tech disruptors and private equity firms.

The message for executives: the South is no longer just a low-cost labor region—it’s an emerging nexus of educated, mobile, and upwardly aspirational talent. The state’s investment in public education and business-friendly tax structure is paying dividends in both productivity and innovation.

r.smartbrief.com

We are carrying on.

Census advisory committee meets despite Trump administration nixing it A Trump executive order directed the cancellation of “unnecessary” councils that advise on agency operations.

These resources include an online course titled “Navigating Employment as a Person with a Physical Disability,” tools for exploring assistive technology (AT) and other accommodations, and a tracker to monitor a person’s progress in mastering AT.

Welcome! You are invited to join a webinar: Five Resources to Help with Your Workplace Accommodation Journey. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email about joining the webinar. Join us for an exploration of resources created by the RRTC on Accommodations, Employment Supports, and Success for People with Physical Disabilities (ACCESS-PD RRTC). These include a new “Navigating Employment as a Person with a Physical Disability” online course, tools to help people explore a...

Exploring AI and Disabilities - Interest Form This interest form is used in recruiting and screening participants for the AI Study 2.

We agree!

National Council on Disability | Home An independent federal agency committed to disability policy leadership since 1978

CACP's Salimah LaForce, featured in Georgia Tech's "Unexpected Paths" series.

Getting the Message Across: One Researcher’s Mission to Make Communications Work for Everyone | Research Salimah LaForce studies where information systems fail and where they can be improved. Her work helps ensure that people with disabilities aren’t sidelined when it comes to safety, health, and opportunity.

Is 988 accessible for people who need mental health support? Is 988 accessible for people who need mental health support?988 is the national su***de and crisis lifeline. In this edition of our series,...

Are you at least 65 years old and live in the Metro Atlanta area? If so, please consider participating in our study, which utilizes virtual reality to explore protective action decision-making during disaster events.

We are seeking older adults to participate in a one-hour lab experiment on disaster preparedness and on your willingness to use technology for disaster preparedness. Participation is voluntary. Participants will use virtual reality headsets three times for up to 8 minutes each time.

You will receive a $50 gift card as compensation after completing the experiment, and an additional $30 gift card upon completing the 6-month posttest follow-up.

To be included, you must:
- Be at least 65 years old
- Able to provide your own consent
- Reside in the U.S.
- Self-identify as having English language proficiency at the 8th-grade level
- Have at least 20/70 vision and an unrestricted visual field
- No diagnosed nystagmus, and no known motion sickness.

When:
- Monday, July 28, 2025 (various times)
- Tuesday, July 29, 2025 (various times)

Where: Georgia Tech Campus Building (details disclosed after you consent)

To sign-up for the study, please contact the study coordinator at [email protected].

Questions?
For State of GA participants, contact Georgia Institute of Technology PI Salimah LaForce [email protected] or 404-385-4614.

This project, PReparing Older Adults: Communicating Threat risk In Virtual Environments (PRO-ACTIVE), is funded by the National Science Foundation Grant # 2425223

Qualtrics Survey | Qualtrics Experience Management The most powerful, simple and trusted way to gather experience data. Start your journey to experience management and try a free account today.

FCC to Consider 100% Hearing Aid Compatibility Requirement for Wireless Handset Models and 988 Su***de and Crisis Lifeline Georouting Requirement

At the Commission’s Open Meeting on October 17, 2024, the FCC will consider a Report and Order (Order) that would amend the Commission’s rules to require all future wireless handset models offered for sale or use in the United States to be hearing aid-compatible (HAC) after a transition period. If adopted, the amended rule would allow Americans with hearing loss to choose among the same handset models available to consumers without hearing loss.

Additionally, the HAC Order would encourage handset manufacturers to move away from proprietary Bluetooth coupling standards and ensure more universal connectivity between handset models and hearing aids, including over-the-counter hearing aids. The HAC Order would provide a phase-out period while older handset models are gradually replaced with new handset models meeting the latest certification standards. The HAC Order would also strengthen the wireless handset accessibility requirements to include a volume control requirement for all new handset models. Finally, the HAC Order would revise labeling and website posting requirements regarding hearing aid compatibility.

Also at the October 2024 Open Meeting, the FCC will consider a Third Report and Order to require “georouting” of mobile calls to the 988 Su***de and Crisis Lifeline. Georouting uses the location of a mobile device to direct the call to the nearest crisis center, rather than the area code of the device’s telephone number which may not match the physical location of the caller. The 988 Lifeline is accessible by voice, text, and direct video calling. In an associated Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, the FCC proposes to require covered text providers to provide georouting for texts to 988.

The October 2024 Open Meeting is scheduled for 10:30 am ET on October 17, 2024, and will be held in the Commission Meeting Room, 45 L Street N.E., Washington, D.C 20554. The FCC meeting is also streamed live with open captioning at www.fcc.gov/live. Open captioning and sign language interpreting will be provided for this meeting. Other reasonable accommodations for people with disabilities are available upon request. In your request, please include a description of the needed accommodation and how you may be reached if we need more information. E-mail your request to [email protected] or call (202) 418-0530.

Link to the FCC October Open Meeting Agenda:
https://www.fcc.gov/news-events/notes/2024/09/25/october-2024-open-meeting-agenda

Link to the DRAFT 100% Hearing Aid Compatibility Report and Order:
https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/DOC-405825A1.pdf

Link to the Draft 988 Georouting Third Report and Order and Third Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking:
https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/DOC-405823A1.pdf

Link to the News Release:
https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/DOC-405820A1.pdf

For general information about hearing aid compatibility, visit: https://www.fcc.gov/hearing-aid-compatibility-and-volume-control. For further information, please contact Eli Johnson, Attorney Advisor and Special Counsel, Wireless Telecommunications Bureau, Competition and Infrastructure Policy Division at (202) 418-1395 or [email protected].

More information about the 988 Su***de and Crisis Lifeline is available at: www.fcc.gov/988 or https://988lifeline.org/help-yourself/for-deaf-hard-of-hearing/. For further information, please contact Michelle Sclater, Competition Policy Division, Wireline Competition Bureau, at (202) 418-0388 or [email protected].

Individuals who use videophones and are fluent in American Sign Language (ASL) may call the FCC’s ASL Consumer Support Line at (844) 432-2275 (videophone).

988 Su***de and Crisis Lifeline Secure .gov websites use HTTPSA lock ( ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Making Disability Rights History: HHS Announces Powerful Anti-Discrimination Protections Final Section 504 Rule will be a critical tool for fighting discrimination

Alison Barkoff

Earlier today, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) made disability rights history with the release of a long-awaited final rule implementing Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. This comprehensive update — the first since the initial regulation was put into place more than 40 years ago — creates one of the most powerful tools we have ever had to combat discrimination based on disability in health care and human services. The direct result of decades of advocacy by people with disabilities, the new 504 rule represents a giant step forward in the disability civil rights movement.

The Rehab Act was the first civil rights legislation protecting disabled people from discrimination. Section 504 of the Act prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability in programs receiving federal financial assistance, as well as those conducted by federal agencies, including in the areas of health care, public education, transportation, and more. For example, it covers all health and human services programs and activities funded by HHS, from hospitals and doctors that accept Medicaid or Medicare to states’ child welfare programs. It protects people with all types of disabilities and disabled people of all ages — which includes older adults who need assistance with major life activities like walking, getting in and out of bed, hearing, or seeing, who may not even think of themselves as people with disabilities.

Although the law was passed in 1973, enforcement of the critical civil rights provisions in Section 504 stalled while people with disabilities pushed the federal government to issue regulations to implement it. After nearly four years of advocacy, legal action, and protests, the initial 504 regulations were signed.

More than four decades later, we have made a lot of progress thanks to Section 504 and other disability rights laws. However, the promise of Section 504 remains unfulfilled for many disabled people, who still face physical, technological, and attitudinal barriers to accessing critical health care and human services.

The COVID-19 pandemic shone a spotlight on the catastrophic consequences of the discrimination, inaccessibility, bias, and stereotypes in our health care and human service systems — from placing disabled people at the back of the line when ventilators were in short supply to people being unable to access the supports and services they needed to stay in their own homes and communities — forcing them into nursing homes and other congregate settings where COVID-19 was rampant.

COVID also created urgency and momentum for change, and from the first days of the Biden-Harris Administration, the disability community made clear that updating the 504 regs was a top priority — a “must do.”

ACL was proud to work with our partners in the HHS Office for Civil Rights (OCR) and alongside the disability community to achieve that top priority.
We are excited to celebrate with you today. This is your rule, and it will be truly lifesaving for people with disabilities of all ages. And we are looking forward to working with OCR, the disability and aging networks, and the broader community to ensure that people with disabilities know about the rule’s powerful provisions to uphold their civil rights and guarantee they have equal access to health care and human services.
Key provisions
Among other important protections, the rule covers:
• Discrimination in medical treatment: The rule addresses discrimination in medical care and ensures that medical treatment decisions are not based on biases or stereotypes about people with disabilities, judgments that an individual will be a burden on others, or beliefs that the life of an individual with a disability has less value than the life of a person without a disability. These include, for example, decisions about life-sustaining treatment, organ transplantation, and rationing care in emergencies.
• Community integration: The rule clarifies obligations to provide services in the most integrated setting appropriate to the needs of individuals with disabilities, consistent with the Supreme Court’s decision in Olmstead v. L.C.
• Accessibility of medical equipment: The rule adopts the U.S. Access Board’s accessibility standards for medical equipment to address barriers to care, like exam tables that are inaccessible because they are not height-adjustable, weight scales that cannot accommodate people in wheelchairs, and mammogram machines that require an individual to stand to use them. The rule requires most doctors’ offices to have an accessible exam table and weight scale within two years.
• Web, mobile app, and kiosk accessibility: The rule adopts the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1, Level AA accessibility standards for websites and mobile applications. It also requires web-enabled systems in self-service kiosks in medical providers’ offices to be accessible. These provisions are particularly important given the increased use of websites, apps, telehealth, video platforms, and self-service kiosks to access health care.
• Value assessment methods: Value assessment methods are often used to decide whether a medical treatment will be provided and under what circumstances. The rule prohibits the use of any measure, assessment, or tool that discounts the value of a life extension on the basis of disability to deny, limit, or otherwise condition access to an aid, benefit, or service.
The HHS Office for Civil Rights has created a fact sheet that describes many of the rule’s key provisions. The fact sheet is available in English and 13 other languages on OCR’s Section 504 website.

Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 The Office for Civil Rights (OCR) enforces Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (Section 504).

Research Opportunity - Participate in a survey about non-traditional employment experiences of people with physical/motor disabilities.

Georgia Tech researchers seek individuals with physical/motor disabilities to participate in a comparative study about non-traditional employment (e.g., freelance, contract, temporary, etc.). We want to understand what kinds of non-traditional jobs you’ve had, your experiences in those jobs, and what you liked and disliked about them. The survey will take approximately 20 minutes of your time.

For completing the survey, you will be entered into a drawing to receive one of 120 $10 gift cards.

How to Participate: To participate in the study, you must be:
 18 years of age or older
 Be able to understand and speak English or be an ASL-user
 Have an upper and/or lower body physical motor disability
 Use assistive technology and/or accommodations for work
 Currently have a nontraditional job(s)
 Currently work in the U.S.

Survey Link: https://gatech.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_eOP0qS17UqErDbE

Questions? Contact Fran Harris at [email protected]

Contingent Employment Practices Survey (CEPS) Contingent Employment Practices Survey on Non-traditional Work (CEPS), by the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech).