Blind Customers Take Action Against the Cell Phone Industry

Blind and visually impaired customers are taking legal action against the cell phone industry in an effort to improve cell phone accessibility. This week, 11 customers from across the United States filed complaints with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), which enforces Section 255, the law that requires phones to be designed to be accessible for people with disabilities. Complaints were filed against both the cell phone carriers and manufacturers.

"These complaints illustrate a market failure on the part of the cell phone industry to address accessibility," says Paul Schroeder, VP, Programs and Policy Group at the American Foundation for the Blind (AFB). "While some companies have taken steps, consumers with vision loss have few good options for accessibility, and almost no reliable information about accessibility."

There is a growing need for accessible phones given the increasing rates of vision loss, the foundation says. Experts predict that by 2030, rates of severe vision
loss will double along with the country's aging population.

For people with vision loss, finding a cell phone with a readable screen or with voice output of essential features like menus or text messages is almost impossible. Some companies, like AT&T, have taken the lead on providing accessible phones. But too often the handsets and services are not designed to be user-friendly for those who are blind or visually impaired.

Earlier this month, AFB initiated a campaign called 255 Action to help people with vision loss understand access requirements, and if necessary, file complaints. As part of that campaign, AFB sent letters to leading cell phone service providers and manufacturers asking what they are doing to meet the needs of people with vision loss.

Frequent complaints from blind and visually impaired cell phone customers include:

• cell phones do not provide for audio output of information displayed on the screen;
• the visual displays on most phones are hard to read;
• numeric and control keys are not easy to distinguish by touch; and
• product manuals or phone bills are not available in braille, large print, or other formats they can read.

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Consumer Reports Identifies Most, Least Problematic Used Vehicles

New-car reliabilityis one thing, but how well will your car hold up three, five, even 10 years from now? On average, Toyota and Honda vehicles age best while those made by Volkswagen fare worst, according to new survey information from Consumer Reports.

For the first time, Consumer Reports has reported on the reliability of vehicles built in the past 10 model years (1997-2006). In addition, Consumer Reports has also identified vehicles that are most prone to specific problems to give used-car buyers more information than ever when making a purchase decision, the magazine says.

Detailed reliability ratings of 248 makes and models can be found in the April issue of Consumer Reports magazine, available March 6, or by logging in at http://www.ConsumerReports.org.

Among 10-year-old vehicles, owners of Japanese cars report the fewestproblems overall, the magazine says.

Toyota, Honda, and Subaru lead the way with an average of 65, 89, and 90 problems per 100 vehicles reported, respectively. Theaverage of all 10-year-old vehicles is 132 problems per 100 vehicles.

Of the domestic 10-year-old vehicles, those from Ford (including Lincoln and Mercury) remain most reliable, at about 120 problems per 100 vehicles. Ten-year-old vehicles from GM and Chrysler are nearly neck-and-neck with about 160 problems per 100 vehicles. Volkswagen (including Audi) owners reported about 175 problems per 100 vehicles, by far worse than anyother brand, the magazine says.

The oldest Korean vehicles (eight years old) from Hyundai (including Kia) that Consumers Reports says it has sufficient reliability data for are problematic, faring worse than all domestics and half of some European brands. Newer models, however, show improvements, the magazine adds.

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Audio: Greenhouse Gas Emissions Entangled Within Global Economy

Greenhouse gas emissions and global warming have become entangled within international economic issues, according to researcher Gregg Marland of the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL).

Marland says global warming in China has an impact on the U.S. economy.

"The estimate is that something like 10 percent of emissions from China are to produce goods that will be used in the United States," Marland says. "The globalizing economy makes it more and more difficult to be clear how we solve it and how is the climate system linked to the global economic system."

Click here to reach an audio clip.

Marland discussed the climate change and global warming issue during a recent University of Tennessee Science Forum.

Marland says the global warming debate has entered a new chapter.

"We're more and more talking about not how do we stop it, but how do we cope with it," Marland says. "It has been a significant change."

ORNL is managed by UT-Battelle for the Department of Energy.


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