4 Days Remain to Comment on Revisions to the Americans with Disabilities Act

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This is very important if you have any EMF sensitivities or fear developing

them.

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Reminder - Four days remaining to file comment.

Take Action - Submit written 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=0900006480b20b1\

a 

 

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 Systemâ€Â (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=0900006480b20b\

1a    Link to the DOJ docket related to websites and accessibility.

 

http://www.regulations.gov/search/Regs/home.html#documentDetail?R=0900006480b20b\

7a  

Link to the DOJ docket related to furniture and equipment.

 

Webcasts and Transcripts of Public Hearings  

Re-broadcast and transcript of all three public hearings are now available.

 

The Department of Justice held three public hearings on four Advance Notices of

Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRMs), to seek public comment on the possibility of

revising the ADA regulations to address accessible web information and services,

movie captioning and video description, accessibility of Next Generation 9-1-1,

and accessible equipment and furniture. The ANPRMs were published in the Federal

Register on July 26, 2010, and the comment period for them closes on January 24,

2011.

Webcasts of all three public hearings can be re-broadcast on-demand at the link

above.

P.O. Box 117 | Marshfield, VT 05658 US

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