A National Teleconference TRAINING MANUAL April 13-14, 1998 CHALLENGE '98 Don't Toss Pebbles When You Can Be Launching Missiles Advocacy: Using the Internet Power Tools IL NET NCIL/ILRU National Training & Technical Assistance Project 1998 ILRU Program 2323 S. Shepherd, Suite 1000 Houston, TX 77019 713-520-0232 (v) 520-5136 (TTY) 520-5785 (fax) Permission is granted for duplication of any portion of this manual, providing that the following credit is given to the project: Developed as part of the IL NET: NCIL/ILRU National Training and Technical Assistance Project. Developers of this TRAINING MANUAL: June Kailes Raymond Lin Laurel Richards Rose Shepard Dawn Heinsohn TABLE OF CONTENTS Agenda Learning Objectives List of Presenters and IL NET Staff About the Presenters June Isaacson Kailes Frederick A. Fay David Newburger Roland Sykes Patricia Yeager Acknowledgments Pre and Post Call Activities Part 2: A Look at what it takes Advocacy Resources and Sample Web Sites Using Cyberspace Getting Active On-Line: A Guide to Internet Resources Justice for All E-mail Network California Foundation for Independent Living Centers Liberty Resources Managed Care Advocacy Resources Memphis Independent Living Center Advocacy Internet Law Library URLs for Advocacy Links (June Kailes) URLs of and for Independent Living Centers (June Kailes) Affordable, Accessible Connections to the Web for All Net-Tamer Home Page Lynx Cathy's Newstand Telecommunications Competition: Just What's in it for People with Disabilities CHALLENGE '98 Don't Toss Pebbles When You Can Be Launching Missiles Advocacy: Using the Internet Power Tools AGENDA April 13-14, 1998 1. Welcome and Overview - June Isaacson Kailes 2. Unleashing the Power - utilizing the existing resources - Fred Fay a. Keeping people in the loop b. Action networking c. Exploiting/capitalizing on the use of E-mail i. Information ii. Alerts iii. Reaching large numbers iv. Group lists v. Listservs: moderated and unmoderated (1) What are they? Examples (a) Justice for All (i) Over 1000 subscribers (ii) 300 different organizations represented (iii) Outcomes/success 1) 1997 regulatory reform (196 out of 300 were from our constituency) 2) Gordon Amendment to Rehab Act vi. Obtaining Information - June Isaacson Kailes (1) Exchanging information worldwide (2) Keeping minds open beyond our borders vii. Web sites - Fred Fay viii. Identity building ix. Chat areas x. The future (1) Video conferencing (2) Net meetings with white boards: sharing same application (3) Internet Phone 3. Questions and Answers 4. Collaborative Work On-Line: Models of New Way to Organize/to Work - David Newburger a. Personal tools and examples i. Research (1) Physical/mobility advantages (2) Content (a) Legal (b) Government documents (c) Disability oriented web pages (d) listsevs and newsgroups ii. Advocacy (1) Quick exchanges with multiple participants (2) Exchanging drafts for further development and dissemination (3) Calls to action (4) Using e-mail to advocate 5. Systems Change and Community Education Project (CFILC model) - Patricia Yeager a. Empowerment Team Leader Network i. Funding ii. Internet network/infrastructure (1) ISDN and cable modems (2) Web site (a) Legislative subscription service and analytical commentary (b) Pass word protected membership services iii. -C-You-See-Me technology iv. Implementation struggles and challenges b. CFILC's Vision i. Sending testimony via the Internet ii. Wiring legislative hearing rooms iii. "Pure Voice" 6. Questions and Answers 7. Access Issues - Roland Sykes a. Affordability i. Use of the public library ii. Free e-mail addresses iii. Recycling equipment program models b. Accessibility i. Graphic user interface ii. Speech recognition iii. Audio/video content iv. Single switch user v. Cognitive issues c. Training 8. Universal Design and Universal Access - David Newburger a. Section 255 Guidelines i. The goal of universal design ii. The readily achievable problem iii. Creating a market for accessible equipment b. Universal access i. What the folks in Washington are talking about ii. What we need them to talk about (1) Accessible location (2) Affordability 9. Questions and Answers 10. Wrap-up - June Isaacson Kailes LEARNING OBJECTIVES Objectives: Hear from and talk directly to colleagues who are using these advocacy tools Learn: - About existing effective models - How to unleash the power of today's Cyber resources through: * maximizing the use of e-mail * using group lists, listservs, Web sites, * using power search tools to obtain information * working collaboratively - About the Cyber advocacy tools of tomorrow * the vision * telecommuting to hearing rooms and conferences - What the advocacy access challenges are and what they will be in the future * accessibility * affordability * universal service LIST OF PRESENTERS AND IL NET STAFF PRESENTERS June Isaacson Kailes Disability Policy Consultant 6201 Ocean Front Walk, Suite 2 Playa del Rey, CA 90293-7556 (310) 821-7080 (v) (310) 827-7470 (fax) http://www.jik.com jik@pacbell.net Frederick A. Fay, Ph.D. 2054 Main St. Concord, MA 01742 (978) 371-0992 (v) noon to 5 pm EST (508) 369-3863 (fax) Justice For All: jfa@mailbot.com http://www.mailbot.com/justice Roland Sykes, Chairman DIMENET 6256 Ramblewood Drive Dayton, OH 45424 (937) 237-8360 (v) rsykes@gimp.com David J. Newburger Newburger & Vossmeyer One Metropolitan Square, Suite 2400 St. Louis, Missouri 63102 (314) 436 - 4300 (v, TTY) (314) 436 - 9636 (fax) david.newburger@counsel.com Patricia Yeager, Executive Director CA Foundation for IL Centers 910 K Street, Suite 350 Sacramento, CA 95814 (916) 325-1690 (v) (916) 325-1699 (fax) (916) 325-1695 (TTY) http://www.cfilc.org py@cfilc.org IL NET STAFF NCIL Anne-Marie Hughey Raymond Lin Executive Director Logistical Coordinator amhughey@aol.com raymond_lin@msn.comNCIL 1916 Wilson Blvd., #209 Arlington, VA 22201 (703) 525-3406 (v); 525-4153 (TTY); 525-3409 (fax) ncil@tsbbs02.tnet.com ILRU Lex Frieden Laurie Gerken Redd Executive Director Administrative Coordinator lfrieden@ilru.org lredd@ilru.org Richard Petty Bob Michaels Program Director Training and Curriculum Development Director richard.petty@bcm.tmc.edu 65 E. Kelly Lane Tempe, AZ 85284 Laurel Richards (602) 961-0553 (v); 961-0533 (fax) Training Director michaels@impulsedata.net lrichards@ilru.org Dawn Heinsohn Materials Production Specialist heinsohn@ilru.org ILRU Program 2323 S. Shepherd, Suite 1000 Houston, TX 77019 (713) 520-0232 (v); 520-5136 (TTY); 520-5785 (fax) ilru@ilru.org Other Staff June Isaacson Kailes Roland Sykes, President Disability Policy Consultant Greater Independence through Management 6201 Ocean Front Walk, Suite 2 Programs, Inc. Playa del Rey, CA 90293-7556 6256 Ramblewood Drive (310) 821-7080 (v) Dayton, OH 45424 (310) 827-7470 (fax) (937) 237-8360 (v) http://www.jik.com rsykes@gimp.com jik@pacbell.net ABOUT THE PRESENTERS June Isaacson Kailes, Disability Policy Consultant, is active as a disability rights advocate and program developer in the independent living movement and has done so since the late 1960s. June consults for and trains businesses, universities, government entities, centers for independent living, and other not-for- profit organizations. Prior to establishing a full-time consulting practice in 1989, Kailes worked for the Westside Center for Independent Living (WCIL) in Los Angeles. During her eight years as executive director, she established WCIL as one of the largest, most respected independent living centers in the United States. One of the original national leaders in the independent living movement, Kailes has held many offices in the National Council for Independent Living and the California Coalition of Independent Living Centers and has a presidential appointment to the United States Access Board. She serves as co-director of curriculum development and training with the IL NET. Among many diverse publications, one of her most popular books is A Guide to Planning Accessible Meetings. Fred Fay, as a community organizer for 30 years, has co-founded a dozen different organizations. These range from the Washington Architectural Barriers Project and the Boston Center for Independent Living to the American Coalition for Citizens with Disabilities and Americans with Disabilities Vote. He has received numerous awards and honors for his work, from the Henry B. Betts Award to the U.S. Jaycees Outstanding Young American award. In recent years, Fay has focused on shaping federal disability policy through the political process. In 1991-92, as National Chair of Disability Rights In Voter Empowerment, Fay worked with staffs of major presidential candidates to facilitate development and distribution of disability position papers. He is Co-Chair of the Ad Hoc Committee on Health Care Reform and Disability and serves on several Boards of Directors. A founding member of Justice For All, Fay chairs the JFA Telecommunications Committee. He is a pioneer in using computer technologies and the Internet to improve communications between national, state and local organizations. He chaired Americans with Disabilities for Clinton/Gore in 1996; and is the current chair of the Democratic National Committee's Disability Advisory Committee. David Newburger maintains a law practice with Newburger & Vossmeyer in St. Louis. He has been a board member for Paraquad--St. Louis's independent living center--since 1981 and has served as board chair for three years and various committee chairs, including the Program Committee, for a number of years. He is executive director of ConnectMissouri--a telecommunications advocacy organization of people with disabilities, older adults, rural citizens, inner city citizens, rurban business development organizations, and health care, education and library leaders. He is former chair of the Advisory Committee on Disability Law Compliance, for the United States Attorney, Eastern District of Missouri. Newburger has lobbied and litigated extensively for rights of people with disabilities, older adults and other consumers for telecommunications justice in legislatures, regulatory agencies, and the courts. He represents a group of people with disabilities and older adults who advocate for their communities and who intervened in the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals review of FCC interpretation of the Tele- communications Act of 1996. He will file a brief for that group in the Supreme Court of the United States, which has recently announced it will further hear the case. He is or has also handled disability rights cases involving employment discrimination and facilities accessibility, including cases involving the accessibility of the St. Louis Zoo, the St. Louis Bread Company stores, four Clayton, Missouri office buildings, the Raddisson Hotel in Kansas City, and others. Newburger had polio as an infant. He is happily married with one grown daughter. In addition to practicing law, he has taught law on the regular faculty at Washington University School of Law in St. Louis, and he has taught part time for the St. Louis University School of Law, also in St. Louis. Roland Sykes has been involved in the independent living field for the last 17 years. He has worked for vocational rehabilitation and as a center director. His current specialty is utilizing computers and computer networks to share information and build the disability community. Patricia Yeager, currently the Executive Director of the California Foundation for Independent Living Centers (CFILC), has spent the last 19 years as an advocate for persons with disabilities. She has worked to promote access to higher education in Pittsburgh and Denver; (Community College of Allegheny County; Auraria Higher Education Center serving Metropolitan State College and the University of Colorado at Denver) develop and implement public policies concerning access to municipal services under the Mayor of Denver as the Director of the Denver Commission for People with Disabilities; develop and implement services and advocacy in Independent Living Centers in Denver, Houston and San Diego. Yeager holds a M.S. degree in Rehabilitation Counseling from West Virginia University, her home state, and has been hearing impaired since the age of two. She has served on the Rehabilitation Advisory Council, State Independent Living Council, State Developmental Disabilities Council and Private Industry Council in several states. Always active in statewide networks for independent living as well as higher education, she is particularly interested in building local and statewide coalitions of persons with disabilities to work on public policy issues. This interest led her to accept her current challenge to set up and coordinate activities for CFILC, the "trade association" of the ILCs in California. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The developers of this manual would like to thank the following individuals and organizations for permitting us to reprint their web pages for training purposes. June Kailes, Disability Policy Consultant. 6201 Ocean Front Walk, Suite 2, Playa del Rey, California 90293, (310) 821-7080 (voice/TTY), jik@jik.com. http://www.jik.com/ilcs.html Liberty Resources, Inc. 1341 N. Delaware Avenue, Suite 105, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19125, (215) 634-2000 (voice), (215) 634-6630 (TTY), lri@libertynet.org. Pre and Post Call Activities Note to Site Organizer Ask participants to arrive at meeting site 1 hour and 15 minutes before the teleconference. Please facilitate a one hour discussion before the teleconference. Here are some guidelines for doing so: Before the Call: Introduction: This conference will provide the opportunity for you to listen to and review how to maximize your efforts by using Internet tools. Distribute handout materials Explain that in order gain full advantage from the conference it is helpful to review the material before the call. Please do so now and then we will make introductions and have a discussion focused on your current use of advocacy Internet tools. Ask participants to introduce themselves and during their introduction include answers to the following questions: 1. How does your SILC or ILC currently use the Internet in its advocacy activities? 2. Do you have future plans to strengthen you Internet-related advocacy activities? 3. Share information regarding resources you may be using for these efforts. 3. What do you hope to gain by participating in this teleconference? Ask participants to list their questions on flip chart or backboard. These questions can be can be checked off during the conference call when or if they are answered. After the call (optional): 1. Explore some of the advocacy- related Web sites ( http://www.jik.com/advlinks.html ) 2. Discuss the strengths, weaknesses and access features of these Web sites. 3. Ask participants to identify barriers to their using the Internet for advocacy--computer/Internet skills? Money for Internet connection, for equipment? Savvy staff re: Internet (e.g., techie skills), re: advocacy (e.g., IL philosophy skills), re: advocacy on the Internet (e.g., imagination)? 4. Ask participants to identify barriers for consumers' use of the Internet--for all purposes. And, how can these barriers be addressed? 5. Ask participants to identify future subjects that can be addressed through teleconference approach to training. Part Two--A Look At What It Takes Using Cyberspace http://www.2020vision.org/cyberact.html Using Cyberspace Getting Active On-line: A Guide to Internet Resources "Throw out the excuses and embrace technology, especially something as useful and far reaching as the Internet, otherwise we are the ones holding ourselves back from truly attaining power in this arena. Communicate. Publish. Organize. Make change...With just a little knowledge and persistence in cyberspace, we can have the world at our fingertips -- or even in the palms of our hands." - Aliza Sherman, President CG Internet Marketing, Ms., July/August 1995 This document is intended to introduce grassroots activists to Internet tools. Since you are visiting it on the World Wide Web, you will probably find this document simplistic. However, you can print or download this document and distribute it to other activists who could benefit from it. Also, check out the progressive hyper-text links below. This document is divided into the following sections: E-Mail and Inter Relay Chat Gopher and File Transfer Protocol (FTP) Conferences and Usenet World Wide Web How to get Connected Progressive Links (World Wide Web Pages, Gopher Servers and Usenet NewsGroups) If you are like most people, you have been hearing a lot about the much touted Information Super-Highway, the Info Bahn, the Great Cyber Way, being Wired. Most of what you hear has to do with the Internet, or "the Net," an international network of computers. The Net can give you unbelievable access and power, making information available with the click of your computer's mouse or slap of its return key. The Internet currently boasts more than 30 million users around the world, composed of 66% commercial servers and 33% nonprofit and educational servers. It is estimated that there will be over a billion users on the Net by the turn of the century. Not only are the number of users growing, but so are the number and variety of resources. It is possible to take part in discussion groups with people from around the world, access information directly from the government, nonprofit organizations, businesses and individuals. Some believe that the Internet is adding to a process of dividing the world community between the haves and have-nots. Others believe the Internet will evolve into something as common as television. Regardless of its future, the Net is now a fantastic resource for grassroots activists. This fact sheet is designed to provide activists with tips on how to get on-line and what to do once you have arrived. Specifically, this fact sheet will explore the resources available in the areas of peace and Using Cyberspace http://www.2020vision.org/cyberact.html the environment. Big business, politicians, political activists and more and more individuals are using these technologies. Federal, state and local government officials and staff are accessing the Net to retrieve information and gauge public opinion. The religious right, military and industrial communities are using the Internet to get their information out quickly and effectively. They are already influencing citizens and decision makers in government electronically. Progressive organizations and activists need to be more visible on the Internet, helping to bring politics back to the people, allowing an electronic, interactive government: a true democracy. As an activist, your voice is important and should be heard on the Internet like it is on the radio waves, on the phone lines, in the newspapers and in mailboxes. You may already be hot-wired to the Net, maybe you use e-mail at home or at work, or maybe you have overheard people talking about "Surfing the Web." Regardless of your experience, now is the best time to begin or expand your use of the Internet. We have reached a point where connecting and using the Net is relatively affordable and easy. If you have a computer and a modem, you are more than half way there. What You Can Do With very little effort, you can use Internet tools to: send targeted messages to specific people; receive copies of public government documents on your computer; mobilize thousands of people on a single issue; People talk about how personal contact with others has become more and more difficult. While computers may be a part of this problem, they may also be a part of the solution. Using computers to access the world through the Internet can put you in contact with millions of other people. It can unlock more information and expose you to more ideas than ever before possible. The Internet makes sense for today's fast-paced world where information is more powerful if it is instantaneous and actions are stronger if they are targeted and quickly disseminated. Using the Internet, grassroots activists can electrify their information and actions. If you have never experienced the Internet, find someone who is connected, go to your local library or progressive coffee house, or better yet get connected yourself and see what you are missing. The amount of information and the world-wide community of people found on the Internet is amazing. Once you see it, you will know why people talk about its vast potential. The Tools E-Mail (Electronic Mail) and Inter Relay Chat (IRC): Host computers, or servers, on the global Internet are all linked to one another, mainly by telephone wires. Each server has a unique address on the Internet. You can think of this address as being like the zip-code of a city. As an individual with an Using Cyberspace http://www.2020vision.org/cyberact.html Internet account, you also receive a unique address, your user name, which is like your street address. Combine your unique address with the server's address and you have a mailing address to send and receive e-mail. Individuals can dial from their phone line via a modem into an Internet server in their community. Once connected, the user can send messages to anyone in the world who has a connection. Even if you use the Internet to send an e-mail message to Timbuktu, you won't be charged long distance telephone rates. E-Mail is also reliable and is quickly delivered (usually within seconds or minutes). E-Mail is not limited to the Internet. Companies, small computer networks and schools can receive Internet e-mail through something called a gateway. You can also subscribe to electronic mailing lists on the Internet and have documents about certain topics automatically sent to your e-mail address. Inter Relay Chat is like a text-based telephone system that your Internet server may provide. You can type messages on your keyboard that can be read moments later by other users. You can also read messages that other users send, allowing for a real-time cyber conversation! Unlike e-mail, where the recipient must open his or her mailbox, read the mail you sent them and then respond with other e-mail messages, IRC lets two ore more people hold an interactive conversation over the Net. If two users have digital video cameras hooked up to their terminals, you can use software to have a live video conference over the Internet as well. Gopher and FTP: These common and handy tools let you access servers on the Internet and use the resources of very large computers from your personal computer at home or work. Gopher is one of the most popular tools for getting information and provides a text or graphic-based interface that leads the user through the server. There are many public Gopher servers that are open to anyone and allow you to read files or copy them to your own computer, called downloading. For example, you can visit the House and Senate Gophers in Washington, DC and retrieve information about Congresspeople, what bills they are co-sponsoring, their votes on certain bills, what committees they sit on and other information. FTP (File Transfer Protocol) lets you log into a server as an anonymous user to download files directly to your computer. You can also use FTP to put files (upload) on the server computer. These files might be text, pictures, sounds, movies, or free or low cost computer programs. There are more restrictions for use at FTP servers and the tool itself can be more difficult to use than Gopher. However, FTP is a powerful tool for getting information quickly. Conferences and Newsgroups: Think of conferences like your neighborhood bulletin board, where you can post information about actions, meetings, services and items for sale, or anything else. Information posted to computerized bulletin boards, however, can be seen by millions of people around the world who are interested in a specific topic. And there is no paper waste for photocopying fliers! There are specific conferences for nearly every topic imaginable. Private conferences are usually only accessible to people who have an account with the host service provider (see Getting Connected). These conferences may allow for you to chat live with other users, or simply read what others have posted. Using Cyberspace http://www.2020vision.org/cyberact.html Conferences are known as UseNet Newsgroups on the Internet, where users can visit and read messages, add messages, or write responses to existing messages. More and more government officials are monitoring UseNet Newsgroups to gauge public opinion. Messages on conferences or UseNet Newsgroups can be text documents, pictures, sounds, movies, or computer programs that you can read or download to your own computer. There is a real etiquette or Netiquette to putting messages on newsgroups and private conferences. Most are not monitored and anyone can post items. Before you post an item for the first time, read the contents of other postings and see how people react. Get to know the contents before you post anything. World Wide Web World Wide Web: The "Web" is the most popular part of the Internet today. It's easy to get around on the Web and it can bring the content of the Internet to you in vivid color and vibrant sound. WWW or World Wide Web is the graphical interface to the Internet. Using a "Web Browser," you can "Surf the Web," or visit "pages" set up by individuals and organizations for public access. One exciting aspect of the Web is that you can surf from one site to another using highlighted "links." These are called Hyper-Text links and are what help make the Web such a dynamic place. Some World Wide Web pages are so packed with links you can spend hours finding information on a single topic from sources in your own neighborhood to sources around the world simply by clicking your mouse on links. With a Web Browser you can view pictures, formatted text, see video and experience a multimedia Internet. Web browsers work best if you have special modem connections called SLIP (Single Line Internet Protocol) or PPP (Point-to-Point Protocol). There is a Web Browser called Lynx that your Internet Service Provider may offer that lets you access the text at World Wide Web sites without a SLIP or PPP connection (see Getting Connected). With Lynx, you can read WWW documents, but not see any other pictures or multi-media aspects of the Web. Organizations, individuals, companies and schools use the Web to bring you electronic brochures about their services and products, making it the most commercial part of the Internet. The Web is also the easiest way to get around on the Internet. Getting Connected Getting connected can be confusing. There are a number of options, but if you decide what you want to do and how much you want to spend you will have an easier time. Go to your local library or bookstore for more information. The cost will vary, but once you have a computer and a modem you can have Internet access for $20 a month or less. Using Cyberspace http://www.2020vision.org/cyberact.html You will need a computer and a modem. A faster modem (14.4 BPS or higher), a color monitor (SVGA or better) and a speedy processor (33 MHz or faster) are essential for surfing the World Wide Web fully. Without these minimum requirements you might be frustrated by the time it takes to view Web pages. You will need a service provider. Service providers give you access to the Internet and private conferences. America Online, Compuserve and the Microsoft Network are big commercial providers, but smaller providers can be found in nearly every community. Smaller providers are usually less expensive, but may not offer as many private conferences or user-friendly features as the big ones. The big commercial providers may limit what you can access on the Internet or make it more difficult and time consuming to explore the Internet. Make sure the provider you choose gives you all the tools you want. Ask if they provide Web access: PPP or SLIP accounts or a Lynx server. Also ask if you will have access to all the UseNet Newsgroups that interest you. (Check out The List for service providers in your area.) You will need software: America Online and some other services give you special software for connecting. For other service providers, you will need terminal emulation software, like ProCom Plus for the PC or Microphone for the Macintosh. SLIP and PPP connections require a TCP/IP interface. Windows '95 and newer versions of the Macintosh operating system come with this. Before you sign on with a provider, ask people you know who are on the Net if they like their service and how much they spend on fees in an average month. A basic connection is a shell account which will give you a text-based interface to the Internet. Shell accounts can be fast, but you will need to learn some computer commands to use them. If you want to have full, user-friendly, multimedia access to the World Wide Web, you will need a SLIP or PPP connection. The Institute for Global Communications (IGC) is a main hub for information distribution between people and organizations involved in progressive issues. They offer full Internet access through different shell networks, including PeaceNet and Econet. They also offer SLIP and PPP accounts. For more information call (415) 442-0220 or check the above link. (IGC is not the only progressive server out there, but it is a large one. You can contact 20/20 Vision if you would like to discuss other options.) 20/20 Vision 1828 Jefferson Place, NW Washington, DC 20036 (202) 833-2020 vision@igc.apc.org Last Updated: February 14, 1996 This page is being overhauled...please forgive our dust. Justice for All http://www.mailbot.com/justice/access.html Justice For All E-Mail Network ACCESSING JUSTICE-FOR-ALL Table of Contents How to obtain JFA via Mailing List How to submit an article to JFA JFA Articles available via the WEB How to obtain JFA via Mailing List The easiest way to receive timely JFA Alerts is by subscribing to the National JFA E-Mail Network Mailing list. This mailing list is managed by a Majordomo Mailing List server. Subscribing is free and easy to do. To Subscribe, you need to have access to an E-Mail account that can send and receive E-Mail on the Internet. From that account, you need to send a message to the Majordomo mailing list server requesting to subscribe to the Justice For All mailing list. Your message should look something like: ------------------------------------------ To: majordomo@mailbot.com From: yourname@isp.domain Subject: Subscribe subscribe justice end ------------------------------------------ The keys are that the message must be sent to: To: majordomo@mailbot.com And you MUST include the line in the body of the message: subscribe justice Justice for All http://www.mailbot.com/justice/access.html After you have sent the message, you should get a response back from the Majordomo Server within an hour or so depending on how well connected your Internet provider is. Most get a response within seconds after they have sent their request. If everything is ok, you will get two messages, one telling your that the Majordomo Server has subscribed you to the list and the other being an introduction to the list from the JFA E-Mail Network Moderator. RETURN to Table of Contents How to submit an article to JFA The National JFA E-Mail Network mailing list is a moderated list. This means that every outgoing message to the Mailing List has been approved by the Mailing List Moderator for JFA. This keeps the traffic down and doesn't overburden subscribers receiving the list with unnecessary E-Mail from the list. If you have something important that you think should be sent out on the mailing list, you can sent your message to the JFA moderator. Address your message to: To: jfa@mailbot.com If the moderator believes it is relevant and should be sent out, they will send it out either as a separate alert or combined with another alert. RETURN to Table of Contents JFA Available via the WEB Access to past Justice For All alerts is easiest via the WEB where you can use a search engine to locate what you are looking for. Point your WEB Browser to: http://www.tnet.com/cgi-bin/justice/getindex?1 Then look on the main page for the Justice For All menu selection. RETURN to Table of Contents Last Updated: August 23th, 1997 - Visitor # 488 Copyright 1997 TNET Services Page Format and its Auto-Creation is a product of TNET Services California Foundation for Independent Living Centers http://www.cfilc.org/index.html California Foundation for Independent Living Centers Welcome, from the California Foundation for Independent Living Centers. Update About Us Directory Leaders Legislative History, ILC Lists, Empowerment Advocacy Mission, Links and Team Leaders Vision and Locations Staff Empoyment Opportunities CFILC Employment Opportunities Operations: Password Required Write us at Internet Mail Address: cfilc@cfilc.org 910 K Street, Suite 350, Sacramento California 95814-3577 (916) 325-1690 Fax (916) 325-1699 WWW.CFILC.ORG Bobby Approved (picture of English policeman) Copyright 1997,1998 California Foundation for Independent Living Centers Managed Care Resource Center http://www.libertyresources.org/mc/mc-www.html Liberty Resources Managed Care Resources The following are resources provided by Liberty Resources, Inc. staff for use by consumers as an aid to understanding what managed care is, what you need to know when selecting a health care provider, the experiences of other consumers and advocacy related issues. Definitions of Managed Care Terms Questions to ask your Health Care Provider or Primary Physician Local Health Care Providers Contact Numbers Liberty Resources' staff members have also complied the following links to Web sites related to managed care issues. Advocacy Issues -Advocacy Issues -Advocacy Sites Government Report - November 25, 1996: Health Care -Children with Disabilities Financing Administration announces restructuring -Dangers of Managed Care H.M.O.'s Defend Doctor-Patient Rules of -Developmental Disabilities Communication - CNN, Dec. 9, 1996 -H.M.O.'s Managed Care and Quality Services: The Importance of -Healthcare Person Centered Outcomes -Medical Information Critics say H.M.O.'s hiding facts to save bucks - CNN, -Medicare May 31, 1996 -Medicaid -Persons with Disabilities Advocacy Sites -Research Projects -Spinal Cord Injury The Center on Human Policy -Understanding Managed Care Families USA's Home Page Physicians Who Care provides legislative updates and other information regarding happenings in health care Children with Disabilities Parents Exchange Managed care for disabled children raises fears - Philadelphia Inquirer, August 7, 1997 Children with Special Needs in Danger Children's Medical Center of Dallas on Children and Managed Care Child Welfare League of America Family Voices Kids without Care Managed Care Advocacy for Children with Special Healthcare Needs Why Children are Not Little Adults American Academy of Pediatrics Web Site Children with Spina Bifida Managed Care Resource Center http://www.libertyresources.org/mc/mc-www.html Dangers of Managed Care for Persons with Disabilities Managed Care: Dangers for Persons with Disabilities from the National Multiple Sclerosis Society (NMSS) Poor and Elderly Do Worse in H.M.O.'s - CNN, Oct. 1, 1996 Developmental Disabilities Position Statement on Managed Care and Long-Term Supports in Developmental Disabilities Issues in Adapting Managed Care Techniques to Developmental Disabilities Psychiatric Inpatient Stay for A Person with Developmental Disabilities Health Maintenance Organizations (H.M.O.'s) The H.M.O. Page: A consumer oriented site on Health Maintenance Organizations (H.M.O.'s) Hot Topic -- How good is your H.M.O.? from Mainstream Magazine Selecting an H.M.O. for your firm Healthcare American Medical Specialty Organization (AMSO) Managed Care Resources from HealthAtoZ's Search Engine Managed Care Resource Center from the American Association on Mental Retardation (AAMR) Managed Care On Line: Managed information for the managed care community YOUR MONEY & YOUR LIFE: America's Managed Care Revolution is the web companion to a PBS special that focused on consumer issues in managed care. Medical Information Consumer Reports spent two months exploring and evaluating the myriad medical information sites on the Web, and has concluded, The wealth of useful medical information available online is well worth the initial difficulty of finding one's way around this new world -- and the constant need to be on guard against dubious material. The following are their recommendations. Official American Medical Association (AMA) Home Page MedicineNet Medscape The University of Pennsylvania Cancer Center Resource The Parenting Community Thrive Managed Care Resource Center http://www.libertyresources.org/mc/mc-www.html And two great searchable databases: Hardin Meta Directory Medical Matrix Medicare Medicare Managed Care - An on-line educational booklet Managed Care - A Medicare Beneficiary Advisory Bulletin from The Disability Rights Activist New Study Demonstrates Full Impact of Administration's H.M.O. Medicare Cuts: 3/18/97 press release from the American Association of Health Plans Medicaid Managed Care and Medicaid: an article from Families USA Medicaid Tool Kit from a Families USA Foundation conference on Medicaid in Washington, DC Persons with Disabilities MCare From the Institute on Disability at the University of New Hampshire Managed Care and Persons with Disabilities: Information on Managed Care from the National Multiple Sclerosis Society How Will Managed Care Fit Into the Lives of People With Disabilities? An article from the Hattie Larlham Foundation Principles for Managed Care for People with Disabilities Research Projects on Managed Care and Disability Building Health Systems Grantees from the Center for Health Care Strategies (CHCS) Medicaid Demonstration Project of New York State Spinal Cord Injury Managed Care and H.M.O.'s - Spinal Cord Injury (SCI) update Understanding Managed Care: Definitions and Explanations Glossary of Health Care Terms from Los Angeles Physicians for Social Responsibility (LAPSR) Managed Care: An Outlined Explanation (focused on children, an excellent educational site on Managed Care) Managed Care Resource Center http://www.libertyresources.org/mc/mc-www.html Managed Care Concepts: Definitions and explanations of some key concepts in managed care What is Managed Care? - A fact sheet from The Arc | Managed Care Index Page | | Consumer Services | Consumer Programs | Advocacy | Commercial Services | | Search | Web Site Map | Home | Managed Care Resource Center http://www.libertyresources.org/mc/mc-www.html Liberty Resources Managed Care Managed Care Hotline - Join the Coalition If you are experiencing difficulty getting medical care or - SB100 Voted Out services under the Medical Assistance Program we are here to help. Since the H.M.O.'s do not pay for everything that was received under Medical Assistance, you may be having difficulty receiving the medical supplies and equipment that you need. - Managed Care Hotline Your H.M.O. has a Special Needs Unit that can help to solve these problems. - Task Force Local Health Care Providers Contact Numbers. - Prior Authorization - H.M.O. Appeal Process If you contacted your H.M.O.'s Special Needs Unit and your problem was not - H.M.O. Assignment resolved to your satisfaction, Liberty Resources, Inc. can help! Special staff are trained to help you when you have issues with your H.M.O. Please call the - Interpretive Liberty Resources H.M.O. hotline at (215) 634-2000. ext. 324 and leave a Guidelines Notice message. Messages will be returned by the next day. All calls are confidential. - Survey - Resources - Enrollment Roulette - HealthChoices SE - 2/98 - Advisory Committee Meeting - 12/3/97 H.M.O. Appeal process You have the right to appeal any decision from your H.M.O. If you were denied services that you received under the old Medical Assistance system, or are experiencing any other problems, you have the right to appeal. Liberty Resources Inc. is working with the Disabilities Law Project (DLP) and Community Legal Services for legal technical assistance. For advocacy purposes, DLP is also keeping records on the calls that are received about H.M.O.'s. Liberty Resources, Inc. will document consumers' concerns and keep confidential records as proof of system-wide problems. If you need assistance appealing a decision of your H.M.O. call the Liberty Resources H.M.O. hotline at (215) 634-2000. ext. 324 and leave a message. All calls are confidential. Prior Authorization Although the old Medical Assistance system required prior authorizations for certain medical items and services, the H.M.O. you are now using may have Managed Care Resource Center http://www.libertyresources.org/mc/mc-www.html stricter prior authorization requirements for most equipment, services and supplies. Liberty Resources, Inc. is aware that consumers are being denied certain services by their H.M.O's due to lack of prior authorization. If you are having difficulties receiving items from your H.M.O., call your H.M.O. Special Needs Unit and ask if a prior authorization is needed. If you need a prior authorization, ask your doctor for one. If you have further problems, contact the Liberty Resources H.M.O. hotline at (215) 634-2000. ext. 324 and leave a message. All calls are confidential Liberty Resources is committed to helping consumers with H.M.O. problems. H.M.O. Assignment If you receive Medical Assistance and live in the Philadelphia area and have not chosen your Health Maintenance Organization (H.M.O.) under HealthChoices, the deadline for doing so has passed and you have been automatically assigned to one of the four HealthChoices plans. If you are unhappy with the HealthChoices plan to which you have been automatically assigned and want to change to one of the other plans, you have the right to switch to another of the four available H.M.O. plans at any time. If you require assistance in choosing or changing your assigned H.M.O., call the HealthChoices Hotline at 1-800-440-3989 (1-800-618-4225 TDD/TTY) or visit any County Assistance Office where a Benefit Consultant will be able to assist you. Contact Numbers for Local Health Care Providers Survey Managed Care is changing the health care system, and we at Liberty Resources, Inc. have made a commitment to the specific needs of the disability community. In order to help our consumers select the provider that will best meet their needs and to monitor the on-going services provided to the community, we ask that you complete the following survey. The information you, the consumer, provide will also alert us to advocacy needs. Help us help you and complete the Managed Care Survey. Managed Care Resource Center http://www.libertyresources.org/mc/mc-www.html Check this site frequently for updates. If you know of any related resources on the web email us at massey@libertynet.org. | Consumer Services | Consumer Programs | Advocacy | Commercial Services | | Search | Web Site Map | Home | The Memphis Center for Independent Livinghttp://home.mem.net/~mcil/advocacy.htm Memphis Center for MCIL Independent Living Advocacy Not Dead Yet The Resistance >>Testimony of Diane Coleman and Carol Gill to the House Committee. >>History of Not Dead Yet by Diane Coleman. >>Amicus brief to the Supreme Court. >>A Poem by Cleada Liggon >>Jan. 1 Memphis Flyer. See what some Memphians are doing about doctor-assisted suicide in this great article by Debbie Gilbert. ADAPT >>The ADAPT of Tennessee Website. >>Memphis ADAPT beats back an injunction. >>November 2-7 ADAPT stormed into Atlanta to press Newt Gingrich and the Democratic Party to consider legislation giving Americans a choice of long-term care. >>The reasonable proposal of the Tennessee Long-Term Care Consortium. >>The United States Constitution ...in HTML format. >>Learn about CASA The bill which will fundamentally change America's system of long-term care by reversing bias toward institutional placement for people who need assistance in their daily lives! To Join Memphis ADAPT e-mail Chris Colsey. Issues >>DIVIDED WE STAND, was the title of the Oct. 12th. through the 16th. Commercial Appeal series Managed Care Resource Center http://www.libertyresources.org/mc/mc-www.html that irresponsibly maligned the ADA. The series of stories incorrectly groups the civil rights for people with disabilities with special rights. People with disabilities are actively seeking civil rights and full inclusion into society, it is false to think of these as special rights or anything less than those extended to Americans through the 1964 Civil Rights Act, or the Bill of Rights. >>The FDR memorial. >>MCIL's response to the ignorance of ABC's John Stossel. Barrier Free Memphis >>Survey of MATAplus >>Survey of MATAplus will focus on Service. >>William Hudson, MATA president and GM, gives his assessment of MATAplus. >>What is Barrier Free Memphis? >>A Rewarding Fight. A letter from Barrier Free Memphis President Betty Anderson. >>Minus for MATA-plus. A letter from Barrier Free Memphis President Betty Anderson. >>Troubles fester at MATA-plus. A letter from Barrier Free Memphis President Betty Anderson. -[* Home *]-[* The Barrier Free Memphis Society *]-[* News *]- -[* Advocacy Issues *]-[* The Declaration *]-[* Tennessee ADAPT! *]- e-mail MCIL copyright 1997 - etc. Information U.S. Houston of representatives - Internet ...ary - Handicapped individuals and the lawhttp://law.house.gov/102.htm Internet Law Library The U.S. House of Representatives Internet Law Library Handicapped individuals and the law Disabilities laws (complied by the General Services Administration) Americans with Disabilities Act Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (Pub. L. 101-336) and related material Americans with Disabilities Act materials (compiled by ADA Update) Americans with Disabilities Act materials (compiled by the Great Lakes Disability & Business Technical Center Americans with Disabilities Act and related material compiled by the Justice Department Americans with Disabilities Act and related material (compiled by Iowa State University) Americans with Disabilities Act material (compiled by the University of Maryland) Australia and South Australia disability laws and legislation British Columbia Blind Persons Contribution Act Canada House of Commons Comm. on Human Rights & the Status of Persons with Disabilities documents (in English & French) Code of Federal Reg's, title 28, pt. 35 (Nondiscrimination on the Basis of Disability in State and Local Gov't Services) deaf education and the law Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and related laws and regulations international documents on the rights of disabled persons (compiled by the University of Minnesota) Kentucky Administrative Regulations, title 707 (Dept. of Education Office of Special Instructional Services) Kentucky Administrative Regulations, title 735 (Commission on the Deaf and Hard of Hearing) Kentucky Administrative Regulations, title 782 (Dept. for the Blind) Kentucky Administrative Regulations, title 908 (Dept. for Mental Health & Mental Retardation Services) Lane v. Pena (U.S., 1996) (sovereign immunity and the Rehabilitation Act of 1973) Maine Department of Mental Health, Mental Retardation, and Substance Abuse Services regulations Michigan Executive Order 1995-11 (Commission on Disability Concerns) Texas Administrative Code, title 16, chapter 68 (Architectural Barriers) U.K. (summary) U.K. Disability Discrimination Act 1995 materials U.K. sight impaired (summary) U.S. Federal law (collection #1) U.S. Federal and New York law (collection #2) U.S. - Americans with Disabilities Act (as one document) Vermont Statutes, title 33, chapter 13 (Aid to the Aged, Blind and Disabled) Vermont Statutes, title 33, chapter 15 (Special Services for the Blind) Washington Administrative Code, title 67 (Department of Services for the Blind) U.S. Houston of representatives - Internet ...ary - Handicapped individuals and the lawhttp://law.house.gov/102.htm Washington Administrative Code, title 72 (Washington State School for the Blind) Washington Revised Code, title 19, chapter 19.06 (Blind Made Products--Services) Wyoming Tax Refund to Elderly and Disabled rules and regulations Wyoming Vocational Rehabilitation rules and regulations ADA-law LISTSERV archive American Bar Association Commission on Legal Problems of the Elderly material American Bar Association Commission on Mental and Physical Disability Law material Americans with Disabilities Act brochures compiled by the Cornell University School of Industrial & Labor Relations Americans with Disabilities Act related books available through the American Bar Association Law Practice Management Sec "Americans with Disabilities Act: Advising Employers on Compliance" by Stanley J. Cohn "Americans With Disabilities Act: Overview of the ADA" Hale and Dorr "Bias Against Persons with Disabilities and Chronic Medical Conditions: Bibliography" California Bar "Braille Monitor" journal "Communicating the Americans with Disabilities Act: Transcending Compliance: A Case Report on Sears Roebuck and Co." by "Design Professionals Beware: Do You Know Your Liability Under the ADA?" by G. Weisbach & T. Smith "Disability Cases: Americans with Disabilities Act" by Herbert Monheit "DISABILITY Computing and the Law: What You Should Know" by Tzipporah Benavraham "Disability Discrimination Act 1995" McGriggor Donald (UK) "Helping Our Nation's Infants & Toddlers with Disabilities ...: A Briefing Paper on Part H of the [IDEA]..." "Individuals With Disabilities Education Act" by Herbert Monheit "Libraries & the ADA" by Gail Kovalik & Frank Kruppenbacher Minors and Incapacitated Adults, Conclusions of the First Special Commission Meeting on the Protection of "New Models of Care: A Report on the Texas Department of Mental Health and Mental Retardation" Texas Comproller's Office "New York's Motorized Wheelchair Lemon Law: A Guide for Consumers" New York Attorney General "Social Security Disability" by Herbert Monheit "Social Security Disability Update" newsletter U.S. Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compilance Board publications "What You Should Know About Your Social Security Disability Case" by Crowe & Shanahan see also U.S. Federal laws (arranged by original published source) see also U.S. Federal laws (arranged by agency) see also U.S. state and territorial laws see also Laws of other nations see also Treaties and international law see also Law school library catalogues and services see also Attorney and legal profession directories See also Law book reviews and publishers About the House Internet Law Library U.S. Houston of representatives - Internet ...ary - Handicapped individuals and the lawhttp://law.house.gov/102.htm U.S. House of Representatives Internet Law Library Home Page Your Comments Please! Your comments about this service, suggestions for improving the service, and questions about the service, are all welcome. Please include your e-mail address our address is usc@mail.house.gov. Law Revision Counsel, U.S. House of Representatives Advocacy Links http://www.jik.com/advlinks.htm Advocacy Links Please submit additions and updates to jik@jik.com 20/20 Vision Web Resource Page (Listed February 10, 1998) Resource for political activist ( http://www.2020vision.org/resources.html ) includes: Top-Level Stuff Government Documents Internet Law Library Voting and voting records $ Data on Campaign Finances Unofficial/general Information Political Party Resources AMERICAN DISABLED for ATTENDANT PROGRAMS TODAY ADAPT (Listed October 28, 1997) This site (http://www.adapt.org) includes information on: ADAPT's Community Attendant Services Act (CASA) Incitement Newsletter ADAPT's History Bulletins Upcoming Actions and Events Joining ADAPT ADAPT's Trainings Starting a Local Group Contacts Advocacy Links http://www.jik.com/advlinks.htm Articles Brochures and Flyers California Foundation for Independent Living Centers (CFILC) (Listed February 12, 1998) Site http://www.cfilc.org/index.html includes: Legislative Advocacy Updates Independent Living Center Links and Locations Deaf Watch (Listed October 28, 1997) Deaf Watch (http://home.hwsys.com/users/roehm/deaf.htm) includes: Discriminated? Problems? Harassed? Passed up? Demoted? FIGHT BACK - resources and information Gripe stories from the DEAF community Deaf Watch Legal Services Resource Links Deaf Advocacy Links Interpreters and Captioners Links To Disability Legal and Advocacy Resources Rights of Deaf And Hard of Hearing Under the ADA Australia's Disability Discrimination Act of 1992 Deaf Links Collection Disability Net: Disabled People's Direct Action Network (Listed January 25, 1998) Currently DAN, http://www.disabilitynet.co.uk/groups/dan/, is focusing on accessible public transport as an achievable goal towards the overall aim of full participation and equality of disabled people in this society. Advocacy Links http://www.jik.com/advlinks.htm Contents Include: How to Join History Current Position And Demands on Accessible Public Transport Articles Newsletters Nothing About Us Without Us Links Disability News Service (Listed February 10, 1998) Mission: To meet the media and public's demand for quality news and information. http://www.disabilitynews.com/ The Disabilities/Industrial Complex (Listed October 28, 1997) A Moral Alternative to War (http://dicomp.pair.com) The DICOMP (Disabilities/Industrial Complex) is an organization without formal organization. Its membership consists of people with disabilities (as defined by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and other legislation), companies and individuals who provide products/services for them, and advocates for their accessibility who may or may not be in the former groups. The similarities with the old Military/Industrial Complex are that DICOMP seeks to attain influence within the government and private sector to further its goals and believes there should be a "revolving door" for advocates to move between government service, participation in advocacy groups, and employment by vendors of disability related products. The dissimilarities are that while a main feature of the Military/Industrial Complex is secrecy and even (like the Mafia) a denial of its existence, DICOMP is an open cabal because its members proclaim their goals and methods as well as believing that "what's good for DICOMP is good for the world." Includes: articles furthering the ideals of DICOMP stories of test and triumph kudos and brickbats founder's musings links to militancy Advocacy Links http://www.jik.com/advlinks.htm The Disability Rights Activist (Listed February 10, 1998) Site http://www.disrights.org/dr-toc.html includes: Tools for Activists. Action Alerts Disability Rights Organizations and Publications Links Research the Issues Resources Electric Edge (Listed February 10, 1998) Online edition of Ragged Edge magazine, http://www.ragged-edge-mag.com/ , includes writing and thinking on assisted suicide long-term care rights access what it means to be a crip at the turn of the millennium Empowerment Zone (Listed October 28, 1997) The motto of Empowerment Zone (http://www.empowermentzone.com) is "helping individuals and communities achieve self actualization and full citizenship." Its resources may be viewed online or downloaded with any web browser, text or graphical. The site has a vast number of public, plain text, and organized collections on the following subjects: accessible education accessible housing accessible travel civil rights Advocacy Links http://www.jik.com/advlinks.htm employment financial advice funding assistive technology gender, relationships, and sexuality health care HTML, CGI, and Perl independent living Java legal help political action popular applications, including Eudora, Internet Explorer, Lynx, Netscape, Notes, Pine, Word, and WordPerfect rehabilitation self development Social Security telecommunications Windows Families USA The Voice of Health Care Consumers (Listed January 25, 1998) A national nonprofit organization, http://www.familiesusa.org/, advocates high-quality, affordable health and long term care for all Americans. Families USA works at the national, state, and grassroots levels with organizations and individuals to help them participate constructively in shaping health care policies in the public and private sectors. We issue reports and analyses, and work extensively through a variety of media, to educate the public, opinion leaders, and policy makers about problems consumers experience in the health care marketplace and what should be done to solve them. Includes a information on many health-related advocacy resources: Medicaid Medicare Children's Health Care Reform Managed Care Publications List Latest Releases such as: "What Is Crowd Out and Why Should Children's Health Advocates Care?" is a background paper on the possibility of the new children's health insurance program substituting for employer-based coverage (December, 1997) Families USA gives an Update on the Children's Health Insurance Program. Also included are the latest "State Allocations and Matching Rates" for the program. (December, 1997) "Comparing Medicare HMOs: Do They Keep Their Members?" This report provides a national Advocacy Links http://www.jik.com/advlinks.htm picture of Medicare HMO disenrollment. (December, 1997) "Cost-Sharing and Low-Income People" This fact sheet explains the term "cost-sharing," and relates it to low income Medicaid populations. "A Preliminary Guide to Expansion of Children's Health Coverage" provides a framework for state implementation of the provisions of the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). "The Marketing and Enrollment in Medicaid Managed Care Fact Sheet" outlines challenges and offers solutions as states face the transition of Medicaid beneficiaries out of the fee-for- service program and into managed care. Families USA agreement between managed care consumer advocates and nonprofit HMO's about the desirability of "legally enforceable standards" on consumer protection in managed care. Justice For All (Listed October 28, 1997) Justice For All (http://www.mailbot.com/justice/index.html) and the JFA E-mail Network were formed to defend and advance disability rights and programs in the 104th Congress. One JFA goal is to work with national and state organizations of people with disabilities to get the word from Washington D.C. out to the grassroots. This WEB page provides information on how to obtain the JFA alerts both by subscribing to the Mailing List and by having access to past alerts via Majordomo, Gopher and FTP access. Includes: PAST ALERT ARCHIVES by index or Search Engine Instructions on how to join the JFA Mailing list Liberty Resources Managed Care Information (Listed February 10, 1998) Managed care advocacy section ( http://www.libertyresources.org/mc/mc-index.html ) of Web site includes information on: Joining the Coalition Legislation Advocacy Links http://www.jik.com/advlinks.htm Hotline Task Force Interpretive Guidelines Notice Survey Advisory Committee Meetings Resources ( http://www.libertyresources.org/mc/mc-www.html ): Definitions of Managed Care Terms Questions to ask your Health Care Provider or Primary Physician Local Health Care Providers Contact Numbers Links to Web sites related to managed care issues Advocacy Issues Advocacy Sites Children with Disabilities Dangers of Managed Care Developmental Disabilities H.M.O.'s Healthcare Medical Information Medicare Medicaid Persons with Disabilities Research Projects Spinal Cord Injury Understanding Managed Care THE ROBERT WOOD JOHNSON FOUNDATION (Listed January 25, 1998) This Foundation, http://www.rwjf.org/main.html, based in Princeton, N.J., is the nation's largest philanthropy devoted exclusively to health and health care. It became a national institution in 1972 with receipt of a bequest from the industrialist whose name it bears, and has since made more than $2 billion in grants. The Foundation concentrates its grantmaking in three goal areas: to assure that all Americans have access to basic health care at reasonable cost to improve the way services are organized to provided to people with chronic health conditions to reduce the personal, social and economic harm caused by substance abuse--tobacco, alcohol, and illicit drugs. Site Information includes: Publications Applying for a Grant Descriptions of Programs & Projects Advocacy Links http://www.jik.com/advlinks.htm Library Search Capacity ADVANCES, the Foundation's quarterly newsletter Links to Grantee Web and Gopher Sites Thomas Legislative Information (Listed October 28, 1997) Thomas (http://thomas.loc.gov) is a service of the U.S. Congress through its Library. Its resources are huge and include: Floor Activities - House and Senate Major Legislation: 105th: By topic - By popular/short title - By bill number/type - Enacted into law 104th: By topic - By popular/short title - By bill number/type - Enacted into law Bill Summary & Status: 105th (1997-98) Previous Congresses: 104th (1995-1996) through 93rd (1973-74) Bill Text: Congress: 105th (1997-98) - 104th (1995-96) - 103rd (1993-94) Public Laws By Law Number: 105th (1997-98) Previous Congresses: 104th (1995-96) through 93rd (1973-74) Congressional Record Text: Congress: 105th (1997-98) - 104th (1995-96) - 103rd (1993-94) Congressional Record Index: Congress and Session: 105th - 1st (1997) - 104th - 2nd (1996) - 104th - 1st (1995) - 103rd - 2nd (1994) Committee Reports: Congress: 105th (1997-98) - 104th (1995-96) Committee Home Pages: House - Senate House Committee Schedules and Oversight Plans Selected House Committee Hearing Transcripts Historical documents including the Declaration of Independence, the Federalist Papers, early Congressional documents (Constitutional Convention and Continental Congress broadsides), and the Constitution How Our Laws Are Made (Revised and updated by Charles W. Johnson, House Parliamentarian) Enactment of a Law (By Robert B. Dove, Senate Parliamentarian) Congressional Internet Services (House, Senate, Library of Congress, Government Printing Office, General Accounting Office, Congressional Budget Office) Advocacy Links http://www.jik.com/advlinks.htm Library of Congress Web Links: Legislative - Executive - Judicial - State/Local U.S. House of Representatives Internet Law Library (Listed February 10, 1998) Site ( http://law.house.gov/102.htm ) includes information on an array of disability-related laws and related materials, for example: Disabilities laws (complied by the General Services Administration) Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (Pub. L. 101-336) and related material Australia and South Australia disability laws and legislation British Columbia Blind Persons Contribution Act Code of Federal Reg's, title 28, pt. 35 (Nondiscrimination on the Basis of Disability in State and Local Gov't Services) Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and related laws and regulations ADA-law LISTSERV archive American Bar Association Commission on: Legal Problems of the Elderly material Mental and Physical Disability Law material "Disability Cases: Americans with Disabilities Act" by Herbert Monheit "DISABILITY Computing and the Law: What You Should Know" by Tzipporah Benavraham "Social Security Disability" by Herbert Monheit Since 10/28/97 Accessed # 110 Created 10/28/97 Updated 2/12/98 Back to Resource List Back to Home Page Centers for Independent Living http://www.jik.com/ilcs.html Centers for Independent Living Please submit additions and updates to jik@jik.com General Information 1. Independent Living Research Utilization - The Institute for Rehabilitation and Research - Baylor College of Medicine - Houston, Texas 2. ILRU's searchable Independent Living Center Directory - 7/96 3. Institute on Independent Living 4. Research and Training Center on Independent Living - University of Kansas 5. U.S. Rehabilitation Services Administration 6. Addresses and Phone numbers of CIL's - DesignLine, Inc. 7. Kathy's Independent Living & Disability Resources State by state listing 1. Independent Living Center - Homer, Alaska 2. Arizona Bridge to Independent Living - Phoenix, Arizona 3. New Horizons Community Services - Prescott, Arizona 4. State of California Department of Developmental Services - state list of CIL's 5. Center for Independent Living - Berkeley, California 6. Foundation of Resources for Equality and Employment for the Disabled - A CIL in Grass Valley, California 7. Westside Center for Independent Living - Los Angeles, California 8. Access Center - San Diego, California (added 2/11/98) 9. Central Coast Center for Independent Living - Oakland, California 10. Center on Deafness - Denver, Colorado 11. Sangre de Cristo Independent Living Center - Pueblo, Colorado 12. Center for Independent Living - Tallahassee, Florida 13. North Florida Center for Independent Living - Tallahassee, Florida 14. Hawaii Center for Independent Living - Honolulu, Hawaii 15. League for the Blind & Disabled, Inc. - Fort Wayne, Indiana 16. Disability Action Center, North Idaho 17. Illinois Department of Rehabilitation Services - State of Illinois Listing of CIL's 18. Central Illinois Center for Independent Living 19. Illinois/Iowa Center for Independent Living - Rock Island, Illinois - Davenport, Iowa 20. Central Iowa Center for Independent Living - Des Moines, Iowa 21. Black Hawk Center for Independent Living - Waterloo, Iowa 22. Independence Inc. - Lawrence, Kansas 2/11/98 not working 23. Southwest Louisiana Independent Living Center - Lake Charles, Louisiana 24. Alpha One Center - South Portland, Maine 25. Stavros Center for Independent Living - Amherst, Massachusetts Centers for Independent Living http://www.jik.com/ilcs.html 26. Center For Independent Living - Boston, Massachusetts 27. MetroWest Center for Independent Living - Framingham, Massachusetts 28. Center for Independent Living - Oakland & Macomb - Sterling Heights, Michigan 2/11/98 not working 29. SMILES Center for Independent Living - Mankato, Minnesota 30. Paraquad - St. Louis, Missouri 31. Granite State Independent Living Foundation - Concord, New Hampshire 32. Independent Living Center of Western New York - Buffalo, New York 33. Independent Living Center Directory of Services - SUNY - Buffalo, New York 34. Taconic Resources for Independence, Inc. - Poughkeepsie, New York 35. Rochester Center for Independent Living - Rochester, New York 2/11/98 not working 36. Rockland Independent Living Center - Spring Vally, New York 37. Stony Brook Independent Living Resource Center - Stony Brook, New York 38. Resource Center for Independent Living - Utica, New York 39. Programs For Accessible Living - Charlotte, North Carolina 40. Access Center for Independent Living - Dayton, Ohio 41. LEAP/CIL (Linking Employment, Abilities & Potential)- Lorain, Ohio 2/11/98 not working 42. The Center for Independent Living of Central Pennsylvania - Camp Hill, Pennsylvania 43. Community Resources for Independence, Inc. - Erie, Pennsylvania 44. Liberty Resources - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 45. Three Rivers Center For Independent Living - Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 46. The Memphis Center for Independent Living - Memphis, Tennessee 47. San Antonio Independent Living Services (SAILS) - San Antonio, Texas 2/11/98 not working 48. Independent Living Center - Salt Lake City, Utah 49. Vermont Center for Independent Living - Montpelier, Vermont 2/11/98 not working 50. Endependence Center Inc. - Norfolk, Virginia 51. Central Virginia Independent Living Center, Inc. - Richmond, Virginia 52. Independent Living Center - Seattle, WA 53. Center for Independent Living - Everett, WA 54. IndependenceFirst - Milwaukee, Wisconsin 55. Center for Independent Living - Western Wisconsin Canada 1.Canadian Association of Independent Living Centers - CAILC 2.Resource Centre for Independent Living - South Vancouver Island, B.C. 3.Independent Living Resource Centre - Winnipeg, Manitoba 4.Kingston Independent Living Resource Centre - Kingston, Ontario 5.Niagra Centre for Independent Living - St. Catharines, Ontario 6.South Saskatchewan Independent Living Centre Other Countries 1.Centre for Independent Living - Glasgow, Scotland - U.K. Centers for Independent Living http://www.jik.com/ilcs.html 2.Independent Living Centre of Western Australia - Shenton Park WA - Australia 3.Institute on Independent Living - Sweeden (added 2/11/98) Since 10/28/97 Access # 110 Created 8/2/97 Updated 2/11/98 Back to Resource List Back to Home Page AFFORDABLE, ACCESSIBLE CONNECTIONS TO THE WEB FOR ALL Want to surf the Web, yet not use Windows? Text-based browsers, such as Nettamer and Lynx may be the answer. WHY ONE MIGHT CHOOSE TO USE TEXT-BASED BROWSERS --Financial. Text-based browsers run effectively on older computers and slow modems (even the original PC's--remember only two floppy disk drives--and XT's). This is a boon not only for those of us unable to keep up with the latest in computer developments, but also for those who cannot afford to purchase a computer. You can make good use of equipment donated by companies undergoing the enviable computer upgrade. These donated computers, outdated because of their lack of compatibility with the ever more popular graphical user interface (see below for definition of "GUI") have much useful life left in them. For a very modest cost of minor repairs and purchase of simple text-based software, much of the world of the Web can be made readily available to users who don't demand the latest in technology. --Technological. Many persons who use speech synthesizer and Braille access find text-based programs highly compatible with their access systems. In contrast, Windows access leaves something to be desired in terms of access for many people with visual impairments. (See below regarding advocacy needs in this arena.) In addition, text-based access is incredibly fast. The "bare bones" text browsers are not slowed down by the graphics of most browsers. DISADVANTAGES This access approach, alas, is not without some drawbacks--specifically, barriers in Web site construction. Some Internet sites are constructed in ways which are incompatible with text browsers. Many don't follow what are becoming universally accepted standards for web page design which afford access for all. Some use "frames" which are also difficult or impossible to manage with text browsers. It is crucial that the disability community ensure that its Web sites are constructed using the new universal access standards. Roland Sykes, chairman of DIMENET (Disabled Individuals Movement for Equality Network), emphasizes the importance of disability community unity on the issues of access. He says that our position as a disability rights movement must be: "We all go there, or none of us goes." He urges that we take special care not to adopt or use systems which can lock out some members of the community. Sykes gives as an example the use of America on Line, which uses a graphical interface which is inaccessible to many blind and visually impaired users. (Refer to the accompanying information on accessible web page design.) Overall, though, access through text-based browsers is relatively effective. With strong advocacy led by persons with visual impairments and national advocacy organizations, there have been significant advances in access standards which hold out the promise of improved access for all. RESOURCES In short, text browsers are fast, efficient, relatively simple to use, and may be the answer for some of the situations you are facing. The following is a list of alternative access resources for the Internet. Included are shareware text browsers and Internet sites focusing on alternative access. Text-Based Browsers * The NETTAMER Home Page. DOS-based PPP Internet Dialup Access. www.nettamer.net * The Lynx Browser Home Page. Lynx is another popular Dos-based browser. www.lynx.browser.org Other Resources for Users of Text-Based Browsers * Lynx Help and Configurations for Persons with Visual Impairments www.leb.net/blinux/blynx/index.html * Paul Henrichsen's Home Page New and interesting sites for persons with visual impairments http://www.thesocket.com/~henrich * The EMPOWERMENT ZONE http://www.empowermentzone.com * The WEBABLE Home Page. Links And Topics Of Interest http://www.yuri.org/webable/ * ADOBE Access Page. Learn More about Universal Access To Adobe Products http://access.adobe.com * The CENTER For INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY ACCOMMODATION http://www.gsa.gov/coca * CATHY'S NEWS-STAND - Newspapers and Magazines on the Web http://www2.cdepot.net/~mist Net-Tamer Home Page! http://www.nettamer.net/ Key Words - DOS, FTP, dialer, PPP, SMTP, POP3, TCP-IP, TELNET, HTTP, USENET, no packet driver, web browser, and internet. Welcome to the Net-Tamer Home Page! Net-Tamer has great shareware and commercial software products! Net-tamer logo here Click Here To Check Out the Net-Tamer Shareware Browser. Click Here For Some Other Great Shareware/Freeware, Including The Rainbow Offline Reader For Delphi. Corporate Programmers - Ask About Our Great Commercial Applications! Net-Tamer Home Page! http://www.nettamer.net/ If your firm or corporation has need of automated FTP upload and/or download support in a really small program then drop a note to us at nettamer@nettamer.net We have programs ready to demo that will run on your customer's oldest and slowest PC. We can also customize to suit your firm's needs, with applications for FTP, POP3, SMTP, HTTP, IMAP4, TELNET, and HTTP. These programs can be called by your firm's custom application and be totally transparant to your end users. Why spend time and money re-inventing the wheel? Your internet program can be up and running quickly! Click here for more info. -----Net-Tamer Support----- Drop a note to ms.nettamer@mindspring.com. To Subscribe To Net-Tamer List Serve Send Email with the words: subscribe nettamer in the body of the message To nettamer-request@dekan.com. You can also check out the Net-Tamer Usenet Group! alt.comp.shareware.nettamer ---Page Odometer Since 10/24/97--- Link To Yahoo Lynx Information http://lynx.browser.org/ Lynx Lynx is a text browser for the World Wide Web. Lynx 2.8 runs on VMS, Un*x, Windows 95 and NT but not 3.1 or 3.11, and on DOS (on a 386 or higher) via DJGPP. The current developmental version is also available for testing. A Macintosh port is in beta test. How to get Lynx, and much more information, is available at Lynx links. Many user questions are answered in the online help provided with Lynx. Press the '?' key to find this help. If you are encountering difficulty with Lynx you may write to help@lynx.browser.org. Be as detailed as you can about the URL where you were on the Web when you had trouble, what you did, and what software you have. If you are using an older version, you may need to upgrade. Maintained by lynxdev@browser.org. Lynx Information http://lynx.browser.org/ BLYNX: Lynx Support Files Tailored for Blind and Visually Handicapped Users 1. Speech-Friendly Lynx Help 2. Lynx Keystroke Help 3. Navigating With Lynx: An Interactive Tutorial 4. press 'd' to download a speech-tailored lynx.cfg file 5. press 'd' to download a speech-tailored .lynxrc file 6. Information About the Lynx-Learners Emailing List Forcing Lynx to associate a number with each individual link will completely revolutionize the way you perceive the web. Linearly listed links will no longer present a near-impassable sound barrier, and when you are listening to a news story or a hypertext book or manual which contains embedded links, you'll a) know that they exist, b) know exactly where they are, c) be able to follow them and listen to the explanatory or complementary information they contain, and d) return to the body of the document and resume reading where you left off. To force Lynx to associate a number with every hyperlink, using the Lynx Options Menu, step one: type 'o' to raise the options menu. step two: press 'k' to activate the "K)eypad as arrows or Numbered links" field. there are 2 values for this setting: "numbers act as arrows" and "links are numbered" step 3: use the spacebar to toggle between these values. pause after you press the spacebar so that your synthesizer has a chance to announce the current setting. when you hear your synth say "links are numbered", press 'enter'. optional step 3.1: At this point, you can press 'u' to activate the "U)ser mode" field and press the spacebar until you hear your synth say "advanced", and then press 'enter'. (There are three values for this option: NOVICE (the default), INTERMEDIATE, and ADVANCED.) Why change the user mode setting? When the user mode is set to NOVICE, Lynx displays two extra lines of keystroke prompts at the bottom of the screen. While these prompts are designed to provide the user with a quick visual reminder of Lynx's basic commands, screen-readers have an annoying tendency to repeatedly read these prompts every time you press a key. Changing the user mode setting, therefore, not only eliminates this aural annoyance, and leaves more room for pages to be displayed, but it allows you to listen to the URL of the currently chosen link--an invaluable aid when navigating a site comprised of alt-tagless links. But, you say, "I am a novice and i might not remember all of Lynx's navigation keystrokes without the on-screen prompts!" Just remember that you can always press 'k' at any point during a Lynx session, and Lynx will display a complete keymap, which not only lists all of the valid keystrokes available using your ISP's version of Lynx, but does so in a far speech-friendlier manner than when the prompts are displayed at the bottom of the screen. Lynx Information http://lynx.browser.org/ step 4: exit the lynx options menu by generating a greater-than sign. (On most IBM-compatible keyboards, you generate a greater-than symbol by holding down the shift key and typing a period.) Exiting the Lynx Options Menu with a greater-than forces Lynx to save this setting in your .lynxrc file as a default setting, so that every time you subsequently load Lynx, all links will be numbered. When you want to follow a link, simply type the number associated with the link you want to follow, press enter, and Lynx will follow that link. This hypertext document is maintained by Gregory J. Rosmaita as part of the BLINUX and BLYNX projects, and is a participant in the Lynx Developmental Consortium. Please report any errors or problems encountered with this document to: oedipus@leb.net Diskspace for BLYNX is provided by leb.net, which is not responsible for the content of these pages. this page created December 12, 1996 this archive last modified September 16, 1997 Cathy's Newstand -- Web Accessibility sites http://www2.cdepot.net/~mist/access.htm Make your selection here A guide to making your site speech friendly by Cathy Murtha AUS Accessibility Standards for Web Page Design Accessible Web Page Design Campaign For A Non-Browser Specific WWW Designing an Accessible Web Page Making the Web Accessible for the Blind and Visually Impaired W3C Disabilities Developments Webwatch Web Accessibility Overview World Wide Web Browser Access Recommendations Navigating the Newstand A Speech Friendly Index of Cathy's Newstand Magical Mist Creations Tutorials and Web Design Services | Speech Friendly Ribbon Award | The Speech friendly News! | Winners of the Speech Friendly Ribbon Award | A page of links on web accessibility | Articles For and About the blind | The Bookshelf | The Comix! | The Congressional Corner and Political Links | Fun Facts and Interesting Tidbits | HTML Tutorials and more | Just for Fun -- interactive games on the web! | It's a Small World Language Links! | Newspapers, Magazines, Newswire, and Weather links | The Poetry Nook | Taking pen in hand | Submit your site to search engines! | Speech Friendly Search Engines | Real Audio Radio Links -- Speech Friendly! | My PGP Key and Links! | Learn more about me. Return to Cathy's Newstand E-mail Cathy Anne Murtha This page was last updated on October 25, 1997 Telecommunications Competition: Just What's in It for People with Disabilities By David Newburger Draft February 1998 Competition in the telephone industry seems to be popping out all over--  Frontier Corporation touts that it is reselling local Bell services to business customers--but not residential--in nine states.  MediaOne is offering local phone packages--including Caller ID, call waiting, call forwarding, and speed dialing, as well as the line itself--to high end residential customers, but it is not offering local service to residential customers by itself.  Pac Bell says that more than 250,000 of its 17 million phone lines, and some 5 billion calling minutes, have moved to competitors such as AT&T, MCI and Sprint since enactment of the 1996 Telecommunications Act.  Executives of new competitors for local telephone business have told the FCC that the Telecommunications Act has spurred rapid development of competition but largely for business customers, not residential. Still, others who have tried to compete in the ordinary residential market seem to be throwing in the towel. For example--  MCI, who at one time wanted to sell to the top 25 percent of the residential market, recently announced it is ceasing its efforts to enter the market at all, saying that buying existing telephone services from local providers and reselling them in the residential market is not profitable--in their words, "just doesn't work."  LCI International's chairman and CEO, H. Brian Thompson, has warned that residential consumers are at risk of being "a forgotten footnote in the telecommunications revolution."  Decker Anstrom, president of the National Cable Television Association, has said that his industry's predictions of quick spread of competition were "wrong," made through "rosy glasses," and overly optimistic.  Joel I Klein, the Assistant United States Attorney General for antitrust enforcement, has said he thinks competition in the residential local telephone market is likely to develop slowly.  Even FCC Chairman William E. Kennard has said "too few residential consumers are seeing competition." What is going on? Exactly what ConnectMissouri predicted months ago--Telecommunications regulation is leaving the bulk of the residential consumers behind. The FCC Approach Is Fundamentally Flawed Why is that? Because the FCC's implementation of the Telecommunications Act is fundamentally flawed. The FCC has bought into a particularly distorted view of "competition," thereby choosing winners and losers and leaving the bulk of rural, inner city, and other residential consumers with the short straw. When the Telecommunications Act came along we were supposed to see more competition for customers leading to lower prices and the rapid spread of modern telecommunications technologies. Well, there is more competition for business customers' local service--and business consumers are realizing reduced costs and modernized systems. But, there is no real competition for residential consumers' business--local or long distance--and those consumers risk losing the chance to get on the information superhighway. What went wrong? Personally, I suggest three decisions have proved pivotal in creating the problem. First, the FCC decided to make local telephone companies wholesale their services at prices below cost. Second, by and large, long distance companies have chosen not to compete for residential business. And then, third, the FCC subsequently decided to take a much more restrictive view than Congress indicated in the Telecommunications Act of whether the Bell Telephone Companies have opened themselves up to competition. Unfair Pricing Rules The first decision, sometimes call the Interconnection Order, was entered in the summer of 1996. It was overturned by the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit (sitting in St. Louis). Just this January 26, 1998, the Supreme Court of the United States has decided to hear further appeals of the case. Even though the Eighth Circuit overruled the FCC pricing policies, the FCC has continued to use those policies elsewhere and to encourage the states' public service commissions to do likewise. In the FCC's more than 700-page decision, the FCC set up a pricing structure that would allow new local telephone competitors to buy the existing telephone companies' services at wholesale discounts as high as 50 percent and then resell the services to the public. Those discounts often cause a wholesale price that is actually below the existing telephone companies' costs. Wholly aside from what that did to the existing local telephone companies, the FCC's pricing structure had the effect of largely knocking the cable television companies, electric companies, and others who were looking at setting up local telephone networks to compete for residential customers out of the game. While a few are still talking about it, no electric or cable-TV company is selling telephone service over its own networks today. If the old telephone companies had to sell their services at below cost, how could people invest in new or reconfigure electric or cable-TV networks and sell at competitively low prices? They couldn't. So, the once potential new competitor companies greatly slowed developing what the industry calls "facilities based" competition. The FCC appeared willing to weather that problem, however, because they seemed to figure that "reseller" competitors would come into action. That attitude seems like a distorted view of competition to me, because all you get in that case is new companies buying the existing telephone companies' services at a discount and reselling. There is no doubt some modicum of competition when lots of people sell the same Ford, but real competition in the auto industry comes from the array of manufacturers competing with different products for the same customers. The same would seem true for the telecommunications industry, but the FCC has obviously lost sight of that. Long Distance Companies Try to Keep the Ball for Themselves In any event, the FCC put the ball for local competition in the hands of the long distance telephone companies. Unlike the cable television and electric companies who have a basis for competition using their own networks, the long distance telephone companies rely on the existing local companies' networks to bring the long distance call home. As such, it seemed the long distance companies would jump into being the retail resellers so they could sell each customer all the telephone services he or she needs--one stop shopping. If there is one thing the whole telecommunications industry agrees on, it is their belief that many consumers would love to buy all their telecommunications services--local service, long distance service, mobile service, Internet service, paging service--from one company all at once. So, the FCC put the long distance companies in the cat bird seat. But, the long distance companies aren't going for the canary. The long distance companies, as I described above, are happily seeking to sign up business customers for local service, but not residential. Why? They tell us they cannot make a profit even at the discounts granted them by the FCC, and that might have some truth to it. They complain that the existing telephone companies give them operating troubles, and surely there could be incidents of that. But, the long distance telephone companies have a whole other motive not to go into the local residential telephone business. It comes from what now feels like a fluke in the Telecommunications Act of 1996. Under the Act, by not entering residential competition, existing long distance companies may be able to keep the existing local telephone companies out of competition for long distance business! Playing in the Competitor's Backyard, While Keeping Him Out of Mine The problem comes up under section 271 of the 1996 Act. That section ordains when Bell telephone companies may start offering long distance service to their existing customers. It could happen in either of two cases--  when there is somebody in the marketplace competing for local residential and business customers or  when no company is trying to compete but the existing Bell company has completely opened itself up to a new competitor's coming in to the market. To the extent that the long distance companies are the only ones left with a serious interest in competing for local business, they control whether the first branch of this equation will exist. As long as they don't try to get residential customers, they can compete to their hearts' content for the more lucrative local business customers in a Bell company's territory and still keep the Bell company out of the long distance business. The Next Tilt Against Competition And that is where the third decision--the FCC's decision I mentioned above to take a much more restrictive view than Congress indicated in the Telecommunications Act of whether the Bell Telephone Companies have opened themselves up to competition--is killing the benefits of competition for residential consumers. The FCC has refuse to say that any Bell company that has applied, and three have already applied for right to compete in four states, has sufficiently opened itself up to competition. Thus, no Bell company has been able to compete with the long distance companies to provide long distance service. The FCC feels the need to protect such titans as AT&T, Sprint, and MCI from the Baby Bells. Residential Consumers Get No Price Benefit and a Threat to Accessing the Information Superhighway Recent studies now demonstrate that residential consumers have not have not had substantial discounts in their local or long distance service. And some people are saying that residential rates for local service are going to have to go up if the FCC does not stop putting so much pressure on the existing local telephone companies. Meanwhile, the FCC's policy put us at risk that modern telecommunications technology will not reach all of us from the inner city to ordinary suburb to the rural home. Right now, technically, we can bring lecture halls and doctors' offices into our living rooms. Deaf people can communicate by sign language over video telephones. Older adults and their children and grandchildren can see and talk to each other even though they may be continents away. The entirety of encyclopedias and law libraries and research libraries are only a finger tip away. Soon, concerts, theater, movies, and other entertainment will be available on call, 24 hours a day. People can live, work, shop, study, and play miles from the sources for such activities. But who will enjoy those benefits? Clearly, in the small sliver where companies are competing for business and some residential customers' telecommunications business, the competitors will have to strive to bring innovations that will make those technical possibilities realities for their customers. If they don't, other competitors will prevail. It is less clear who will bring those innovations to the rest of us--the residential consumers who are not targeted by competing companies. For those of us in that position, our only service provider will continue to be the existing telephone company. And will it innovate to bring us those new wonders. Even though it will try, the FCC is not making things easy. Remember,  the FCC is making that company sell its services at deep discounts, sometimes below cost,  that company is losing lucrative customers to the competition,  the FCC threatens not to let that company into the lucrative long distance business, and  the FCC has even ruled to discourage local telephone companies from a particular opportunity for innovation--something having to do with advanced intelligent networks, whatever they are--in order to support others' competing. Why, Exactly, Is It That We Want Deregulation If All it Does Is Raise Our Prices and Leave Us Off the Information Superhighway? Ponder that as we must, we also have to concede reality. Deregulation--or more accurately, re- regulation--seems to be here to stay. So, what do we do about it? We of ConnectMissouri have always championed the essential policy that telecommunications reform should assure we have three things:  Universal service--that is, that all Americans--regardless of where they live and work, from farms to inner cities--have access to the telephone networks so that they can share in today's and tomorrow's telecommunications technologies.  Universal design--that is, that all Americans who can communicate at all, have a tele- communications system available to them that they can use regardless of their age and any disability they might have.  Economic regulation that insures that those companies who do and will provide that universally designed, universal service at affordable rates for residential customers will have the competitive opportunity to provide those services forever. We have to bring those policies back to the fore. We have to let our state and national leaders understand they are giving us a hodgepodge of regulation that is making long distance companies winners and local telephone companies losers. We might not care one way or another about that, but in the process they are making businesses and rich resi- dential customers winners and the rest of us losers. We need to see the local telephone companies get into the long distance business. We need to see real competition for local telephone business and not just the shell game of buying and reselling. We need to see all citizens assured access to robust telecommunications networks that will guarantee for each a place on the information superhighway. We need to see that full participation in future telecommunications is right for all citizens just as they all have access highways, energy, jobs, and participation in the American way. We are working to get all that. And we will soon be asking for your help.