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What will the FCC do next with Lifeline?
Mar. 26th, 2021 08:01 amfrom the Benton Institute for Broadband and Society weekly digest:
What constitutes a lifeline in 2021? Is it a phone? A smartphone? A fixed-location broadband connection? Or some combination of all these services? Last week, the Federal Communications Commission's Wireline Competition Bureau launched a proceeding seeking public input on a report on the state of the FCC's Lifeline program. The report will have a huge impact on what services are available to Lifeline's low-income participants.
Read the rest of the article
https://www.benton.org/blog/what-will-fcc-do-next-lifeline
Kes: Just yesterday I linked to an article I wrote a couple of months ago
How We All Became Disabled, But We’re Still Not All Connected
https://kestrell.dreamwidth.org/379979.html
and in that article I cited a study regarding the
FCC's Lifeline program
https://www.fcc.gov/lifeline-consumers
which is supposed to make communication services more affordable.
However, according to a FCC report from early in 2019, the Lifeline program, which relies on the phone companies to distribute phones to those who need them, makes little or no attempt to ensure that people with disabilities have a phone that they can access:
"only 17% of the phones provided to low-income people through the Federally-subsidized Lifeline program offer access to Wireless Emergency Alert Notifications, and only 26% of the Lifeline phone include text-to-speech, an accessibility tool which allows visually impaired people to hear what appears on the phone's screen. In addition, accessibility features for people who are deaf or hard of hearing are even more scarce: 58% of Lifeline phones lack the video calling features necessary for ASL users, and most phones lack hearing aid compatibility.”
So, how much have you had to rely on your phone in the past year to stay connected? to work? to education? to food deliveries? to telehealth? to schedule your Covid-19 vaccine?
And, of course, maintaining disability services relies on *a lot* of filling out of forms, following up on telehealth visits, tracking down mistakes that have resulted in the cutting off of services, and, well, I like to say, you aren't disabled until you've filled out the paperwork. In triplicate. At least twice. Because someone will lose the paperwork the first time.
It's almost as if the real goal is to *prevent* people with disabilities from acquiring services.
What constitutes a lifeline in 2021? Is it a phone? A smartphone? A fixed-location broadband connection? Or some combination of all these services? Last week, the Federal Communications Commission's Wireline Competition Bureau launched a proceeding seeking public input on a report on the state of the FCC's Lifeline program. The report will have a huge impact on what services are available to Lifeline's low-income participants.
Read the rest of the article
https://www.benton.org/blog/what-will-fcc-do-next-lifeline
Kes: Just yesterday I linked to an article I wrote a couple of months ago
How We All Became Disabled, But We’re Still Not All Connected
https://kestrell.dreamwidth.org/379979.html
and in that article I cited a study regarding the
FCC's Lifeline program
https://www.fcc.gov/lifeline-consumers
which is supposed to make communication services more affordable.
However, according to a FCC report from early in 2019, the Lifeline program, which relies on the phone companies to distribute phones to those who need them, makes little or no attempt to ensure that people with disabilities have a phone that they can access:
"only 17% of the phones provided to low-income people through the Federally-subsidized Lifeline program offer access to Wireless Emergency Alert Notifications, and only 26% of the Lifeline phone include text-to-speech, an accessibility tool which allows visually impaired people to hear what appears on the phone's screen. In addition, accessibility features for people who are deaf or hard of hearing are even more scarce: 58% of Lifeline phones lack the video calling features necessary for ASL users, and most phones lack hearing aid compatibility.”
So, how much have you had to rely on your phone in the past year to stay connected? to work? to education? to food deliveries? to telehealth? to schedule your Covid-19 vaccine?
And, of course, maintaining disability services relies on *a lot* of filling out of forms, following up on telehealth visits, tracking down mistakes that have resulted in the cutting off of services, and, well, I like to say, you aren't disabled until you've filled out the paperwork. In triplicate. At least twice. Because someone will lose the paperwork the first time.
It's almost as if the real goal is to *prevent* people with disabilities from acquiring services.
