DEC 11 1995

XX
Apopka, Florida XX

Dear XX

        I have been asked to respond to your recent letter to
Attorney General Janet Reno with respect to the current practice
of CD-ROM manufacturers to produce programs that provide
information to the user through speech and sound rather than
text. You have asked the Attorney General to intercede with the
manufacturers of these products to ensure that these products are
made accessible to people with hearing impairments.

        Your letter was referred to me because the Disability Rights
Section of the Civil Rights Division is responsible for
implementing the Attorney General's authority to enforce titles
II and III of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), which
prohibit discrimination on the basis of disability by State and
local governments and public accommodations and commercial
facilities. We also enforce title I of the ADA in cases that
allege disability-based employment discrimination by public
entities. These ADA enforcement responsibilities are assigned to
the Attorney General as the nation's chief law enforcement
officer and head of the Department of Justice.

        In enforcing the ADA, this Department represents the law
enforcement interest of the United States. The Department is not
authorized to act as an attorney for, or representative of, any
individual. After carefully reviewing your letter, we have
determined that no action by the Department is appropriate
because you have not alleged a violation of the ADA or any other
Federal statute that is enforced by this Department.

        However, the World Institute on Disability is working on a
project regarding accessibilty of multimedia technology. For more
information on their efforts, you may contact Betsy Baya at (510)
01-04101


                              - 2 -
251-4355. Additional resouces on this subject are also available
from the National Center for Accessible Media at 125 Western
Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts 02134, (617) 492-9258 (Voice or
TDD).
        I regret that we cannot assist you in this matter.

                                Sincerely,

                             John L. Wodatch
                                  Chief
                        Disability Rights Section

cc: Records; Chrono; Wodatch; McDowney; Blizard; FOIA
    n:\udd\blizard\drsltrs\not_ada\XX      \young-parran

01-04105


XX
XX
XX
                        Tuesday, September 26, 1995
Ms. Janet Reno
Attorney General
The United States of America
The US Justice Department
1600 Pennsylvania Ave.
Washington, DC

To: Ms. Reno Attorney General

I would like to tell you about something which is sweeping across this nation
at alarming rate: the hearing impaired do not seem to qualify for rights nor
even simple courtesy. Do not get me wrong, I'm no longer claiming prejudice,
because "prejudice implies a deliberate bias" as CD-ROM Today editor, Chris
Lombardi pointed out to me. It's people not thinking before they act that cuts
out millions of Americans each year. People do not think, and this is poor
marketing on their part.

My complaint is with manufactures of CD-ROMs (Compact Disk - Read Only
Memory). CDs make loading and playing of large programs much easier. But the
trend is to have speech and/or sound required and ignore displaying text to
explain the sound so that the hearing impaired may use the CD.

Programs like Sierra On-line's King's Quest VII: The Princess Bride or the
company's upcoming Phantasmagoria and Virgin Electronics' The 7th Guest, 11th
Hour, and Kyrondia, are all found on CD-ROMs but they have no text for the
hearing impaired to play. I find it particularly unfortunate that Sierra
On-Line dropped the text options from their games - (an explanation of the
option follows later on in my letter). Virgin never had the option.

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) changed much of what is perceived
today as being "politically correct" but people such as myself are still
working on improving what people perceive. I feel comfortable speaking from a
deaf man's prospective. My hearing loss is profound; 100%.

I've had some amusing experiences where in my hearing-ear dog has been
presumed to be a seeing-eye dog, but the problem I wish to address in this
letter is that makers of CD-ROMs don't seem to understand there's more to the
enjoyment of their product than seeing pretty pictures and hearing music and
talk. In my case and that of many potential users, we also need to read what's
going on.

01-04106On the verge of the 21st Century I notice something which, if not addressed
soon, will leave millions of hearing impaired children behind their peers
because they don't have equal access to a new form of informational media.

Allow me to explain my reasoning. It is a fact that trends begin in the
computer gaming industry. Sound cards were originally meant to enhance the
enjoyment of games. Today it is difficult to buy a computer without a sound
card, or find a commercial program that doesn't use one. Today, Microsoft
Office and 20th Century Video Almanac not to mention numerous encyclopedias,
(Compton's New World, Microsoft Encarta, Groiler's etc.) and "edutainment" 
programs (Mathblaster, Reading Rabbit, etc.) use sound extensively. Extensive 
use of sound is now linked with the enhanced graphics found in more and more 
software.

And what about text on CD-ROM's? Most people have seen it. In the infancy of
CD- ROM programs, companies used "balloons" to show what was being said, like
what we see in the comics. Later Sierra On-Line developed this as an option:
that text may be turned on or, if preferred, off and sound only may be enjoyed
by the user. Naturally, though the hearing impaired user will keep the text on
for full enjoyment. So, when you think about it, text begins to "sound" more
important than previously thought.

There are rumors circulating that Microsoft Word will include, in its next
version for CD-ROM users, the capability to have "help" speak out loud. Will
this program retain the option of Cue Cards popping up to provide the text of
the advice for the hearing impaired? How about future editions of
encyclopedias?

Will Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech only be read to
them and not written out? If so, a significant number of hearing impaired
children will have to go to an antiquated paper book for information.  There
are children  today who use CD-ROM-based products to practice their spelling,
language- learning skills, math and other subjects. But deaf children cannot
participate  due to the lack of text. In the future, will text be added?

Perhaps the manufacturers of educational and entertainment oriented CD-ROMs
don't realize that text for an entire program will take up less space than the
music in the closing credits. The scripts for these programs were written down
at one point. It would be a simple matter to merge the two programs.

I've discovered through personal experience that many CD-ROM programs are
useless to the hearing impaired because important audible parts of them are
not also available in text. I've spent over $600 and have had trouble
returning the programs when I realized that they lacked text. I've had to stop
buying such programs unless I am 100% certain that text is available on them,
and unfortunately this is something that usually isn't clearly indicated.

Computers are priceless to anyone who wishes to enter the society of the
future. Our schools, hospitals, banks, industry and others are using them to
increase productivity and encourage creativity. The hearing impaired want to
be part of that revolution.

The ADA mandates that the concerns of the hearing impaired be taken into
account in every-day services. It seems to me that manufacturers of CD-ROMs
don't realize how

01-04107important their products are becoming. I would like to help them understand
this, but I'm not sure how to go about this. All I ask is that your
organization talk to these companies.

I would like to resolve this as quickly as possible and avoid bad publicity
for these companies. Unfortunately, they have not replied to my comments and I
suspect though that if they "hear" from you, they will be inclined to take the
concerns of the hearing impaired more seriously. After all, it's a matter of
dollars and good sense.

Sincerely,
XX

01-04108