The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that approximately 61 Million adults have a disability in this country, and that 13.7% of them have a mobility disability, including serious difficulty walking or climbing stairs – but also including serious difficulty in getting a medical diagnosis or a dental exam or an eye exam. That translates into more than 8.5 Million adults with a mobility disability.
The Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice is proposing to revise its rules, alongside rules previously proposed by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, in an effort to make Medical Diagnostic Equipment as accessible as possible to Persons With Disabilities.
Their notice of proposed rulemaking is available at https://www.ada.gov, or by internet searching "Nondiscrimination on the Basis of Disability: Accessibility of Medical Diagnostic Equipment of State and Local Government Entities," and for the citation-minded, at 89 F.R. 2183-95. (This isn't just about State and Local Government Entities. It's about you. Remember that Health and Human Services is proposing similar rules for various health care providers that take Federal money such as Medicare and Medicaid.)
Medical Diagnostic Equipment (or MDEs, the people writing these rules work in Washington, D.C., remember) is equipment used in or together with medical settings for the purposes of medical diagnosis by health care providers.
Examples of this definition may help to make it clear. Medical Diagnostic Equipment includes:
- Medical examination tables.
- Examination chairs (including for eye exams and for dental exams).
- Weight scales.
- Mammography equipment.
- X-ray machines and other radiological diagnostic equipment.
Have you or anyone you know ever had difficulty getting on a medical exam table because of a disability?
Or having your weight taken at a doctor's office?
Or had trouble with a mammogram (notoriously difficult to encounter for everyone), because of a disability?
If the answer to any one of these or similar questions is "yes," then the people that work at the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice want to hear from you! Think that they are working there because the money is so good? Not likely. More like they work there because they want to work on rules like these.
Even if they didn't want to listen to you, they have to. It's the law that they are required to read every single Comment. So Comment about your own experience or that of your friends, neighbors, and family. The people at the Civil Rights Division want to know about your personal, lived experience along with the data and briefs and memos paid for by others who are sure to Comment. Add your voice and your experience.
Make the resulting rules true because the rules take account of true experience.
You may submit any and all Comments on the Federal eRulemaking website at https://www.regulations.gov, making sure to put "RIN 1190-AA78" on them so that your Comments get hooked up with the proposed rules that concern you. The deadline for submitting Comments is February 12, 2024.
And remember: The United States Department of Justice, through its Civil Rights Division, invites your Comments. Take them up on it and Comment!
Please read the disclaimer. ©2024 Dennis J. Wall. All rights reserved.
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