To: docket@access-board.gov

From: Irene Ruth Wilkenfeld
Environmental Health Consultant
SAFE SCHOOLS
irw@uswest.net

U.S. Access Board:

I am writing to urge you to revisit your "Proposed Rulemaking" to include standards that will allow access to the chemically and electromagnetically injured / disabled. Architectural, attitudinal, chemical and electromagnetic barriers keep a subset of the population isolated and excluded from access to a myriad of public buildings and services, that others take for granted. Just because these disabilities are primarily "invisible," does not make the urgent need for accommodations any less valid.

In a very real sense, handicaps are a function of the environment. Consequently, when barriers are eliminated, in large part, so too are the handicaps. I urge you to work to remove all obstacles to access for this under-served segment of the population. These would include but are not limited to: pesticides, perfumes, harsh cleaning products, poor indoor air quality, synthetic construction and furnishing materials.

In closing, I would remind you that a society's humanity is measured not by how it treats its vigorous members but rather how it responds to its most vulnerable citizens.

Sincerely,
Irene Wilkenfeld