Missouri is pioneering a promising approach to a distribution program. Created by a state law, the Telecommunications Access Program (TAP) supplements the more traditional Telecommunications Access Program for Telephone.

• TAP for Internet provides adaptive equipment and software needed for access to the Internet from the home. Screen readers, enlarging software, adapted keyboards and voice recognition programs are offered. Training in use of hardware and software is offered free to consumers.
   
• TAP for Telephone, which is similar to the equipment-distribution programs provided by other states, offers TTYs, amplified phones, amplified ringers and visual ringers, among other devices. Consumers purchase or lease their own phones and pay for their own basic telephone services.
   
• TAP for Internet and TAP for Telephone are financed through a surcharge of nine cents per month per telephone line. TAP for telephone devices are offered free to all state residents who have disabilities and have difficulties using traditional voice telephones. TAP for Internet has some limitations. Consumers must have annual household incomes under $60,000 and must have an Internet-ready PC and an Internet provider. Accordingly, TAP for Internet treats an Internet-ready PC as today’s version of a telephone. Consumers are responsible for “the phone” (in this case, an Internet-ready PC) and for “phone service” (in this case, an Internet Service Provider, or ISP) while the state provides the adaptive equipment that individuals need due to disabilities.

Missouri recognizes that telephone service is a public utility. People without disabilities buy telephones and pay monthly phone charges; they do not need to acquire additional products. However, because mainstream phones are not accessible or universally designed, people with disabilities often need peripheral devices in order to benefit from the phones and phone services. Today, internet-equipped PCs are used for telecommunications, so inclusion of digital as well as analog telecommunications in state equipment distribution programs is necessary.

Since 1995 Internet-linked PCs have provided telecommunications services such as e-mail and the Web. Applying the Missouri model, the purchase of PCs and ISP service by individuals with disabilities is equivalent to buying a phone and subscribing to basic phone service (Plain Old Telephone Service, or POTS). Costs these individuals incur above and beyond these basic expenses would be covered under a government distribution program, just as additional costs are for POTS.