COAT advocates for accessibility and usability of technology for people with disabilities. Enacting the 21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act (21st CVAA) was a huge step forward and we are working to implement this new law. COAT’s overall aim is to ensure accessibility, usability, and affordability of all broadband, wireless, and Internet technologies for people with disabilities.

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The Coalition of Organizations for Accessible Technology (COAT) is a coalition of over 315 national, state, and local organizations that was founded in 2007 by the American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD), American Council of the Blind (ACB), American Foundation for the Blind (AFB), Communication Service for the Deaf (CSD), and National Association of the Deaf (NAD).

COAT needs $10,000 a year to stay operational. We rely on contributions to pay for operational expenses, including web site improvement and maintenance, alternate format materials, press releases, accessible meetings (sign language interpreters, computer-aided real-time transcription), travel expenses for witnesses at federal events, and outreach to grass roots communities. To donate, please send a check payable to the Coalition ofOrganizations for Accessible Technology and send it to COAT c/o Simpson, 48 Adams Street NW, Washington DC 20001. Thank you very much for your donation! You know we have an impact with every single dollar donated!

To stay on top of COAT's news, you can follow @coataccess on www.twitter.com and/or become a friend and converse with other COAT people through the Facebook group, Coalition of Organizations for Accessible Technology or the closed COAT group on Linkedin.Com . Each of these online COAT communities has different members and different types of conversations. Donate today! Keep COAT afloat!

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Andrew Phillips, National Association of the Deaf; Eric Bridges, American Council of the Blind; Mark Richert, American Foundation for the Blind; and Jenifer Simpson, American Association of People with Disabilities, outside the FCC building, Washington DC, after meetings on pending rules under 21st CVAA.

Celebration of the bill's final passage

Rep. Ed Markey and Legislative Director Mark Bayer celebrate the bill’s final passage on September 28, 2010, in front of the Helen Keller statue, with the leaders from the Coalition of Organizations for Accessible Technology: Karen Peltz Strauss, formerly with Communication Service for the Deaf; Jenifer Simpson, American Association of People with Disabilities; Rosaline Crawford, National Association of the Deaf. Their hands symbolize clapping in sign language.

Congressman Ed Markey in photo of Congressional hearing room dais. Congressman Ed Markey (D-MA), center, introduced the 21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act of 2009 (H.R. 3101) on June 26, 2009.

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President Obama signs the Accessibility Act

President Obama signed the 21^st
Century Communications & Video Accessibility Act into law on October 8, 2010, with many key advocates and lawmakers in attendance.

Senator Mark Pryor (AR) received AAPD’s Justice For All Award July 26, 2011 for his leadership with Senate passage of the 21st CVAA.

Key FCC Staff working on 21st CVAA

Key FCC staff working on 21st CVAA: Karen Peltz Strauss, Rosaline Crawford, Eliot Greenwald

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21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act

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