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.

AFB Launches Accessibility Survey of Travel Services Websites

January 5, 2012. The American Foundation for the Blind (AFB) has launched a survey of accessibility of travel-related websites for people who are blind or with low vision. AFB asks users to recall recent holiday-related travel and to take the AFB survey on the relative accessibility and usability of any travel-related websites used to book plane or train tickets, hotel tickets and related travel services. The survey is intended for occasional Internet users, regular web surfers, and by family members, friends or colleagues of someone who is blind or has low vision. Click to take survey here.

AFB wants to learn about the accessibility and usability of multiple travel related websites and how they are accessible/usable or not. AFB is looking at airline, bus, and hotel sites, as well as commuter rail, cruiseline, and so-called aggregator sites; also websites that help users comparison shop among travel providers and book reservations and purchase tickets. The intent of the survey is to assess the areas in greatest need for improvements in the accessibility of these popular online offerings.

For further information, contact Mark Richert, Esq., Director, Public Policy, AFB. Tel (202) 469-6833 or via Email.

Forward this page to a friend

Your Personal Message: *

Thank you for your interest in spreading the word on the Coalition of Organizations for Accessible Technology (COAT).

NOTE: We only request your email address so that the person you are recommending the page to knows that you wanted them to see it, and that it is not junk mail. We do not capture your email address.

Your Email: *

Your Name: *

Send To: *

Enter multiple addresses on separate lines or separate them with commas. You can only email up to 5 recipients

Message Subject: (Your Name) has forwarded a page to you from Coalition of Organizations for Accessible Technology

Message Body: (Your Name) thought you would like to see this page from the Coalition of Organizations for Accessible Technology web site.

Add new comment

COAT notes that the American

Submitted by Jenifer Simpson on Fri, 01/13/2012 - 03:29.

COAT notes that the American Society of Travel Agents (ASTA) asked for exemption from accessibility for "small business" websites in its comments filed with the Department Transportation (DOT) in response to its Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) entitled “Nondiscrimination on the Basis of Disability in Air Travel: Accessibility of Web Sites and Automated Kiosks at U.S. Airports.” ASTA said that without the exemption, it “will be very costly and likely drive many travel agencies out of the Internet environment altogether.”

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.

Search

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.