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.

COAT Affiliate AFB Speaks in Ohio on Need for Legislation

COAT steering committee member Paul Schroeder, of AFB, spoke in Ohio on April 23 on the need for COAT legislation and on the Amazon Kindle e-book issue at an annual conference on "Multiple Perspectives on Access, Inclusion and Disability" held at the Ohio State University in Columbus. Hundreds of policymakers, academicians and researchers attend this ADA-related event each year. Paul's presentation, "Technology Access Policy at the Dawn of the Twenty-first Century: New Frameworks and New Challenges" focused on advocacy efforts by COAT affiliates to enact our bill. Paul also spoke on the novel legal challenges that emanate from the new Amazon Kindle e-book reader and its text-to-speech function.

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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.