Deaf-Blind Young Adults in Action Support COAT

Last week, coinciding with national Deaf-Blind Awareness Week, six dynamic young adults who are deaf-blind participated in a leadership course at Gallaudet University. Several COAT affiliates, including the Helen Keller National Center, the American Association of the Deaf-Blind, the American Foundation for the Blind, and Texas Tech University, collaborated to support the activities of the cohort, known as Deaf-Blind Young Adults in Action.

Of the four national Deaf-Blind issues that were discussed as a part of the course, the need for accessible communication and technology as outlined in the “Twenty-first Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act of 2009” was well represented. Advocates not only participated in a traditional classroom setting, they applied their developing skills by making visits to Congress with mentors.  

On the eve of the introduction of the COAT legislation, Thursday June 25, 2009, Kelvin Crosby, Virginia Jordan, George Stern, Divya Goel, Jason Corning, and Crystal Morales thanked Congressman Markey for his longstanding support of access for people with disabilities.

The week's training culminated in an historic visit to the White House to meet with President Obama.  Story and photo at http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/Still-Thriving-and-Excelling-Long-After-Helen-Keller/.

Deaf-Blind Young Adults in Action are proud to support COAT's national movement to improve access to communications and video programming through captions and video description, and to improve technology support for all people who have sensory disabilities.