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 HLAA Testifies to US Congress on Emergency Alerting

Emergency Information and Services

On September 30 2009, Lise Hamlin, Director of Public Policy & State Development for HLAA -- a COAT affiliate -- provided testimony about what happens to people with hearing loss who attempt to get the information they need during emergency situations. She spoke on accessibility concerns before the U.S. House Transportation & Infrastructure Subcommittee on Economic Development, Public Buildings & Emergency Management. The hearing, entitled "This is NOT a test: Will the Nation's Emergency Alert System Deliver the President's Message to the Public?" will focus on modernization of the Integrated Public Alert & Warning System (IPAWS).

Lise Hamlin said that "we need help knowing what the emergency information is that everyone else gets" and "we need emergency messages immediately." She also emphasized that new technologies could do this to ensure people who are deaf and hard of hearing are not left behind. Contact Lise Hamlin via Email for copy of her statement.

Other panelists included representatives from FEMA, GAO, Public Television, and other groups. The hearing was captioned and broadcast online by the Committee.

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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.