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.

Los Angeles Public Library Suspends Purchasing E-Books due to lack of Accessibility

The Los Angeles Public Library suspended purchase of electronic books recently due to concerns about accessibility. They will resume purchase of these "e-books" if the Text-To-Speech (TTS) function is restored. TTS permits millions of readers with print disabilities to have access to the library's collection. This procurement action resulted from the "Equal Not Separate Reading Rights" campaign of the ReadingRightsCoalition (RRC), of which several COAT affiliates are also members. Full story online. COAT affiliates who are members of the NFB-led RRC are: AAPD, ACB, AFB, DREDF, ICDRI and NISH.

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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.