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.

Deaf Free-Lance Journalist Writes About Rear Window Captioning at Movies

Thanks to the inventiveness of COAT affiliate WGBH Media Access Group, free-lance journalist Lisa Goldstein, who is deaf, enjoys using the Rear Window Captioning (RWC) system at her local Pittsburgh AMC movie theater. Her November 14, 2009 editorial in Pittsburgh Post-Gazette says it all.

There are about 12 theater chains in the U.S. using the RWC system, either voluntarily or because of court settlements. Movie theaters in D.C., New York, New Jersey and Ontario offer RWC under court settlements resuling from litigation or settlements, according to John Stanton, an attorney who has represented COAT affiliate Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing in some cases.

Add your comment about movie captioning below!

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

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.