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.

Scofflaw Wireless Companies Slammed With Fines for Violating Hearing Aid Compatibility Requirements

An Enforcement Advisory issued January 15, 2010 by the FCC’s Enforcement Bureau proposed $87,000 in fines for seven companies and citations to two other companies that have failed to comply with the Hearing Aid Compatibility (HAC) act status filing requirements. Companies who have received such enforcement notices include well-known brands such as Apple, Cellular One (AZ), 7-Eleven (Speakout prepaid wireless), Firefly (FL), Appalachian Wireless (KY), ACS (Alaska) and others. List of all companies here on FCC website.

FCC rules require most digital wireless handset manufacturers and wireless service providers to make available a minimum number of hearing aid compatible handsets. To ensure that consumers have access to up-to-date information on the availability of those handsets, and to ensure that the Commission can monitor compliance, FCC rules require manufacturers and service providers to make periodic status reports and to post specific information on their public web sites. The Enforcement Bureau proposed the monetary forfeitures and citations for violating these reporting and posting requirements.

Since May 2007, the FCC's Enforcement Bureau has issued 31 Notices of Apparent Liability for Forfeitures and Consent Decrees totaling $665,500 for violations of the hearing aid compatibility handset, labeling and reporting requirements.

COAT national affiliate Hearing Loss Association of America (HLAA) says one in ten Americans has hearing loss, with the number expected to almost double by 2030 as "baby boomers" age. Companies failing to provide hearing aid compatibility information about their products and services create unnecessary barriers to phone access for millions of people and their families.

FCC Enforcement Advisory

FCC Consumer Fact Sheet on Hearing Aid Compatibility

HLAA Fact Sheet on Hearing Loss

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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.

Senator Mark Pryor (AR) received AAPD’s Justice For All Award July 26, 2011 for his leadership with Senate passage of the 21st CVAA.

Key FCC Staff working on 21st CVAA

Key FCC staff working on 21st CVAA: Karen Peltz Strauss, Rosaline Crawford, Eliot Greenwald

Sesame Street video with captioning and description.

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Scofflaw Wireless Companies Slammed With Fines for Violating Hearing Aid Compatibility Requirements

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