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.

FCC Chairman Names COAT Leader Karen Peltz Strauss as a Deputy Chief

COAT is delighted that one of our leaders, Karen Peltz Strauss of Communication Service for the Deaf, is joining the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). FCC notice is below:--

March 12, 2010, Washington DC.

FCC CHAIRMAN GENACHOWSKI NAMES KAREN PELTZ STRAUSS AS DEPUTY CHIEF IN CONSUMER BUREAU

Today, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski announced Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau Deputy Chief Karen Peltz Strauss. Ms. Strauss will focus on disability issues, among other things, and will help the Commission to implement the components of the National Broadband Plan that address access for people with disabilities, including leading the effort to develop a proposed Accessibility and Innovation Forum.

“The FCC has a vital role to play in empowering and protecting all consumers and ensuring they have access to world-class communications networks and technologies” said Chairman Genachowski. “I look forward to drawing on Karen’s extensive experience with telecommunications access issues to realize those goals.”

Strauss has over 25 years experience working on telecommunications access for people with disabilities. She is a co-founder of the Coalition of Organizations for Accessible Technology, or COAT, a coalition of over 290 national and regional organizations dedicated to ensuring disability access to emerging Internet-based and digital communications technologies in the 21st century. Ms. Strauss most recently provided consulting services to non-profit consumer groups, educational research institutes, and relay service providers.

Previously, she served as legal counsel for Gallaudet University's National Center for Law and Deafness, and the National Association of the Deaf. Prior to that, she served as Deputy Bureau Chief of the former Consumer Information Bureau at the FCC. In that capacity, she helped initiate its first Disability Rights Office and managed the Commission’s consumer and disability access programs and policies. Ms. Strauss holds a JD from the University of Pennsylvania Law School and an LLM from the Georgetown University Law Center.

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To the COAT Community from

Submitted by Jenifer Simpson on Tue, 03/30/2010 - 10:02.

To the COAT Community from Karen Peltz Strauss:

By now most of you know that tomorrow I will begin work as the FCC's Deputy Bureau Chief of the Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau. There, I will assist the Commission in implementing the disability portions of the National Broadband Plan, along with working on other disability issues. My move to the Commission means that I will have to cease working as a member of COAT. It has been 3 years since we founded COAT and the Coalition has far exceeded any of our expectations. Who could have dreamed that a group that started with a few D.C. advocates could have blossomed into a nationwide force of over 300 local, regional, state and national organizations in so short a time? The growth of this Coalition has been truly astonishing, and is a true testament to the need for equal access to emerging communication technologies. The enthusiasm within the COAT movement has been contagious. And this Coalition has already had a major impact in ensuring that people with disabilities will be included as the march to advanced digital technologies takes place. I have been privileged to have worked with you in these efforts. These past years have been filled with wonderful experiences that I will carry with me for the rest of my life. Our team has been a united one - always operating by consensus, always with our sights on the prize of access that lies ahead. I have been especially lucky to have worked with the extraordinary COAT Steering Committee: Jenifer Simpson of AAPD, Mark Richert of AFB, Rosaline Crawford of the NAD, and Eric Bridges of ACB. I so admire each of you for your integrity, ethics, professionalism and abilities, and cherish the friendships I have made with each of you.

I look forward to hearing from all of you in my new position. Thank you for all that you do to make this world a more accessible place.

Karen Peltz Strauss

This is absolutely terrific

Submitted by Dana Mulvany (not verified) on Fri, 03/12/2010 - 17:35.

This is absolutely terrific news! Karen has shown true dedication for advancing accessibility for decades. Congratulations, Karen!

Congratulations, Karen!

Submitted by Jenifer Simpson on Fri, 03/12/2010 - 16:49.

Congratulations, Karen! COAT's loss is the FCC's gain! They couldn't have made a better choice! This will surely make the National Broadband Plan stronger and establish the U.S. as a world leader in disability inclusion!