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 Launches Sec 508-255 Refresh Website Resource

June 10, 2010. COAT affiliate Trace R&D Center in Wisconsin has launched a 508-255-Refresh website. This is a new resource to find, review, and discuss the U.S. Access Board's proposed regulations for accessible information and communication technology. Draft 508 and 255 regulations are presented in an easier-to-review format on this website. This allows site visitors to read and post comments on each provision.This allows you to address your concerns to one or more subject areas, rather than the whole thing. Trace's analysis and commentary are also provided.

The deadline for filing comments with the Access Board is June 21, 2010. Registered site users may post comments on the site, which could be picked up and used by others in developing their formal comments.NOTE: The site is for information and discussion only. Comments posted to the site are not automatically sent to the Access Board. Site users are encouraged to file their own formal comments with the Access Board. Instructions for filing formal comments are provided on the site.

The U.S. Access Board published its Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM) on March 22, 2010. This notice contains revised accessibility standards that the government uses for purchasing information and communication technologies (Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act). It also includes revised rules for making phones and other telecommunication products accessible (Section 255 of the Telecommunications Act).The site contains a Plain(er) Language Version of the ANPRM for those not familiar with the guidelines or some of the terms. Also included are:

--Summary of key issues already identified in commentary to date,

--Issues, comments and key features by disability,

--Detailed comments by provision,

-The Access Board's 33 questions, along with explanation and comments,

--Other reports and analyses (including a comparison with the TEITAC report comlpeted April 2008). Many COAT affiliates were instrumental in helping develop the TEITAC report and expect to see the results of their work in final rules by the Access Board.

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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.