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 Leaders Discuss H.R. 3101 & S.3304 at National Conventions

July 9, 2010. COAT leaders travel out-of-town to discuss H.R.3101 and S.3304 at the national conferences of leading COAT organizations. Rosaline Crawford (NAD) and Jenifer Simpson (AAPD) attend the 50th Biennial Conference of the National Association of the Deaf (NAD) in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania this week. Eric Bridges (ACB) and Mark Richert (AFB) fly to Phoenix, Arizona for the week-long 49th Annual Convention & Conference of the American Council of the Blind (ACB).

Both national disability advocacy organizations, ACB and NAD, are COAT founding organizations with tens of thousands of members, and affiliated members, who have advocated for the COAT legislation and want to know if Congress will act soon. Large attendance is expected at the sessions planned at each conference on legislation, including the telecommunications initiatives, and related broadband topics. Bridges, Crawford, Richert and Simpson are COAT steering committee members.

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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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COAT Leaders Discuss H.R. 3101 & S.3304 at National Conventions

COAT

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21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act

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