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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.

National Disability Groups Applaud Passage of S. 3304 by U.S. Senate

August 10, 2010. The American Association of People (AAPD) with Disabilities and the American Foundation for the Blind (AFB) applaud the U.S. Senate for its passage of the "Twenty-first Century Communications & Video Accessibility Act" (S.3304).  “This is a significant victory for all people with disabilities,” said Tony Coelho, AAPD’s board chair. AFB notes: Twenty years ago now when the ADA was signed into law, no one could have predicted the new technologies—smart phones to the Internet—that now shape our daily lives and work routines. Once signed into law, this legislation will ensure that the 25 million Americans with vision loss and the millions more with other disabilities can fully participate in the digital era.

Read AAPD Press Release

Read AFB Press Release

Paul Schroeder's AFB Commentary on ADA Summer & Technology

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COAT leaders at the FCC

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.

21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act

President Obama signs the Accessibility Act

President Obama signed the 21st
Century Communications & Video Accessibility Act
into law on October 8, 2010, with many key advocates and lawmakers in attendance.

Senator Mark Pryor (AR)

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. Sesame Street video with captioning and description.

Closed Caption button on remote. Closed Caption button on remote.