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 CSD Receives $15 Million Broadband Grant

COAT has learned that on July 15, 2010, the Commerce Department’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) awarded a $15 million grant to COAT affiliate, Communication Services for the Deaf (CSD). The funds, an American Recovery and Reinvestment Act grant ("stimulus money"), are to help bridge the technological divide, boost economic growth, and improve communications for people who are deaf and hard of hearing nationwide.

The grant to Communication Service for the Deaf, Inc. (CSD) will support "Project Endeavor," and will provide tools for people who are deaf and hard of hearing to more fully participate in the digital economy. Project Endeavor plans to employ a mix of discounted broadband service and specialized computers, technology training from an online state-of-the-art support center customized to the community’s needs, public access to videophones at community anchor institutions across the country, and a nationwide outreach initiative as part of the project's activities.

The contact center is part of a two-year project that calls for a nationwide awareness campaign and marketing initiative that combines subsidized broadband, technology training, and specialized equipment — among other things — for a targeted populace of 200,000 deaf and hard of hearing people. The grant will create more than 60 jobs in the local market.

NTIA Press Release

CSD has over 75 jobs open on its website.

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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.