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AAPD Applauds U.S. Senate for Passing 21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Legislation for People with Disabilities
[August 09, 2010]

AAPD Applauds U.S. Senate for Passing 21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Legislation for People with Disabilities


WASHINGTON, Aug 09, 2010 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- Senate Bill Now Goes to the House for Vote The American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD), the country's largest cross-disability membership organization, commends the U.S. Senate for passage of the "Twenty-first Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act" (S. 3304) by unanimous consent on August 5.



"This is a significant victory for all people with disabilities," said Tony Coelho, AAPD's board chair. "The way all people connect has changed since the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) passed 20 years ago, and with this legislation, people with disabilities will not be left behind. In this year of the 20th anniversary of the ADA, the U.S. Senate recognizes there is still work to be done going forward, especially regarding communications and technology." The legislation requires captioned television programs to be captioned when delivered over the Internet, requires video description on television for people with vision loss, allocates $10 million per year for communications equipment used by people who are deaf-blind, ensures emergency information is accessible to individuals who are blind or have low vision, and provides for accessibility of advanced communications such as text messaging, email and web browsing on mobile devices, among several other provisions.

"People with disabilities must have the tools they desperately need for participating in our digital world like everyone else," said Andrew J. Imparato, AAPD's President and CEO. "This fact has been recognized by the Senate with its unanimous consent." AAPD has worked as a founding member of Coalition of Organizations for Accessible Technology (COAT), an affiliate organization with more than 310 members that has been advocating for several years for legislative safeguards to ensure full access by people with disabilities to evolving high speed broadband, wireless and other Internet Protocol (IP) technologies, on this legislation.


The bill is scheduled to go back to the U.S. House of Representatives for a vote.

For more information about AAPD, visit www.AAPD.com. For more information about COAT, visit www.coataccess.org.

To view this press release online, visit http://www.aapd.com/site/apps/nlnet/content2.aspx?c=pvI1IkNWJqE&b=5818457&ct=8573707&notoc=1.

The American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD), the country's largest cross-disability membership organization, organizes the disability community to be a powerful voice for change - politically, economically, and socially. AAPD was founded in 1995 to help unite the diverse community of people with disabilities, including their family, friends and supporters, and to be a national voice for change in implementing the goals of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). To learn more, visit the AAPD Web site: www.aapd.com SOURCE American Association of People With Disabilities

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