Please forgive this slightly off-topic post, but I thought that folks might be
interested in this legislation since it would affect anyone with a disability.

I have not read this lesislation in detail, but it sounds like positive steps in
the right direction.


Thank you,
Have a Great Day!

Karey Carbaugh

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Mitch Pomerantz [mailto:mitch.pomerantz@...]
>
> Sent: Monday, June 29, 2009 12:37 PM
> To: leadership@...
> Cc: 'Melanie Brunson'; board@...
> Subject: [leadership] FW: [acb-l] FW: ALERT!--Landmark
> Communications
> and Video Accessibility Legislation Introduced--Urge Your
> Member of
> Congress to Cosponsor!
>
> Colleagues:
>
> ACB will be posting our own press release later today, but
> I thought you
> might want to see this.  It has taken far longer than
> any of us had
> anticipated, but it is now time for all of us to get to
> work.
>
>
> Mitch
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Karyn Campbell [mailto:karyn1421@...]
> Sent: Monday, June 29, 2009 8:24 AM
> To: ACB Discussion List; sasi Discussion List; Illinois
> Discussion List;
> ICB Board; ildb-l@...
> Subject: [acb-l] FW: ALERT!--Landmark Communications and
> Video
> Accessibility Legislation Introduced--Urge Your Member of
> Congress to
> Cosponsor!
>
> Hello all,
>
> As the subject line indicates, this is indeed landmark
> legislation.  It
> will do a number of things and needs to be passed this
> time.
>
> As this was just introduced, there are currently no
> co-sponsors yet.
> Please contact your member of the House of Representatives
> to urge him
> or her to co-sponsor this legislation.
>
> There are many organizations involved in getting us to this
> point,
> including the American Council of the Blind (ACB) and the
> American
> Association of the Deaf-Blind (AADB). 
>
> Again, I urge you to contact your member of Congress and
> strongly urge
> him or her to co-sponsor this legislation.
>
> Karyn Campbell, karyn1421@...
> Check out my blog at packerbackerkaryn.blogspot.com
>
>
>    
>
> -----Original Message-----
>
>
> From: AFB DirectConnect [mailto:blemoine@...]
> Sent: Monday, June 29, 2009 8:52 AM
> To: AFB Subscriber
> Subject: ALERT!--Landmark Communications and Video
> Accessibility
> Legislation Introduced--Urge Your Member of Congress to
> Cosponsor!
>
>
>
> AFB DirectConnect Letterhead
> <http://www.afb.org/learn/icimage.asp?ImageID=1254>
>
>
>
> ALERT!--Landmark Communications and Video Accessibility
> Legislation
> Introduced--Urge Your Member of Congress to Cosponsor!
>
> For further information, contact:
>
> Mark Richert
> Director, Public Policy, AFB
> (202) 822-0833
> mrichert@...
>
> On Friday afternoon, June 26, Rep. Ed Markey (D-MA)
> reintroduced
> comprehensive legislation to ensure that people with
> disabilities have
> access to Internet-based telecommunications and video
> programming
> technologies. The bill, the Twenty-first Century
> Communications and
> Video Accessibility Act of 2009 (H.R. 3101), will--
>
>
>
>
> *       require that mobile and
> other Internet-based telecommunications
> devices be fully hearing aid compatible, have accessible
> user
> interfaces, and offer people with disabilities use of a
> full range of
> text messaging and other popular services that are
> currently largely
> inaccessible;
>
>
> *       provide people who are
> deaf-blind with vital but costly
> technologies
> they need to communicate electronically, establish a
> process for the
> provision of real-time text capability, and clarify
> existing
> relay-to-relay, Lifeline and Linkup service requirements to
> ensure their
> relevance to the real world communications needs of people
> with
> disabilities;
>
>
> *       restore the Federal
> Communications Commission's (FCC's) modest
> video
> description rules and unambiguously establish the
> Commission's current
> and ongoing authority to expand such regulations, require
> emergency
> announcements and similar information to be accessible to
> people with
> disabilities through audible presentation of on-screen
> alerts, ensure
> that video programming offered via the Internet will be
> both captioned
> and described, and call for all devices that receive and
> playback video
> programming to employ accessible user interfaces and allow
> ready access
> to captioning and description; and
>
>
> *       strengthen consumers'
> ability to enforce their rights to
> communications and video accessibility through the
> establishment of a
> clearinghouse of information about service and equipment
> accessibility
> and usability, a meaningful FCC complaint process that
> holds industry
> accountable for their accessibility obligations, and
> judicial review of
> FCC action to ensure the Commission's own accountability.
>
>
>
> All Members of the United States House of Representatives
> should be
> actively encouraged to cosponsor H.R. 3101, the
> Twenty-first Century
> Communications and Video Accessibility Act of 2009, and you
> are urged to
> contact your Member of Congress immediately to make such a
> request.
> Learn how to contact your Member of Congress at
> https://writerep.house.gov/writerep/welcome.shtml.
>
> Additionally, please share this alert widely with your
> networks and
> other contacts to spread the word.
>
> This landmark legislation, the work product of the
> Coalition of
> Organizations for Accessible Technology (COAT), was
> introduced by Rep.
> Markey in the last Congress as H.R. 6320 and has been
> significantly
> revised based on extensive and successful negotiation with
> leading
> industry players.
> COAT is a broad-based cross-disability coalition of more
> than 230
> national, regional, and community-based groups working
> together for
> information age equity for people with disabilities. You
> can find
> additional information about COAT and supporting material
> describing the
> purposes and provisions of COAT's proposed legislation at
> www.coataccess.org.
>
>
>
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> Version: 8.5.375 / Virus Database: 270.12.94/2207 - Release
> Date:
> 06/28/09 17:54:00 Checked by AVG - www.avg.com
> Version: 8.5.375 / Virus Database: 270.12.93/2206 - Release
> Date:
> 06/27/09 17:55:00
>
>
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> Committee Chair, by
> e-mail:
> rmilliman@...
> or by phone at 270-782-9325 and get started
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