Successful House Hearing on Telephone and Television Accessibility

On May 1, 2008, the U.S. House of Representatives Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet held a lively hearing on “Enhancing Access to Broadband Technology and Services for Persons with Disabilities.”  Consumer witnesses’ statements offered support for the legislative agenda of the Coalition of Organizations for Accessible Technology (COAT), now numbering nearly 200 national, regional and local members. COAT's witnesses discussed the importance of requiring accessibility of communications that involve the Internet, addressing the need for legislation to ensure no one is left behind in the analog dust as 21st century communications expand digitally.

One witness, Jamaal Anderson -- defensive end and 2007 first round draft pick of the NFL Atlanta Falcons and whose father is a leading deaf educator and former board member of Gallaudet University – testified from the point of view of family members. He emphasized how communicating with a person who is deaf via “real time text phone calls,” previously through TTYs (text telephones), should be a required “voice equivalent” now that so much text moves through the Internet. Mr. Anderson also spoke of the pressing need for Universal Service Funds to be set aside for deaf-blind people to have phone equipment. These specialized Braille phones are a costly barrier to making a phone call for the 70,000 Americans who are deaf-blind. 

Another witness, Russell Harvard, a deaf Hollywood actor who appeared in the double-academy award winning movie “There Will Be Blood”, testified eloquently in sign language to the need for closed captioning when television programs are shown on the Internet. He also asked for televisions smaller than 13 inches to be required to display captioning, now that digital technology allows for readable text. Harvard also asked for simplified access to television controls, so deaf and hard of hearing persons, and other users of captioning, can easily find the captioning option on TV menus.

Sergeant Major Jesse Acosta, whose vision was seriously injured by mortar attack in Iraq, spoke of the pressing need to ensure television is accessible to blind persons. His testimony, on behalf of the American Council of the Blind, asked the committee to reinstate the video description rules so that emergency information and some television programming include this form of accessibility. Video description means the insertion of audio descriptions of a television program's key visual elements during natural pauses in the program's dialogue. Like Russell Harvard, Acosta also asked for simplified access to television controls, so blind and other vision disabled persons can easily select channels and find information on TV menus.

Dane Snowden, representing the Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association, railed against the legislative proposal for including an “undue burden standard” and “a private right of action.”  He said the legislation “was well intentioned but would lead to potentially inflexible regulations.”  Similar objections were raised by another witness, Ken Nakata, of Disability Initiatives and Government Compliance BayFirst Solutions. Nakata, however, while agreeing on the need for legislation suggested that there should “be procedural safeguards,” but didn’t clarify  these. 

Larry Goldberg, Director of the Media Access project at WGBH-TV public television station in Boston, MA, presented information on technological feasibility. He emphasized the need for a date to be set to ensure that there is industry agreement on common standards for accessibility. Under later grilling by the Committee members, Snowden admitted that “if we have products that are accessible, we sell more products” but he would not agree that deadlines were useful in setting accessibility standards when he was asked by Chairman Markey to “Can you help set a deadline to work out standards?” Markey called industry objections "eerily similar" to opposition he faced when battling to enact the original closed captioning law in 1990.

Next steps for COAT include asking the U.S. Senate for a similar hearing and further meetings with interested industry stakeholders. Advocates wanting to take action should contact Jenifer Simpson at Email aapdjenifer@aol.com

Watch the webcast of the hearing:
The archived video of the hearing, including the witnesses’ statements, are now available for watching or downloading at the Subcommittee's website

Text of the Legislation:
Read a new staff draft of the legislation

More information on the AAPD website http://www.aapd.com/News/telecomm/080501aapd.htm

and the Coalition of Organizations for Accessible Technology website  (http://www.coataccess.org). AAPD is a founding and steering committee member of COAT