NAD Advocacy Blog

Communication and Video Access Legislation Introduced Today
NAD Advocacy TAKE ACTION - Call Your Representative NOW to support and sponsor this legislation. The “21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act of 2008” was introduced today (June 19, 2008) by Rep. Ed Markey (D-MA) and Rep. Heather Wilson (R-NM). The bill would amend the Communications Act to ensure that new Internet-enabled telephone and video services and [...]
Media Tech Legal Thu, Jun 19 2008 hide this blog

Take Action Now for More Captioners and Realtime Writers
NAD Advocacy The U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate are currently considering the College Opportunity and Affordability Act of 2007 (H.R. 4137, S. 1642), better known as the Higher Education Reauthorization Act. This bill includes language to create a competitive grant program to train realtime writers to provide captioned information and communication access millions of...
Legal Tue, Jun 10 2008 hide this blog

International and Employment Events in DC – June 3 and 4
NAD Advocacy UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities – June 3 Show your support for the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CPRD). The purpose of the CRPD is to promote, protect, and ensure the full and equal enjoyment of all human rights by persons with disabilities. RatifyNow, a [...]
Media Legal Thu, May 29 2008 hide this blog

Other News Highlights
NAD Advocacy “CaptionsON” Campaign and Viewer Relations Bureau VITAC announced the launch of “CaptionsON” awareness campaign and “Viewer Relations Bureau” (VRB). At the online VRB, TV viewers can submit feedback about captioning to the appropriate network, local station/affiliate, and cable or satellite provider. The CaptionsON VRB provides an easy way to report great captions, m...
Media Language Tech Mon, May 12 2008 hide this blog

NAD Participates in Hearing on Capitol Hill
NAD Advocacy Celebrity witnesses testified on May 1, 2008, at a House Committee on Energy and Commerce, Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet hearing on “Enhancing Access to Broadband Technology and Services for Persons with Disabilities.” Witnesses included: Jamaal Anderson, defensive end and 2007 first round draft pick of the NFL Atlanta Falcons whose father is Dr....
Media Tech Legal Culture Mon, May 12 2008 hide this blog

NAD Participates in FCC 10-Digit Numbering Workshop
NAD Advocacy The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) hosted a “Numbering Solutions Stakeholder Workshop” on April 29, 2008. This all-day session was attended by FCC and industry representatives, consumer advocates, and technical experts. The morning session began with industry representatives providing detailed overviews of the three proposals to provide real 10-digit telephon...
Tech Legal Sat, May 10 2008 hide this blog

NAD Files Reply Comments on 10-Digit Numbering System
NAD Advocacy The NAD worked closely with TDI and other consumer groups to file additional reply comments to update the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) record about adopting a system to assign real 10-digit telephone numbers for users of IP-based relay services (VRS, IP Relay, and IP Captioned Telephone Service). Click here to read the reply comments that [...]
Tech Legal Sat, May 10 2008 hide this blog

NAD Files Comments on 10-Digit Numbering System
NAD Advocacy The NAD worked closely with TDI and other consumer groups to file comments updating the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) record about adopting a system to assign real telephone 10-digit numbers for users of IP-based relay services (VRS, IP Relay, and IP Captioned Telephone Service). Click here to read the comments that were filed on [...]
Tech Legal Tue, Apr 15 2008 hide this blog

FCC Orders Emergency Call Handling and Commits to Numbering...
NAD Advocacy For years, the NAD, along with other consumer advocacy groups, has been advocating for access to 911 emergency call centers by consumers who use Internet-based relay services.  Consumers with TTYs can call 911 emergency call centers directly.  However, many consumers have switched to Internet-based communication services and have stopped using TTYs.  Many of these con...
Tue, Apr 01 2008 hide this blog

NAD Says Courts Should Treat Relay Calls Same as Voice Calls
NAD Advocacy The National Association of the Deaf (NAD) and a private law firm are representing a deaf man who alleges that a company did not hire him because he is deaf.  The case presents a question never before addressed by a court: whether relay calls should be treated the same as voice telephone calls. In 2005, the [...]
Tue, Apr 01 2008 hide this blog

NAD Advocates for Interpreters for United Nations Tours
NAD Advocacy The Northwest Bergen Senior Activity Center in Midland Park, New Jersey, contacted the United Nations (UN) to arrange a tour for their deaf seniors. When the coordinator asked for a sign language interpreted tour on a particular date, the UN responded that the interpreter they had on staff would be unavailable. In addition, [...]
Tue, Apr 01 2008 hide this blog

NAD Says Courts Should Treat Relay Calls Same as Voice Calls
NAD Advocacy The National Association of the Deaf (NAD) and a private law firm are representing a deaf man who alleges that a company did not hire him because he is deaf.  The case presents a question never before addressed by a court: whether relay calls should be treated the same as voice telephone calls. In 2005, the [...]
Legal Tue, Mar 25 2008 hide this blog

FCC Orders Emergency Call Handling and Commits to Numbering...
NAD Advocacy For years, the NAD, along with other consumer advocacy groups, has been advocating for access to 911 emergency call centers by consumers who use Internet-based relay services.  Consumers with TTYs can call 911 emergency call centers directly.  However, many consumers have switched to Internet-based communication services and have stopped using TTYs.  Many of these con...
Media Language Tech Legal Fri, Mar 21 2008 hide this blog

NAD Participates in 2008 National EHDI Conference
NAD Advocacy Part Three:  Workshops and Wrap Up Workshops and other presentations at the National Early Hearing Detection and Intervention (EHDI) Conference covered a range of topics such as deaf adults' perspectives on early intervention for deaf and hard of hearing children, language and educational outcomes, partnering with families and family support, professional develo...
Education Legal Fri, Mar 14 2008 hide this blog

NAD Participates in 2008 National EHDI Conference
NAD Advocacy Part Two:  “Through Deaf Eyes” This year, for the first time, the National Early Hearing Detection and Intervention (EHDI) Conference opened with a plenary session (a main event scheduled so all conference participants can attend) presented by deaf individuals.  The session, called “Through Deaf Eyes,” was based on the documentary movie of the same name.  A [...]
Higher Education Language Education Culture Wed, Mar 12 2008 hide this blog

NAD Participates in 2008 National EHDI Conference
NAD Advocacy Part One:  Introduction and Overview The NAD participated in the National Early Hearing Detection and Intervention (EHDI) Conference which was held in New Orleans on February 25-26, 2008.  The conference was sponsored by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Health Reso...
Language Education Mon, Mar 10 2008 hide this blog

Scam Alert – Protect Yourself
NAD Advocacy Scam = cheat, swindle, fraud, trick. Have you received a message from a “deaf charity” that offered you prize money for your donation?  Have you received a message from a “deaf lottery” that said you are a winner, but you must first pay taxes or a processing fee?  Did the message mention the National Association of [...]
Tue, Mar 04 2008 hide this blog

Vote 2008
NAD Advocacy Chances are you have done at least one of these things: Used sign language interpreter or real-time captioning services Watched a television program with closed captions Made a call through a relay service (TTY relay, video relay, etc.) You probably know that there are federal laws that protect your rights to this communication access.  These laws and rights grew [......
Tech Legal Thu, Jan 31 2008 hide this blog

NAD Takes Action for Deaf Babies
NAD Advocacy Early hearing detection and intervention (EHDI) programs have been set up in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.  The NAD has supported EHDI for many years.  The goals of these EHDI programs are:  (1) to screen babies for hearing by age one month (a simple hearing screen usually is done before a newborn baby leaves the hospital); (2) to provide confirmation of...
Language Tech Legal Mon, Oct 01 2007 hide this blog

NAD Update
NAD Advocacy The NAD Law and Advocacy Center has been advocating for the rights of deaf and hard of hearing people on Capitol Hill and the Federal Communications Commission. Here is a description of some of our recent advocacy actions: Congress - The NAD is actively engaged in the new Coalition of Organizations for Accessible Technology (see www.COATaccess.org).  NAD [...]
Tech Legal Fri, Jul 06 2007 hide this blog

Share Your Views on the Infant and Toddler Program (IDEA)
NAD Advocacy The U.S. Department of Education has issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) on the Infant and Toddler Program (Part C) of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). It can be found at [link] If you have an interest in deaf and hard of hearing babies, please send your thoughts to the Department on appropriate programming for these babies and their [...]
Education Thu, Jun 14 2007 hide this blog

VRS Rates - NAD Update
NAD Advocacy The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) needs to know that relay services are important to you.  Relay services include TTY relay, Speech-to-Speech, IP Relay, and Video Relay Service (VRS). The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requires that relay services be functionally equivalent to voice telephone service.  The FCC must provide the necessary funding to [...]
Tech Legal Fri, Jun 08 2007 hide this blog

NAD Filed Comments about VRS Rates
NAD Advocacy On May 23, 2007, the NAD, along with TDI, ALDA, DHHCAN, CCASDHH, and HLAA, filed comments with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) about the payment rate for relay services proposed by the National Exchange Carrier Association (NECA) for July 2007 through June 2008. The NAD made these points: The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requires that [...]
Tech Legal Fri, Jun 08 2007 hide this blog

NAD Urges Attendance at IDEA Public Meetings
NAD Advocacy The U.S Department of Education is holding public meetings on the NPRM. Please try to attend one of these meetings if it is in your area, and spread the word to others in our community. The meetings will be held: 1. June 4, 2007, 4 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., Portland–Embassy Suites Hotel Portland Airport (Pine & Spruce Room), 7900 Northeast 82nd Avenue, Portland, [...]
Language Education Thu, May 31 2007 hide this blog

NAD Advocates for Smooth Transition to Digital Television
NAD Advocacy Posted: May 1, 2007 Digital Television (DTV) is a new type of broadcasting technology that offers improved quality picture and sound.  Today, most TV stations are broadcasting in "analog" and "digital."  In February 2009, analog TV broadcasting will end.  After February 2009, TV broadcasting will be digital.  After February 2009, people who get [...]
Media Education Tech Legal Tue, May 01 2007 hide this blog

Thank You for Taking Action on Closed Captions
NAD Advocacy The NAD asked you to oppose requests for TV programs to be shown without closed captions, in your state.  You took action.  Wow!  Consumers like you filed over 500 comments with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) opposing TV programs without closed captions. THANK YOU . . .  THANK YOU . . .  THANK YOU.    The NAD, along with other consumer advocacy groups, [...]
Fri, Mar 30 2007 hide this blog

NAD Interviewed by CNN about Movie Captioning
NAD Advocacy CNN interviewed the NAD and others about movie captioning and aired a report about movie captioning technology on March 25, 2007.  The CNN technology broadcast, titled "Movi es for the Hearing Impaired," can now be seen online.  It shows some of the emerging movie captioning technologies described in a recent NAD Advocacy Blog post(see "Movie Captioning Update" posted [...]
Thu, Mar 29 2007 hide this blog

Don?t Throw Away Your TTY!
NAD Advocacy Today?s technology presents our community with many communication choices. We can text message our boss on a cell phone, IM our kids on a PDA (like a Sidekick or Blackberry device), and chat with our moms through video relay. We have communication gizmos and gadgets we can throw in our purse, hang on [...]
Mon, Mar 19 2007 hide this blog

Closed Captioning ? Time to Take Action
NAD Advocacy Posted March 16, 2007 The battle for TV closed captions continues. It is time to take action. Time to oppose requests from TV programs to be shown without closed captions, in your state. The NAD made it easy to do. It must be done by March 27. Remember last September, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) [...]
Fri, Mar 16 2007 hide this blog

Movie Captioning Update
NAD Advocacy People who are deaf or hard of hearing want to be able to attend any showing of any movie in any theater at any time.  We want to be able to sit anywhere in the movie theater with our family and friends.  We want equal access to the movie soundtrack through high quality captioning that [...]
Fri, Mar 09 2007 hide this blog

IP Relay Misuse
NAD Advocacy The NAD and other consumer advocacy group representatives have been meeting with relay service providers and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to address concerns about IP Relay misuse, fraud, and scams.  IP Relay is misused by people who are not deaf or hard of hearing.  Those people use IP Relay to engage in fraudulent and [...]
Fri, Feb 09 2007 hide this blog

Closed Captioning ? Update
NAD Advocacy The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) granted NAD?s request for a 120-day extension to file comments and oppositions to hundreds of requests for exemption from the closed captioning rules.  The deadline for filing comments and oppositions is extended to March 27, 2007.  The FCC also granted NAD?s request for permission for consumers and other consumer advocacy [...]
Fri, Jan 26 2007 hide this blog

Accessible Emergency Information
NAD Advocacy In the summer of 2006, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) distributed a Public Notice about closed captioning emergency information.  According to that Public Notice, when big city TV stations say they tried, but failed to close caption emergency information, that was OK with the FCC.That was not OK with the NAD.The NAD, joined by other [...]
Thu, Jan 04 2007 hide this blog

Closed Captioning ? Update
NAD Advocacy Hundreds of deaf and hard of hearing consumers took action. They protested the Federal Communication Commission (FCC) decision to approve almost 300 requests for new TV programs to be shown without closed captions. Consumers sent hundreds of e-mails to the FCC Chairman, Commissioners, and staff. Your advocacy efforts were successful. The FCC scanned hundreds of [...]
Tue, Nov 21 2006 hide this blog

Protest the FCC's Closed Captioning Decisions
NAD Advocacy Last week, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) approved almost 300 requests for new TV programs to be shown without closed captions. We must protest these FCC decisions. We must tell the FCC to support closed captioning. What Happened? On September 12, the FCC announced publicly that two TV programs do not need to be closed captioned, forever. This is [...]
Fri, Sep 22 2006 hide this blog

NAD Files Complaint against Washington Redskins and FedEx...
NAD Advocacy The National Association of the Deaf (NAD) and Joseph B. Espo, an attorney with Brown, Goldstein & Levy, LLP in Baltimore, Maryland, filed a class action lawsuit against the Washington Redskins and FedEx Field football stadium. The complaint, filed with the United States District Court for the District of Maryland, claims that the Washington Redskins [...]
Fri, Sep 01 2006 hide this blog

Protect Emergency Captioning!
NAD Advocacy View This Video Full Screen (Editor’s Note: The captioned version of this video will be available next week) Draft script for video: Hello, my name is Frank Bowe. I am a government affairs consultant for the National Association of the Deaf (NAD).  The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) recently distributed a ?Clarification? about a requirement for TV stations to [...]
Tue, Aug 15 2006 hide this blog

Movie Captioning Update
NAD Advocacy The NAD recently prepared information about captioned movies for the 2006 NAD Conference in Palm Desert, CA. That information includes: ?    a summary of movie captioning technologies (including a comparison chart); ?    a history of movie captioning efforts; and ?    a description of movie captioning access advocacy efforts, including a description of what you can do in your [...]
Fri, Aug 11 2006 hide this blog

Kelby Brick Farewell Message
NAD Advocacy View This Video Full Screen Hello this is Kelby Brick from the National Association of the Deaf (NAD). I wanted to let you know that the action videos from the last two weeks resulted in many comments filed with the government. Many officials were very surprised at the volume of filings from consumers like you. [...]
Fri, Aug 11 2006 hide this blog

Air Travel Action Alert
NAD Advocacy View This Video Full Screen Editor’s Note: This video appears a bit out of focus because we used a web cam to record this message. Please bear with us as we continue to learn how to create and post web videos to the NAD Advocacy Blog. *Text below is an English translation of the ASL [...]
Thu, Aug 03 2006 hide this blog

Make Videophones Equal to Telephones
NAD Advocacy Introduction In this video Kelby Brick, an attorney with the National Association of the Deaf (NAD) Law and Advocacy Center explains how the NAD and other consumer groups have just filed comments with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) urging the agency to implement changes that will make videophone users more equal to telephone users. View This [...]
Thu, Aug 03 2006 hide this blog