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Communication and Video Access Legislation Introduced Today
By advocacy | June 19, 2008
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 equipment are accessible to people with disabilities. Click here to read the press release and find links to a summary and full text of the bill.
The NAD is a founding member of the Coalition of Organizations for Accessible Technology (COAT) (www.COATaccess.org). We have been working with Congress to get this legislation introduced. Efforts must now be made to get this legislation passed.
Call your congressional representative NOW to ensure strong support – by Democrats and Republicans – for this legislation.
Sample message: I am calling to ask for your support and sponsorship of the “21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act.” The goal of this bill is to ensure that people with disabilities are not left behind as we change to digital and Internet technologies. This bill has the support of the Coalition of Organizations for Accessible Technology (COAT), a coalition of more than 200 organizations. Millions of Americans – who are deaf, hard of hearing, blind, and deaf-blind – do not have equal access to new digital and Internet-enabled telephone and video services and equipment. Your support is critical to ensure passage of this historic legislation.
To find contact information for your congressional representative, click on https://forms.house.gov/wyr/welcome.shtml. This link will take you to a web page that will ask for your state and zip code. (There is also a link on that page to help you find your 4-digit zip code extension. Your 4-digit zip code extension should also be on any of your utility bills.) When you click on “Contact My Representative” you will get your representative’s name and telephone number.
Call your congressional representative NOW.
Topics: General |
August 15th, 2008 at 4:57 pm
If NAD advocacy blog wants to promote sign language, why is it so hard to find a sign language video on it? So far I can find only written English.
I know you want to provide effective communication, however, the interpreters with disabilities are losing their livelihood if they can not read the certification videos under the stress of losing their careers if they miss the signs.
Why not require an Interpreting degree instead? community events first.
Deaf people are involved in teaching at the Interpreter Training Programs. Are they doing a good enough job?
The government does not seem to feel as sorry for the Interpreters with disabilities as they do Deaf people so it is more difficult to get any assistance as their disabilities are more hidden than a Deaf person who is signing. All the Deaf students that I told that I did not pass the video certification test were surprised and said they thought I was skilled interpreter. I even got an “A” in the certification prep class. I did my job.
To say that public accommodations require a certified interpreter whenever possible is vague. To do so would eliminate the needed experience for some pre-certified interpreters to become certified and increase the cost for hiring an interpreter. The pre-certified have already been eliminated from Medical, K-12, and Legal settings in my areas. This seems to have caused some delays for the Deaf/Blind population in finding interpreters when they want them.
Some states have poor mentoring and certification preparation programs set up but just jump to the laws without having adequate preparation training set up by people who understand the field. Before a Government sets up laws, they should 1st implement preparation steps to encourage certification, realizing that some interpreters with disabilities may require additional time. For example, in Minnesota, I searched long and hard for a Deaf sign language mentor. It was a lot of driving difficult to set up times even though I paid them at least 40.00/hour. Then one did not even seem to know what to do. Also at the time, there was only one turn taking video that I could practice with prior to the test, and then when I was ready for the N.A.D. test, it was banned in my state. Then I was left behind.
I know that though I had no educational government assistance as many Deaf people get, the government does provide some money to the Interpreter Training Schools. To throw out an interpreter with a disability after years of sign language study for lack of mentoring and preparation training videos is a waste of tax payer’s money.
There are so many blatant indiscretions of the ADA law happening in the rural parts of the country. First, lets focus on at least getting an educated interpreter in these situations.