The U.S. House of Representatives’ passage of H.R. 3101, the 21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act, was a huge bi-partisan(348 to 23) vote of confidence in the commitment of our society to support the right of equal access to commonly used public services — especially the airwaves and Internet — no matter what disabilities a citizen might have. The vote, on the 20th anniversary of the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act, ensures equal access for deaf, hard-of-hearing, and blind consumers to the media.
For hard-of-hearing people, it requires that TV programs distributed on the web provide closed captions, that remote controls have a button to easily access closed captioning on broadcast and pay TV, and that telecom equipment used to make calls over the internet be compatible with hearing aids, just as land line phones and cell phones must be hearing aid compatible. Mandating more captioning of popular web videos will bring the day of universal closed captioning in all media a huge step closer.
“Two decades ago, Americans with disabilities couldn’t get around if buildings weren’t wheelchair accessible; today it’s about being Web accessible. The ADA mandated physical ramps into buildings,” said U.S. Rep. Edward Markey (D-MA), the sponsor of the legislation. “Today, individuals with disabilities need online ramps to the Internet so they can get to the Web from wherever they happen to be.”
The U.S. Senate version of the bill, S.3304, the Equal Access to 21st Century Communications Act, has been introduced by Senator Mark Pryor (D-AR) and reported out by the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. Given the overwhelming support in the House, prospects for passage in the Senate and the President signing a combined version of the bill into law are good. Both the House and Senate versions also provide many protections for blind Americans, including audible descriptions of on-screen action on television and making cable TV program guides and selection menus accessible to people with vision loss.
[…] This post was mentioned on Twitter by DeafRead, David Copithorne and David Copithorne, David Copithorne. David Copithorne said: Closed captions for all — U.S. House passes Telecommunications Access Act by overwhelming margin http://bit.ly/c4FqM8 http://fb.me/EcDUOVVp […]