Last year, there was a bill in Congress that would have made companies like NBC, ABC and other big ones to make their videos accessible. Finally, there was going to be the chance to see TV shows on the web and access them with captions and descriptive media.
It didn't pass.
Representative Ed Markey from Massachussetts has introduced the 21st Century Communications and Video Access Act of 2009 bill (H. R. 3101). This bill means that I would finally be able to access TV programs that are shown on sites such as NBC and ABC. There have been many times when I've gone to a site to catch a clip of a news item only to leave frustrated because I can't access anything being said. When FOX and ABC did an interview with me last year, I couldn't even access the news item on the web the next day as the captions weren't included.
Yes, it is definitely time for this bill to pass.
So what do we have to do? We have to go the grassroots route: generate a growing body of people who strongly believe that access on the web is long overdue and the time is now to get this bill passed. Send an email to Representative Ed Markey and thank him for being the catalyst behind this bill. Get involved by spreading the word on Facebook. Stay connected to Jamie Berke who blogs about updates: Caption Action 2.
Email Representative Ed Markey
Take a moment to contact your Representative and tell them you want them to co-sponsor this bill.
Contact your Senator and tell them to introduce a similar bill in the Senate.
Special thanks to the Coalition of Organizations for Accessible Technology for those links above.
If you have hearing in the normal range, I'd like you to take a moment to play a video, any video on the web and turn the sound off. This is what it's like for me, my husband and children and many other deaf and hard of hearing folks every day.
And consider this-- should your own hearing go south, you'll be thankful that we passed this bill.
So take ten minutes of your time today to click on those links to the Representatives and the Senators and tell them you want this bill passed so that all of us can access the web together.
