On October 7, 2020, the FCC announced the 2020 winners of the Chairman’s Awards for Advancements in Accessibility (Chairman’s AAA). This FCC program, which began in 2011, is focused on improving access to telecommunications and technology for people with disabilities. Those being honored this year are national thought leaders whose sustained excellence throughout their careers has served to advance the cause of accessibility.
The recipients of the 2020 Chairman’s AAA are:
- Karen Peltz Strauss, a trailblazer whose decades-long career advocating for accessible technology for consumers includes many years as a public servant at the FCC;
- Claude L. Stout, advocate and long serving Executive Director at TDI, whose collaborative approach to accessibility challenges achieved positive outcomes for consumers; and
- Tom Wlodkowski, a tireless advocate and innovator with over 30 years of experience increasing access to video programming, Internet/broadband, and connected technologies for individuals who are blind or visually impaired.
The awards will be presented during the FCC’s 10th anniversary celebration of the Twenty-First Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act (CVAA) on Thursday, October 8. The virtual event will be livestreamed at https://www.fcc.gov/live beginning at 2:00 p.m. with a panel discussion exploring the progress that has been made since the CVAA’s passage in 2010 and the challenges that remain. Following a short break, the awards ceremony to honor the 2020 Chairman’s AAA winners will begin at 3:15 p.m.
For more information about the event on October 8, visit: https://www.fcc.gov/news-events/events/2020/10/fcc-honor-10th-anniversary-accessibility-act. Open captioning will be provided for this event. Other reasonable accommodations for people with disabilities are available upon request. Please send an e-mail to fcc504@fcc.gov or call the Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau at 202-418-0530 (voice), include a description of the accommodation you will need, and tell us how to contact you if we need more information. Make your request as early as possible – last minute requests will be accepted, but may be impossible to fill.
Link to Press Release:
URL: https://www.fcc.gov/document/fcc-announces-winners-chairmans-accessibility-awards
Word: https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/DOC-367387A1.docx
PDF: https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/DOC-367387A1.pdf
Text: https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/DOC-367387A1.txt
For questions or inquiries about the Chairman’s AAA, contact Deandrea Wilson (202-391-6266), Chantal Virgile (202-418-0056) or call the ASL Consumer Support Line at 1-844-432-2275 via videophone. Inquiries may also be sent to ChairmansAAA@fcc.gov. For more information about the Chairman’s AAA, visit: https://www.fcc.gov/chairmansaaa.