[Blindtlk] Harken, a Champion of the Rights Of Persons with Disabilities

[Bob Hachey]

Hi all,

Below is the contents of a press release from the office of Senator Tom
Harken. 

This hearing covered two bills. the Air Carrier Access Amendments Act will
be heard by a different committee. the Captioning and Image Narration to
Enhance Movie Accessibility (CINEMA) Act was heard last Tuesday. 

IT is way past time that audio description take its rightful place along
with closed captioning as a matter of right for all video content. IT is a
simple matter of providing information via nonvisual means.

We get that from ATM machines. WE get it in the voting booth. We should also
get it from the movie and television screen.

Bob Hachey 

 

May 10, 2013

 

US Senator Tom Harkin of Iowa    

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

 

Contact: Harkin Press Office  

 

May 10, 2013

 

(202) 224-3254

table end nesting level 5

 

HELP Committee to Examine Proposals to Improve Access to Media for
Individuals with Disabilities

 

WASHINGTON-On Tuesday, May 14, Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions
Committee Chairman Tom Harkin (D-IA) will convene a Committee hearing to
discuss

proposals to improve and expand the accessibility of entertainment content
delivered on movie screens, airplanes, televisions, computers, tablets and
mobile

phones.  Harkin has 

introduced two bills

this Congress, the Captioning and Image Narration to Enhance Movie
Accessibility (CINEMA) Act and the Air Carrier Access Amendments Act, which
would amend

existing law to help Americans with hearing or visual disabilities to have
more equal access to movies and other programming, in accordance with the
goals

of the Americans with Disabilities Act, a law that Harkin championed in the
Senate.

 

Sign language interpreters and real time captioning will be provided in the
hearing room for this hearing.  The real time captioning will also accompany

the webcast of the hearing on the committee website at 

help.senate.gov.

 

HEARING: "The ADA and Entertainment Technologies: Improving Accessibility
from the Movie Screen to Your Mobile Device"

 

WITNESSES:

Panel I

Ms. Eve Hill, Senior Counselor to the Assistant Attorney General for Civil
Rights, U.S. Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division, Washington, DC

Ms. Karen Peltz Strauss, Deputy Chief, Consumer and Governmental Affairs
Bureau, Federal Communications Commission, Washington, DC

Panel II

Mr. John Fithian, President and CEO, National Association of Theatre Owners,
Washington, DC

Ms. Betsy Beaumon, Vice President and General Manager, Literacy Program, The
Benetech Initiative, Palo Alto, CA

Mr. Brian Charlson, Chair, Information Access Committee, American Council of
the Blind, Watertown, MA

Mr. Andrew Phillips, Policy Counsel, Law & Advocacy Center, National
Association of the Deaf, Silver Spring, MD

 

DATE: Tuesday, May 14, 2013

 

TIME: 2:30 p.m.

 

PLACE: 430 Dirksen Senate Office Building