[Athen] FW: HR 3101 and COAT Affiliation

[Ron Stewart]

Good morning,

We have been asked to join in supporting this legislation by Melanie
Thornton.  Is anyone willing to draft a letter of support, also you can
personally support this activity at the following website:
http://coataccess.org/node/add/petition.  I have already contacted COAT
about how to become an affiliate of the organization.

Ron Stewart



HR 3101 seems like a piece of legislation that we, as an organization
would want to get behind.  The purpose of the Bill is "to ensure that
individuals with disabilities have access to emerging Internet
Protocol-based communication and video programming technologies in the
21st Century."
(http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h111-3101#at)

NAD will is sponsoring a call for contacting legislators on April 15th
and so it would be great if the AHEAD membership might be apprised of
this in time to take action individually.
(http://www.nad.org/blogs/lkatz-hernandez/support-hr-3101-april-15)

I also wonder what you think about our becoming an affiliate of COAT
(Coalition of Organizations for Assistive Technology), a coalition of
over 280 national, regional, state, and community-based disability
organizations that advocates for legislative and regulatory safeguards
that will ensure full access by people with disabilities to evolving
high speed broadband, wireless and other Internet Protocol (IP)
technologies.  (http://www.coataccess.org/node/2)

I appreciate your consideration of this suggestion.  I think that the
legislation and the work of COAT are both aligned with the mission of
AHEAD.

Many thanks!

Melanie

Melanie Thornton
Director, Project PACE
Associate Director, Disability Resource Center
2801 S. University Ave., DSC #103
Little Rock, Arkansas 72204
501.650.2239 (cell)
501.569.8240 (fax)

Websites:
http://ualr.edu/pace
http://ualr.edu/disability