COAT congratulates Dr. T. Alan Hurwitz on his appointment as the 10th President of Gallaudet University, Washington, D.C., on October 18. Dr. Hurwitz is a former board member of leading COAT affiliate TDI, and former president of COAT steering committee organization, NAD. Most recently he was Vice President at Rochester Institute of Technology and Dean of the National Technical Institute of the Deaf (NTID). He takes office January 1, 2010.

The Los Angeles Public Library suspended purchase of  electronic books recently due to concerns about accessibility. They will resume purchase of these "e-books" if the Text-To-Speech (TTS) function is restored. TTS permits millions of readers with print disabilities to have access to the library's collection. This procurement action resulted from the "Equal Not Separate Reading Rights" campaign of the ReadingRightsCoalition (RRC), of which several COAT affiliates are also members.

The COAT coalition regrets learning of the death of Dr. Margaret Pfanstiehl, who died September 28, 2009, at age 76, after a lung illness.  Dr. Pfanstiehl founded the Metropolitan Washington Ear reading service for blind people in 1974, an agency that provides free services for blind, visually impaired and physically disabled people who cannot effectively read print.  The reading service covers everything from magazines to newspapers and grocery store ads. It provides audio descriptions of area theater and opera performances, movies and museum exhibitions.

Representatives from over a dozen COAT affiliates spoke at the FCC Broadband Workshop held at the FCC in Washington, DC, October 20.

October 15, 2009:--Online magazine TV Technology says that video description and closed captioning are two sides of the same coin.

October 16, 2009, Washington, DC:  COAT is very pleased to see a rare case of inclusion of accessibility in the very first version of a new technology standard. This is the technical standard for mobile DTV which specifies that CEA 708 captions ("DTV CC") can be carried within the mobile DTV signal, or TV received over wireless devices.

Several COAT affiliates sent in written comments to the FCC in the first round of comments in the Consumer Information & Disclosure Notice of inquiry. The consumer group -- TDI, NAD, ALDA, DHHCAN, CA Coalition, HLAA, AADB & CSD -- urged great outreach and education for consumers, service

In October 2009, International Friend of COAT, Media Access of Australia, reports they are trialing an Internet-based form of captioned telephone service. The service will be provided by Australian Communications Exchange (ACE) with a limited number of participants. With this service people with hearing impairments can make a phone call using a normal phone, but can also use a computer with Internet access to read live captions on the screen.  The captions show every word that the