Who Will be Advising the FCC on Disability Issues? Learn here!

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has nominated 37 individuals to its Disability Advisory Committee, which “provides advice and recommendations to the Commission on a wide array of disability matters specified by the Commission.” The nominees hail from the disability advocacy community, state and local governments and the private sector – including communications and media companies. The FCC oversees a range of issues such as internet access, cell phone access and other issues that play a key role in maintaining people with disabilities’ independence and well-being. We saw a recent example of this with the FCC’s recent call for stories from the disability community, which ended this past Friday, February 8.

As shared by the FCC: “During the Committee’s third term, it is anticipated that the Committee will meet in Washington, DC for a minimum of three (3) one-day plenary meetings per year. In addition, as needed, working groups or subcommittees will be established to facilitate the Committee’s work between meetings of the full Committee on accessibility-related matters that include, but are not limited to: communications transitions, telecommunications relay services, emergency access, and video programming accessibility.

The first meeting of the third term of the DAC will be announced at a later date. Meetings of the DAC and any working groups or subcommittees will be fully accessible to individuals with disabilities.

To obtain further information about the Committee, visit www.fcc.gov/dac, or contact: Will Schell, DFO, (202) 418-0767, or [email protected]; or Debra Patkin, Deputy DFO, (202) 870-5226.”