There have been some very good posts out on the recent FCC activity in granting “permanent” exemptions to the ADA’s requirement for closed captioning. In a nutshell, the ADA when enacted provided for “total” captioning to be implemented by January of 2006. Looks around herself. Nuh, uh, not by a long shot. Turns out that the FCC, even though there is no authority vested in it by the ADA, is giving out “permanent” exemptions to a long list of organizations (many of them religious; I’ll spare you all my rant on the shallow, completely “-ist” nature of churches).

There is background information here, here and here. Deaf Bison made a list of more info here as well.

You can find information on how to send objections and complaints to FCC here, which I strongly suggest you do as soon as possible. Even if you can hear, adjust the message to send to them to indicate why you think it’s important (a friend is deaf, want to see in library, etc).

In a related note, I came across a cautiously optimistic analysis of what the recent elections mean for possibly strengthening or fixing the ADA here

So continuing in this vein, I think it would be a good idea to do two more things with regard to this FCC process. Find out who your two state senators are here and send them messages explaining why the FCC should be stopped from doing what it is doing. Also find out who your House Representatives are here and write to them, as well. My suggestion would be to keep the letters short, respectful, and to the point.