The act, a draft of which was first introduced by Congressman Ed Markey of Massachusetts in 2008, was passed by the House of Representatives with an overwhelming majority on 29 September.
Among the act’s provisions are the following requirements:
Like Media Access Australia, Ai-Media is committed to increasing accessibility to the media through simple and affordable solutions.
Varley and McGrath each took the time to explain what drew them to the work of Media Access Australia. This led to a discussion about some of the major projects being undertaken by Media Access Australia such as Your Local Cinema and the Classroom Access Project.
ASTRA, whose members include FOXTEL and AUSTAR, earlier this year sought a five-year temporary exemption from the DDA, meaning that the AHRC would not hear complaints against the members of ASTRA on the grounds of disability discrimination. In exchange for the exemption, ASTRA had offered to raise the level of captioning on 65 of the 91 channels operated by its members.
The AHRC has previously granted such temporary exemptions to subscription television broadcasters.
