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REMARKS OF FCC COMMISSIONER MICHAEL J. COPPS
ON RECEIVING THE PRESIDENT’S AWARD FOR LIFETIME 
ACHIEVEMENT
HEARING LOSS ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA CONVENTION
JUNE 16, 2011
Thank you so much for your kind reception and for this wonderful—and I must 
say moving—Award.  You know, working alongside Brenda Battat, Lise Hamlin, Cheryl 
Heppner and so many, many others in this audience over the years has been honor 
enough for me, so I certainly didn’t expect any further recognition.  But I have to say—it 
sure feels good. I am deeply grateful, and I thank you for making my day…and my week 
and month, too!  Working with this community has been for me the most inspiring and 
rewarding part of my time at the Commission, and I thank every member of this 
wonderful association for teaching me about the many challenges confronted by our deaf 
and hard-of-hearing communities and, more importantly, helping awaken the country to 
the opportunities we have to apply the wonders of new technologies to help overcome 
these challenges.  
Accessibility for the deaf and hard-of-hearing should not be an issue just for the 
group that is assembled at this conference—it matters to all of us because nearly one in 
five Americans has some degree of hearing loss. These are effects that touch every family 
and every community, whether it is your aging parent becoming a late-deafened 
individual, a son or daughter in uniform coming home with injuries incurred in the wars 
in Iraq or Afghanistan, or a child wanting nothing more than the chance to be a fully-
contributing member of society.
Back when I joined the Commission ten years ago, we were just at the dawn of 
the Twenty-first Century —talking about the potential of advanced communications 
services and technologies to change our lives for the better but still only on the cusp of 
actually experiencing their transformative power. Today most of us have seen that power 
first-hand, many of us have grown to depend upon these amazing services and 
technologies, and we understand that access to broadband—both fixed and mobile—is 
vitally important to our lives.  It’s important to our lives as individuals because the door 
to opportunity is increasingly online.  That is where companies recruit and where jobs are 
found.  It’s important to our health in an age where telemedicine is beginning to play 
such a transformative role in how we care for ourselves.  It’s important to how we 
educate ourselves and our kids for the hyper-competitive world in which we all live. 
There is hardly a facet of our lives that will be untouched by broadband and the Internet.  
It will help us decrease, for example, our costly dependence on foreign fuels.  It will help 
us put the brakes on the degradation of our environment.  It will, I hope, bring us better 
news and information and a more robust civic dialogue.  So we just have to grab onto 
these new tools and put them to work for ourselves and our kids and grandkids who are 
growing up in such a different world from the one into which many of us were born.  The 
bottom line is this: participation in our economy, our society, and even our democracy 
requires high speed Internet access.
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All of us benefit when more of us are connected.  Universal adoption means just 
that—everyone, no matter who they are, where they live, or the particular circumstances 
of their individual lives, needs to be connected.  To me, this access to high-speed, high-
value broadband is a defining right of the Twenty-first century.  I say let’s treat it as a 
civil right—because that’s how it should be seen.  If we don’t do this, the differences that 
already divide America will actually grow and that Digital Divide we thought we were 
getting rid of could actually become deeper and wider in the years ahead. What a lost 
opportunity, what a tragedy, that would be—to have within our grasp the most dynamic, 
liberating and opportunity-creating information technology of all time—and let it fall 
short of its potential to open doors for every American.
An important part of our job at the FCC is to help ensure Americans with 
disabilities have access to functionally equivalent communications services.  Before I go 
on, I’ve got to tell you that that term “functionally equivalent” doesn’t begin to convey 
the importance of what we are talking about.  It’s so antiseptic.  Maybe that’s why the 
phrase is used in the law.  I don’t know, and it is hugely important, but I just want 
everyone in this country to know that what it really means is the ability of those with 
disability challenges to enjoy equal opportunities to lead individually and socially
productive lives, to communicate using the latest products and services, to have an equal 
shot at getting a good job, pursuing an education, enjoying good health and, especially in 
this dangerous age, surviving natural disasters, man-made terror attacks and other 
threatening emergencies.  “Functionally equivalent” is about as heart-warming a term as 
“network neutrality.”  Actually, both network neutrality and functional equivalence are 
about equal opportunity.  I just believe that people get more involved and excited about 
good causes when they are creatively named.  But I digress. The important thing, of 
course, is that there are people like you working to bring the idea to life.  
I was honored to be in the White House to watch President Obama sign the 
Twenty-First Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act into law last 
October. Thanks to your tireless advocacy and to true champions on Capitol Hill 
including Congressman Ed Markey, Congressman Henry Waxman, Senator Jay 
Rockefeller, Senator Mark Pryor and numerous others, this sweeping piece of 
communications and civil rights legislation is now the law of the land, and I can tell you 
this: it is going to make a huge difference. The new law instructs the FCC to take prompt 
and far-reaching actions to expand opportunity for persons with disabilities. I am happy 
to report the FCC is hard at work implementing the mandates of this historic legislation.
Allow me to share with you just some of the areas where we’ve already started 
moving forward:
· Two months ago, we announced the creation of a two-year pilot program to get the 
Deaf-Blind Equipment Distribution Program up-and-running. The Twenty-first 
Century Accessibility Act allocated $10 million annually from the TRS fund for this 
nationwide effort. The goal here is to make communications technologies and 
services accessible to low-income individuals who are deaf-blind. 
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· The FCC has issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to implement the express 
mandate of Congress to reinstate and modify the video description rules that were 
originally adopted by the Commission in 2000. Making information that is conveyed 
visually to the viewing audience accessible to the blind and visually-impaired can be 
the difference between life and death. Some broadcasters have been providing this 
service on their own accord since the Commission’s rules got hung up by the courts 
before the new law was passed, and I salute those who have done so for their 
leadership.  The requirements of the new law will greatly expand the amount of 
programming that is video-described. The Commission must take action to reinstate 
video description rules before the end of the year to meet Congress’ deadline. 
Sometimes a Congressionally-mandated deadline can be a great tonic!
· We are also addressing hearing aid compatibility requirements for wireless phones 
and service. Even before the Twenty-first Century Accessibility Act was signed into 
law, the Commission was already looking at these issues, and now we have issued 
proposed rules and several Public Notices aimed at encouraging greater accessibility 
of wireless phones for people who use hearing aids or cochlear implants.
· Two advisory committees have been set up by the new law—the Video Programming 
Accessibility Advisory Committee and the Emergency Access Advisory 
Committee—and they have been meeting regularly and working toward issuing 
recommendations for FCC action:
o The Emergency Access Advisory Committee, for its part, has already 
completed a national survey of persons with disabilities regarding emergency 
calling. We look forward to its recommendations about what policies and 
practices we can put in place to achieve equal access to emergency services 
for individuals with disabilities as we migrate to Next Generation 911 that will 
be capable of receiving emergency calls via text and video as well as voice.
o The Video Programming Accessibility Advisory Committee is developing 
recommendations on a host of critical issues central to the new law: closed 
captioning of Internet programming previously captioned on television; video 
description of television programming; accessible emergency information for 
people with vision disabilities; compatibility of accessibility features and new 
video programming devices; and accessible user interfaces on video 
programming devices.
I know many of you here today were instrumental in getting this legislation 
passed in the first place. You did a great job!  Now that the action has shifted over to the 
FCC, you are bringing your talents to the advisory Committees and have already given us 
valuable comment on our proposed rules.  I urge you as strongly as I can to keep it 
coming because successful implementation of the new law requires that we have the best 
possible advice from you. This kind of cooperation is important regarding this particular 
law, but it is also important for all the things we can do together in the years ahead.  I 
remember what my old boss, Senator Fritz Hollings, often said: decisions made without 
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you are usually decisions against you.  I can’t begin to tell you how many times I have 
seen the truth of that during my years in this town!
As great as any of our achievements has been bringing one of my heroes—Karen 
Peltz-Strauss—back to the Commission.  Karen had been at the Commission before, as 
most of you know, and one of the first recommendations I made to new Chairman 
Genachowski when he came aboard was to find a way to lure Karen back.  He did it, and 
he gave her the charge and the running room to really make a difference.  You know how 
I approach the whole broad array of disabilities issues?  Whenever something comes up, I 
ask my staff: “What does Karen think about this?”  And if it’s OK with Karen, you can 
pretty much make book that it’s going to fly with me, too. What a difference she is 
making—for the Commission, but, more importantly, for you.  With Joel Gurin, who runs 
our Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau, and Greg Hlibok and Cheryl King the 
rest of the incredible team we have in Disability Rights, the Commission is being 
proactive and productive as never before.  Let’s have Karen and all the FCC Team here 
today stand and let’s give them a round of applause and let them know how much they 
are truly appreciated!
Karen and Joel and I are great believers in outreach—outreach to you, outreach to 
all the folks who don’t have those flotillas of lobbyists and lawyers to win hearts and 
minds—or at least votes—at the FCC.  We are trying to open our doors to the full 
panoply of American stakeholders, so that the Commission can hear directly from real 
people in real communities who are the overwhelming majority of folks who must live 
with the consequences of what we do in Washington. There will always be more work to 
be done on this outreach score, but I believe our current Commission under Chairman 
Genachowski has made important strides in this area, and I’m excited to see the level of 
collaboration we are engaging in with the disabilities communities. 
We need to hear from you not just on the items related to implementation of the 
Twenty-first Century Act, but to sustain a dialogue across the whole wide range of 
telecommunications and media issues before the FCC. So much of our overall agenda 
affects you, sometimes issues that at first glance may not seem that important to you.  For 
example, in the coming months, the Commission is going to be very focused on reform of 
our Universal Service Program.  That’s where Lifeline and Link-Up are and they’re really 
important to you.  As the Commission works to reorient Universal Service from a 
program supporting not just voice, but broadband too, we need your best thinking on how 
to make it happen.
We also need your valuable input as the Commission works to strengthen the 
VRS program.  This program has been a critical communications link for the deaf and 
hard of hearing and we cannot allow abuses that we know exist in the program to threaten 
its long-term viability.  The Commission has made some tough decisions and has more 
on its plate.  I am committed to moving forward with reform of the program in a way that 
protects the interests of consumers who rely on VRS every day to reach their colleagues, 
friends, and loved ones.
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It is not only at the national level where your advocacy is needed. State and local 
governments are making decisions with major consequences for the disabilities 
communities. As statehouses and City Halls across the country grapple with harsh budget 
realities, I know that programs that serve the disabilities communities are often first on 
the chopping block. Some advocates recently shared with me their concerns about state 
level action that is harming state relay funds. It’s important that your organizations, and 
you personally, focus on educating your state and local leaders.  The hard reality is that 
what you win on one level can be quickly undone at another—and we just can’t let that 
happen here.
You need to be interested in the media issues being discussed at the Commission, 
too. The developing national conversation about the future of our media must include 
Americans with disabilities, people who need access to their local news to be fully 
participating members of our communities—and who sometimes need it to preserve their 
own personal safety.  With respect to closed captioning, we’ve certainly seen some 
progress in the more than twenty years since passage of  the Television Decoder Circuitry 
Act that brought closed captioning to television sets, and in the 15 years since the 1996 
Act extended closed captioning to nearly all television programming. But that was 15 
years ago, significant gaps remain, and it is time for the Commission to revisit these 
rules.  It’s just not enough to generate captions based on teleprompter text in a nightly 
newscast when that can mean that deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals will miss 
breaking news, weather updates, and live field interviews. Viewing habits and 
programming schedules have changed since captioning rules were originally adopted and 
we need to ensure access to must-have programming like early morning newscasts. These 
are some of the basic things the FCC can and should do to ensure that deaf and hard-of-
hearing Americans have access to local news programming. 
Finally, I want to close with a few words on media more generally.  As many of 
you know, this has been another passion of mine since I came to the Commission.  I am 
concerned that our media is not doing the job it needs to do to provide the news and 
information our democracy needs in order to thrive. We have a stark small “d” 
democratic challenge to overcome as we move into a new era of communications with 
one another. Here I am talking about accessibility to a robust media for all Americans—
you, me and 310,000,000 others. 
While at first glance you may think this goes beyond your issues—it doesn’t.  It 
impacts them directly.  How disability issues are covered and treated by the media makes 
all the difference on how those issues will fare in the court of public opinion and in the 
councils of power.  If you’re happy about how our current media system is handling your 
issues, you don’t need to listen to the rest of my remarks.  But if you think those issues 
might benefit from more diverse coverage, a little more local flavor, and a little more 
competition within the media industry, then you need to put media up there toward the 
top of your list of major concerns.
We all know, I think, that thousands of journalists are walking the street in search 
of a job rather than walking the beat in search of a story, and that hundreds of newsrooms 
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have been shuttered or put on starvation diets.  Investigative journalism is on the 
endangered species list.  I won’t go into the reasons why in great detail here, but the short 
version is an undisciplined era of rampant private sector speculation and consolidation 
that shrank news production.  And this consolidation process was aided and abetted by 
successive Federal Communications Commissions that encouraged it all, blessed it all, 
and, to top it off, walked willingly away from their public interest oversight 
responsibilities.  The newspaper and the TV newsroom still produce probably more than 
90% of the news we get—even the news we read online—it’s just that there’s so much 
less of it—so much less in-depth reporting, so much less accountability journalism, so 
few reporters in state capitals and fewer bureaus around the world compared with what 
used to be. 
Unless we fix the problems facing traditional news outlets, today’s problems in 
journalism will only continue, and inevitably get worse, in the broadband world of 
tomorrow. Right now I don’t see in the new Internet media the model, the mass or the 
momentum to fill the void that has eviscerated traditional media.  And we don’t have the 
time to wait for something that may never occur. We just have to find ways now to 
ensure that citizens have access to a worthy media by reasserting public interest values 
for traditional broadcast media and taking other steps that I am always happy to talk 
about to make sure the digital world is able to realize its huge potential to nourish our 
democratic dialogue.  And we need to be especially vigilant that we don’t allow the 
dynamic, opportunity-creating potential of broadband and the Internet to travel down the 
same road of consolidation and too much control by too few companies that inflicted so 
much damage on traditional media.  Will we be smart enough to do this?   I don’t know.  
So far the signs are not particularly encouraging.  And so much is at stake.  So what I ask 
you to take away from these remarks is that these are your issues, too.  You are each a 
stakeholder in them, and the stakes are huge.  Ensuring that every American has access to 
local news and information is the premise and prerequisite of democracy.  Our future 
depends upon an informed citizenry and the widest possible dissemination of news and 
information to fuel the nation’s conversation with itself.  
One final thought.  Remember that famous quote from Thomas Jefferson when he 
was talking about what he would do if he had to choose between having newspapers and 
no government or government and no newspapers?  He said he would choose newspapers 
without government. He was talking about newspapers, the information infrastructure, 
the broadband, of his time.  But he was really talking about the news.  Then he added 
this: “But I should mean that every man should receive those papers, and be capable of 
reading them.”  At this critical juncture two hundred years later we would be wise to heed 
that advice.  Let’s make sure everybody can access the digital tools required by the 
Twenty-First century and let’s make sure they know how to understand and use them.  
This is precisely why we all need to be supporting what are called the “new literacies”—
digital literacy, media literacy and news literacy.  The leadership of your organization 
understands how crucial it is that meaningful support be given to educate our citizens on 
how to navigate the awesome power of the Internet.  And it is crucial that, with the 
proliferation of websites, young people—and us elders, too—can distinguish between 
trustworthy and not-so-trusty places on the Net and that we have the education we need 
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to use—and avoid being misused by—our media ecosystem.  These are the kinds of 
things we need to be doing now, not only to strengthen our news and information 
infrastructure, but to strengthen our democracy through a citizenry armed with the news 
and information it needs to make informed decisions about the future of our country. 
So, there’s a lot for us to do, right?  A whole lot of work if every American is to 
share in the benefits of advanced telecommunications and world-class media that can 
open the doors to a better future. I am, as I noted earlier, proud to have travelled this far 
down the road alongside you, but we all realize there are so many more steps we need to 
take together before all people with disabilities—and indeed all Americans—can finally 
be fully participating, mainstream citizens in our society.  It’s still a long and winding 
road to travel—laws to be implemented, perhaps more to be passed, jobs to be secured, 
people to be educated, cared for and appreciated for their talents and humanity, hearts and 
minds still to be won over to the cause.  But we’ve come a long way and we can go the 
rest if we pull together.
As many of you know, I am completing my time at the Commission this year.  But 
I also want you to know this:  I am going to continue speaking out and working on these 
issues in the years ahead.  The voices of the disabilities communities inspired me as I 
walked through the doors of the Commission ten years ago, and they continue to inspire 
me today.
Thank you for all the good and wonderful things you do.  Thank you for giving me 
this very special day and this Award, which I assure you will be prominently displayed in 
my office until I leave and in my home after that.  Most of all, thank you for the 
friendship you have shown me through the years.  God bless you all.