National Association of the Deaf

The National Association of the Deaf (NAD) was thrilled to learn today that FCC Chairman, Julius Genachowski, named Karen Peltz Strauss, a former NAD attorney, as Deputy Chief, Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau (CGB). The CGB develops and implements FCC consumer policies, including disability access. Karen will focus on disability issues and will help the FCC implement the disability access components of the National Broadband Plan, including leading the effort to develop the Accessibility and Innovation Forum.

Karen was supervising attorney at the National Center for Law and Deafness at Gallaudet University from 1984-1996. She co-authored Title IV of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 which established nationwide telecommunications relay services. She also co-authored the Television Decoder Circuitry Act of 1990, and sections 255 and 305 of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 which mandated telecommunications access and television closed captioning. In 1996, Karen joined the NAD as legal counsel for telecommunications policy and legislative consultant. In 1999, she moved to the FCC where, as Deputy Bureau Chief of the Consumer Information Bureau (now CGB), she helped to establish the Disability Rights Office (DRO). She held the Powrie V. Doctor Chair of Deaf Studies at Gallaudet University from 2002-2003. Since then, Karen has provided consulting services to non-profit consumer groups, educational research institutes, and relay service providers.

In 2007, Karen co-founded the Coalition of Organizations for Accessible Technology (COAT), which now has nearly 300 affiliates. COAT advocates for legislative and regulatory safeguards to ensure full access by people with disabilities to evolving high speed broadband, wireless, Internet-based, and other technologies. Legislative efforts include the Twenty-first Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act of 2009 (H.R. 3101). Karen also authored the book, A New Civil Right: Telecommunications Equality for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Americans, a comprehensive review of grassroots and other efforts to make the telecommunications system accessible to deaf and hard of hearing people.

"The FCC made an excellent choice. Throughout her professional career, Karen has advocated for the rights of deaf, hard of hearing, late-deafened, and deaf-blind people. We are extremely pleased that the FCC has appointed a person who is truly sensitive to our issues," said Shane H. Feldman, NAD Chief Operating Officer. "While we lament the loss of the wonderful support that we have received from Karen as an exceptional consumer advocate, we look forward to working with Karen in her new capacity at the FCC."