A Beginner’s Guide to Grassroots Lobbying

Submitted by Slinkerwink [1] on Mon, 07/06/2009 - 12:10

To get started with grassroots lobbying, you can follow NAD [2] on Twitter [3] at @NADtweets and the hashtag #newnad which is used by those to reference NAD as an organization. You can also follow NAD on Facebook [4] as well.

These are the social media tools that we can use in spreading word about legislative action, what people are saying about the legislation, and to spur on grassroots lobbying through direct contact with their lawmakers via Twitter and Facebook. I’ll get to that part later, but step one in grassroots lobbying for NAD is to know what the NAD is about [5], what its mission is, the legislation that is being promoted by NAD, and stay in contact with NAD by becoming a member. [6]

That’s not all you can do to support NAD and the needs of the deaf community, you can reach out to your elected officials in support of H.R. 3101, known as the Twenty-first Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act of 2009, which would require closed captioning display capability in all video programming devices, extend the requirement of closed captioning to Internet media (not user-generated content), and requires easy access to closed captions via remote control and on-screen menus for those of us who’ve had problems accessing captioning on our HDTVs. Basically what this legislation would do is help revolutionize the Internet media by expanding access to deaf and hard of hearing Americans.

The Twenty-first Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act of 2009 also expands communication access by requiring access to telephone-type equipment and services over the Internet, require telephone products used with the Internet to be hearing-aid compatible, and improves accountability and enforcement measures for accessibility, including an FCC clearinghouse and reporting obligations by providers and manufacturers. It also requires Internet-based voice communication service providers to contribute to the Interstate Relay Fund. For more on what the Twenty-first Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act can do, please check this link [7] out.

So, how do you lobby in support of H.R. 3101, the Twenty-first Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act of 2009? You can follow these steps below:

1. Find your U.S. Representative. [8] You can call, mail, and fax in support of H.R. 3101 to your Representative. [9]
2. Find your two U.S. Senators. [10] You can use the contact list at the link to call, e-mail, and click on their home pages to send faxes as well.
3. You can ask these offices when your Member of Congress will be in town holding a district event so you can go there in person to lobby in favor of H.R. 3101. In-person visits to your elected official can be very valuable. This brings the message home about H.R. 3101 and lets your elected official know how much you care about H.R. 3101.
4. Become familiar with what H.R. 3101 does, and what it would do for the deaf and hard of hearing community in America, so that you sound knowledgeable about the legislation when you write e-mails, letters, or faxes in support of it. You can check out the bill text [11] at Thomas, which is a website that has all of the bills that are introduced in each Congress. You can also read a summary of each of the issues addressed by the bill at www.COATaccess.org [12] (see the list of COAT Issues).
5. You can sign the petition being circulated by COAT [13], the Coalition of Organizations for Accessible Technology, in support of H.R. 3101.
6. You can join Facebook groups such as this one [14] in support of Internet captioning, and promote efforts to make more people aware about H.R. 3101, and why we need to pass it in the 111th Congress. You can also look for blogs such as Caption Action 2 [15], which is run by Jamie Berke and others, on this issue.

These are the six steps that you can follow in grassroots lobbying for H.R. 3101, the Twenty-first Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act of 2009! If we work hard enough at this, we may be able to have captioning on all of our Internet media, save for user-generated videos on YouTube.