The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) released a Public Notice this week announcing the membership of the Disability Advisory Committee (DAC) for the 2017-2019 term. We’re excited to announce that Level Access’s own Sam Joehl will serve as co-chair of the committee, along with Lise Hamlin of Hearing Loss Association of America. Sam was first appointed to the DAC when it was formed in 2015. The DAC provides advice and recommendations on a wide array of disability matters and facilitates the participation of people with disabilities in proceedings before the FCC. The DAC is organized and operated in accordance with the Federal Advisory Committee Act.

Sam brings over nine years of experience in the professional accessibility space, including four years providing direct on-site support to federal agencies. In addition, he has over four years of experience advising major telecommunications and cable providers on implementing compliance with the Twenty-First Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act (CVAA), including performing audits, training on CVAA and accessibility requirements, providing consultation to large organizations on implementation of the requirements, generating recordkeeping and accessibility features documentation, and effectively rolling out CVAA compliance processes within enterprise environments. Sam has an extensive holistic knowledge of assistive technologies, accessibility standards, and solutions for accessible web, mobile and software applications, electronic documents, multimedia, mobile devices and stand-alone hardware devices, and has been an advocate for accessible technology and environments through consumer advocacy organizations and grassroots accessibility groups.

When asked about his appointment, Sam said, “It is a tremendous honor to be asked to serve on and co-chair the DAC. My previous term with the DAC was a wonderful and rewarding experience where stakeholders from industry, academia and disability consumer organizations came together to identify issues with communications and broadcast technology that impact Americans with disabilities and make recommendations to the FCC. The FCC is one of the most progressive federal agencies in the area of disability access, and I eagerly look forward to working with my fellow DAC members during the upcoming term on improving access to communications for myself and other Americans with disabilities.”

The DAC will hold its first meeting of the new term on Tuesday, March 21, 2017 at the FCC’s headquarters. The meeting will be open to the public and webcast with open captioning: www.fcc.gov/live. Notice of this meeting will be published in the Federal Register. Meeting minutes will be available for public inspection on the Committee’s website. For more details, read the entire Public Notice.