AAPD Leadership Awards Gala

Last week was the American Association of People with Disabilities annual Leadership Awards Gala. What a GREAT party! It was such an honor to be one of the leadership award recipients – the Paul G. Hearne Leadership Award - which recognizes emerging leaders and advocates in the cross-disability movement. Many of you have asked for me to post my remarks, so I’m gladly doing so here:

Prior to taking the stage, the audience viewed this video, produced by AAPD about my vision for inclusive museum experiences:

Catharine’s Gala Remarks:  March 15, 2011

Thank you so much! This is an honor and I am humbled tonight to be in the company of my fellow honorees and the impressive list of past Hearne award laureates.

And, I have to thank my family for teaching me to not only think out of the box, but also follow through with these ideas.

As you recall my remarks in the video, the transcript of an audio tour just wasn’t very exciting. I simply wanted to see  what people hear. My idea of creating accessible ipod video tours for all museums across the country seemed like a pretty far-reaching dream but back in 2006, I soon saw that my vision could quickly become much bigger!  I started to think:

●    What if your iPod somehow knew where you were?!

●    And how awesome would it be if our iPods and phones became one device?

●    And what if someone made a law to say that videos on the web and on our phones had to be captioned!?

And those all felt like huge, dramatic, dreams just five years ago!

Well, guess what?  Every single of those dreams came true! In 2007, hand-held mobile devices and smartphones became much more dynamic. They now know where you are–right here at the ronald reagan international center. These phones can play videos in the palm of our hands – perhaps you’ve even watched an episode of Glee during your commute. For those of you who couldn’t watch Glee on your phone along with captions or video description, that will soon be a thing of the past. Thanks to your advocacy efforts, together with AAPD, we passed the Twenty-First Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act last year, bringing captioning to videos on the web and our phones.

If we can do that, working together, then what should we dream of next?

●    What if captioning on a mobile device was as easy as touching a button on your phone for English, Spanish, French, Mandarin?

●    What if the United States’ most treasured cultural institutions and art were readily accessible to every single visitor on their mobile device?

●    What if we took Keen Guides beyond the Washington, D.C. area, and we made more museums, parks, and monuments accessible for me, and the      36 million people like me across the United States?

What if people who didn’t even have a disability wanted to use these accessible video tours, too?

And what if we could do it all by next year?!?!

After seeing what technology and advocacy can do  in just the five years since my idea began, I believe we can! Tonight I have met so many people connected to disability, so many inspiring leaders in companies and businesses, in government, and in the grassroots community. So now, let’s start working together to make more communities in the big cities and the small towns accessible, we can work together to allow everyone in our communities to see what people hear, and hear what people see.  I look forward to this year of working with you all, and thank you so very much!

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