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 NEWS  Federal  Communications  Commission  445  12  th  Street,  S.  W.  Washington,  D.  C.  20554  This  is  an  unofficial  announcement  of  Commission  action.  Release  of  the  full  text  of  a  Commission  order  constitutes  official  action.  See  MCI  v.  FCC.  515  F  2d  385  (D.  C.  Circ  1974).  News  Media  Information  202  /  418-  0500  Internet:  http://  www.  fcc.  gov  TTY:  1-  888-  835-  5322 
 For  immediate  release:  News  Media  contact:  October  18,  2002  Rosemary  Kimball  at  (202)  418-  0511 
 e-  mail:  rkimball@  fcc.  gov 
 NATIONAL  DISABILITIES  AWARENESS  MONTH  OBSERVED  BY  VISITS  TO  TWO  MASSACHUSETTS  FACILITIES 
 CGB  Chief  K.  Dane  Snowden  Visits  WGBH-  TV  and  Verizon  Center  for  Customers  with  Disabilities 


 As  part  of  the  FCC’s  observation  of  October  as  National  Disabilities  Awareness  Month,  K.  Dane  Snowden,  Chief  of  the  FCC’s  Consumer  &  Governmental  Affairs  Bureau,  visited  two 
 facilities  that  have  made  significant  contributions  to  improving  access  to  television  and  telephone  services  for  people  with  disabilities. 


 On  October  17,  2002,  he  met  representatives  of  the  Media  Access  Group  for  WGBH-  TV,  the  PBS  station  in  Boston.  Snowden  toured  their  facilities  for  captioning  and  video  description, 
 as  well  as  their  National  Center  for  Accessible  Media  (NCAM).  NCAM  develops  technology  solutions  for  media  and  information  access  for  people  with  disabilities. 


 Snowden  visited  the  Verizon  Center  for  Customers  with  Disabilities  (VCCD),  in  Marlboro.  VCCD  is  a  central  customer  service  center  for  Verizon  customers  with  disability-related 
 communications  needs. 
 Snowden  said,  “The  fine  work  being  done  by  these  two  companies  is  indicative  of  the  breakthroughs  being  made  to  help  ensure  that  people  with  disabilities  have  access  to  the 
 telecommunications  goods  and  services  available  in  our  country.  We  at  the  FCC  are  committed  to  working  with  the  industry,  other  government  agencies  and  the  disability  community  to  work 
 toward  this  goal.” 
 -  FCC  - 
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