AT&T Advisory Panel on Access & Aging

AAPAA

AT&T's Advisory Panel on Access & Aging (AAPAA) is composed of national leaders in assistive technology, aging and cross-disability issues. It provides advice and counsel to AT&T's subsidiaries, affiliates and leadership teams regarding issues of mutual interest. AAPAA meets quarterly to discuss a specific area of the business with guest speakers & corporate subject matter experts.

AAPA members include:


	Jackie Brand, Chair Founder/First Executive Director Alliance for Technology Access (ATA) www.ATAccess.org "AT&T has demonstrated its outreach to customers with disabilities and the aging population through AAPAA. It is looking at products, services, marketing, employment and other areas to understand this market and effectively serve it. Important and positive changes have occurred as a result. I look forward to continuing efforts to ensure AT&T provides excellent services and products for all customers, and to serve as a model for other corporations."
	Brenda Battat (retired from AAPAA) Associate Executive Director Hearing Loss Association of America (HLAA) www.hearingloss.org "Millions of people with hearing loss are looking for telecommunications products and services that are accessible to them and that they can use with their hearing aids, cochlear implants and other assistive technology. AT&T has a long history of reaching out to understand better its diverse customer base. They recognize industry-consumer collaboration means you get it right the first time. That is why I was it was so important for HLAA to be a part of AAPAA."
	Darren Burton National Program Associate, Senior Product Evaluation Specialist American Foundation for the Blind (ACB) TECH Product Evaluation Lab Executive Director Emeritus of the Hearing Society of Northern California www.afb.org "AT&T has distinguished itself in the wireless arena by offering the expensive TALKS cell phone screen reader to blind and visually impaired customers at no cost after rebates. AT&T is continuing this good work by now offering Code Factory's Mobile Speak and Mobile Magnifier products. I also want to work with AAPAA to ensure that AT&T continues this philosophy of accessibility when they launch their digital television initiative."
	Clayton Fong President and CEO National Asian Pacific Center on Aging www.ncapaonline.org "AT&T is a leader in providing outreach, technology and customer service that helps individuals to overcome barriers to access. For me AAPAA has been an effective way to provide input to maintain and improve that high standard of excellence. It has been particularly rewording for an advocate who serves as a voice for older Americans and Americans with disabilities or language barriers."
	Larry Goldberg Carl and Ruth Shapiro Family National Center for Accessible Media at WGBH (NCAM) ncam.wgbh.org "AT&T has shown itself to be a corporation dedicated to assuring that all customers can use its products and services equally. I am honored to be a member of the AAPAA and to help AT&T shape its emerging technologies and new media ventures in ways that support the needs of people who are deaf, hard-of-hearing, blind and visually impaired."
	Andrew Imparato President and Chief Executive Officer American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD) www.aapd.com "AAPD can't accomplish our goals of increased economic power and integration for people with disabilities and our families without partners in the business community. We appreciate AT&T's broad-based approach to the disability and aging markets, and we look forward to working with AT&T to help them continue to lead and innovate in the years to come."
	Carmen Jones Owner Solutions Marketing Group www.disability-marketing.com "The Panel demonstrates AT&T's commitment to engage a variety of disability leaders to ensure that a range of viewpoints are provided to the company. Through networking and speaking with AT&T employees I see the company raising the bar for itself by further refining accessibility of products and services, marketing/messaging, employment and customer service. AT&T's walk and talk are aligned."
	Deborah Kaplan Director, Accessible Technology Initiatives California State University System, Chancellor's Office www.calstate.edu/accessibility "It is very smart for AT&T to listen to its customers with disabilities through the leaders who are members of the AAPAA. Our agenda's cover a wide range of topics, and AT&T is not afraid to ask us for advice with issues where it really does need help to understand the disability perspective. Advanced communications are a central function of life, and I am pleased to know that AT&T is making sure that people with disabilities can take part in society fully through technology."
	John Lancaster Executive Director National Council on Independent Living (NCIL) www.ncil.org "NCIL appreciates AT&T's efforts to market to and employ people with disabilities as well as making their products and services accessible. NCIL recognizes the importance of telecommunications and information technologies for participation in modern society. This is especially true for people with disabilities, where information technologies offer a level playing field to many people with disabilities in the workforce and marketplace."
	Kathy Martinez Executive Director World Institute on Disability (WID) www.wid.org "WID has been a long time collaborator of Pacific Bell, then SBC and now AT&T. We support AT&T's efforts of inclusion. AT&T is at a critical juncture regarding identifying new markets and reaching out to broader communities including seniors and those of us with disabilities. WID is in a unique position to build bridges between AT&T and people with disabilities from diverse cultural and ethnic communities."
	Linda Mastandrea Owner Law Offices of Linda Mastrandrea www.lindamastandrea.com "It is important as a member of the disability advocacy community to be a part of AAPAA to be able to advance the agenda of people with disabilities nationwide. AT&T, through developing accessible technologies, will be able to help people with disabilities attain their educational and employment goals, and ultimately live active and independent lives."
	Alfred Moye Board of Directors SeniorNet www.seniornet.org "As a senior, I appreciate AT&T's efforts to design and market product and services to the aging community. It seems fundamental to serve the fastest growing segment of the population, but I am not aware of any other company that strives to get it right the way AT&T does. Most of us, if we live long enough, will benefit from the work of AAPAA."
	Claude Stout Executive Director Telecommunications for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, Inc. (TDI) www.tdi-online.org "AT&T has provided relay services since 1990. In the past, they have hired a great many individuals who were deaf or hard of hearing for high-level managerial/outreach positions in relay services. AT&T has actively involved its current AAPAA in review and development of its upcoming merger-related report to the FCC on its special efforts with/for people with disabilities."
	Jim Tobias President Inclusive Technologies www.inclusive.com "AT&T has the longest engagement with issues of aging and disability of all companies I'm aware of. AT&T is aware of and responsive to all the hundreds of issues that arise from having a complex portfolio of products and services, over more than 30 years. AT&T staff been consistently honest, helpful, and open -- I only wish that its model were duplicated elsewhere in the ICT world."