2021 TDI Biennial Awards

The H. Latham Breunig Award for Humanitarian Efforts was awarded to Christopher Soukup. This award is given to individuals, organizations, or companies who have made outstanding contributions to the program or activities of TDI. In recognition of Christopher’s enormous in-kind support that CSD has generously furnished TDI with back-end support for our website and technical advice on the Training Institute using the virtual model in spite of nationwide restrictions on gatherings imposed by the pandemic. 

The James C. Marsters Award for Promotion was awarded to the DPANtv. This award is given to individuals, organizations, or companies who have made outstanding contributions in improving accessibility in telecommunications or media through promotion, marketing, or public relations. In recognition of  DPAN.tv’s excellent live coverage of the Presidential and Vice Presidential debates by providing full access for viewers with access to high-quality American Sign Language interpreters and live captioning.

The Robert H. Weitbrecht Award for Telecommunications Access was awarded to Zoom Video Communications. This award is given to individuals, organizations, or companies who have made outstanding contributions by any means to improve accessibility in telecommunications and media. In recognition of Zoom’s commitment to accessibility on its video conferencing platform. By providing leadership in accessible design, Zoom’s interface enables deaf and hard of hearing participants across America to fully participate in virtual school, work, civic, and social gatherings online.

The Andrew Saks Award for Engineering was awarded to Joe Duarte. This award is given to individuals, organizations, or companies who have made outstanding contributions in improving accessibility in telecommunications or media through efforts in design, electronics, or engineering. His entrepreneurial spirit resulted in two successful business enterprises. With Duartek, his custom engineered solutions focus on the needs of people who use hearing aids. He envisioned InnoCaption’s potential to improve the lives of callers with hearing disabilities using mobile captioning to maintain connections every day with their hearing peers in America.

The Karen Peltz Strauss Award for Public Policy was awarded to the DHHCAN. This award is given to individuals who have made outstanding contributions in improving accessibility in telecommunications, media, and information technology through efforts in public policy development. In recognition of DHHCAN’s 28-year history of spearheading coalition efforts across many deaf and hard of hearing organizations by sharing policy reports and progress in legislative developments. During Election cycles, DHHCAN creates in-depth policy proposals covering 7 essential topics benefiting the deaf and hard of hearing community for Presidential nominees’ election and transition teams on the road to the White House.

The I. Lee Brody Lifetime Achievement Award was awarded to Claude Stout. This award is given to individuals who have devoted time and energy over an extended number of years to improve accessibility in telecommunications, media, and information technology. In recognition of his dedication to access as the Executive Director of TDI from 1997 to 2020. During his 23-year tenure, he elevated TDI’s status and nurtured its growth to maintain access as communication and information technology underwent a rapid transformation from analog TTYs to a wide array of digital communication devices!