2025 Chairman’s Awards for Advancement in Accessibility
In a joint celebration of the 35th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the 15th anniversary of the Twenty-First Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act (CVAA), Chairman Brendan Carr presented awards to the winners of the 2025 FCC Chairman's Awards for Advancement in Accessibility in a ceremony on July 24, 2025.
This year's awards honored individuals who have made lasting and impactful contributions to the advancement of accessible communications technologies and services in the fields of policy, advocacy, research, and design.
Winners of 2025 Chairman's AAA
Victoria Bond – Community Outreach Coordinator at the Arizona Department of Emergency and Military Affairs
Victoria Bond is a certified American Sign Language (ASL) interpreter and recognized innovator of resources and programs that have expanded the accessibility of public communication during emergencies. She is the leader and founder of the Emergency Response Interpreter Credentialing program, a training for ASL interpreters and Communication Access Realtime Translation Captioners on effective communication during emergency incidents. She also wrote the Sample Communications Access Protocol used in Arizona to ensure effective communication, and the first of its kind online ASL hazard term database, helping to standardize translation and interpretation in emergency situations.
Greg Hlibok – Chief Legal Officer for ZVRS and Purple Communications; Trustee at Gallaudet University
Greg Hlibok first came into the national spotlight as one of the student leaders of the Deaf President Now movement at Gallaudet University, which became a turning point that helped redefine what leadership, representation, and equality should look like. It was a moment that set the stage for the ADA and embodied the principle we still fight to uphold: "nothing about us without us." In Greg's 15 years at the FCC, he helped guide relay services through a period of rapid technological and regulatory change, and became the first deaf person to lead the Disability Rights Office. He played a key role in Video Relay Service reform at a period of rapid technological change, and led the FCC's efforts to implement the 21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act of 2010.
Nikolas Kelly – Chief Product Officer, Sign-Speak, Inc.
Nikolas Kelly is a deaf technologist and Co-Founder of Sign-Speak Inc., where he is working to develop and deploy a bi-directional automated translation from American Sign Language to English using Artificial Intelligence. His work on sign language recognition and avatar-based communication has been published and presented at the Association for Computing Machinery's Special Interest Group on Computer-Human Interaction. Nikolas's work combines cutting-edge machine learning with lived experience to push the boundaries of communications access. His work on human computer interaction represents a paradigm shift for deaf ASL users. Nikolas is a graduate of the Rochester Institute of Technology.
Dr. Christian Vogler – Director of the Gallaudet University Technology Access Program (TAP) and Principal Investigator of the Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center on Telecommunications Access
Dr. Christian Vogler has been a visionary leader in advancing accessible telecommunications and media technologies for the deaf and hard of hearing community. His research, policy engagement, and collaboration with industry have directly contributed to improvements in captioning quality, IP-based relay services, accessible emergency communications, and more. His expert analysis of complex engineering problems affecting people with disabilities has been pivotal at the FCC, spanning involvement in the Communications Security Reliability and Interoperability Council and Disability Advisory Committee, as well as countless expert consultations for advisory committee working groups. He also works to educate the next generation of accessibility researchers and engineers as a professor at Gallaudet University.
More About the Chairman's AAA
The Chairman’s AAA was first introduced in 2010 at the FCC’s celebration of the 20th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Since the first award ceremony, the Chairman’s AAA has been a key part of the FCC efforts to recognize technical advances that have made communications tools more accessible to people with disabilities.
If you have questions about the FCC Chairman’s AAA ceremony, call Gerard Williams at 202-418-1505 or the ASL Consumer Support Line at 1-844-432-2275 by videophone. You can also email questions to [email protected].