NCRA was recently informed that its STRONG Committee has been awarded the 2022 Power of Associations Silver Award from the American Society of Association Executives (ASAE) in the advocacy category.
NCRA STRONG was nominated for the award by Immediate Past President Debbie Dibble, RDR, CRR, CRC, a freelance court reporter and captioner from Salt Lake City, Utah, who noted that the Committee has worked to advance standards, develop professional codes of ethics, and create educational and professional development opportunities for NCRA members, assisting them in educating the public as subject matter experts by developing white paper(s) as well as creating valuable information and tools exposing real threats to the sanctity of court transcripts that are posed by digital recording and artificial intelligence substitutes. Dibble also serves as NCRA’s Board of Directors liaison to STRONG.
“Additionally, the STRONG team is charged with helping to protect the deaf and hard-of-hearing communities’ access to quality closed captioning by helping to police FCC regulations and actively participating in the development of laws protecting equal opportunities for deafened Americans to participate in business, educational pursuits, and cultural events,” Dibble added in her nomination application. Other efforts of this team bring focus on the damage caused to students, non-English speakers, and to learning-disabled individuals who are harmed by inaccurate and substandard captions.
NCRA STRONG was originally launched in 2019 as a task force to educate members of the bar and judiciary as well as the public against shortcuts being promulgated within the court reporting industry that put the accuracy of transcripts memorializing legal proceedings in peril as well as ensuring access to accurate, quality closed captioning, a right afforded to the deaf and hard-of-hearing (HoH) community under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
“Congratulations to the NCRA STRONG Committee for exemplifying the impact associations have on the industries and professions they represent and on society at large,” said ASAE President and CEO Michelle Mason, FASAE, CAE. “It’s always so incredibly satisfying to see associations going above and beyond their everyday mission to change the world. We’re very proud to spotlight this award-winning initiative.”
ASAE celebrated The Power of Associations Award winners during its annual Summit Awards Dinner on September 29, 2022, at the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C.
