Exploitation, Retaliation, and Silence: Why the FCC Must Decertify LightHouse and Certify a National Provider
- Andrew Moore
- Sep 15
- 5 min read
One Year of Demanding Accountability
In that time, our community has held three protests, gathered over one thousand signatures on a petition, and submitted dozens of complaints against LightHouse for the Blind and Visually Impaired (LightHouse) to the Federal Communications Commission (FC). We have raised our voices online, in the media, and in the streets.We are marking one year of persistence, resilience, and solidarity — but we cannot celebrate results. Despite our efforts, the FCC has done nothing.Instead of accountability, LightHouse has responded with deeper cuts, more retaliation, and more entrenched leadership. On April 1, 2025, Brandon Cox was installed as Interim CEO by the Board of Directors, despite a well-documented history of mismanagement and gross abuse of power. By April 22, LightHouse laid off 22 staff — including iCanConnect employees whose compensation was fully covered by the FCC. These were not cost-cutting layoffs. They were retaliatory moves that harmed the very program Congress created to guarantee communication access for DeafBlind people.The result? California is left with just one iCanConnect staff member for the entire state — a person who does not even know Braille well. DeafBlind consumers are waiting months for access to the technology and training they need to live safely and independently. This is not just mismanagement. It is exploitation.
Background: From Misconduct to Retaliation
In October 2022, LightHouse’s Board hired a new CEO after the previous CEO faced misconduct allegations. Many in the community hoped for change. Instead, leadership became even more entrenched and hostile.
The new CEO — a woman leading in an organization long accused of sexist culture — did not bring reform. Instead, she presided over an era of deeper retaliation and corruption.
Since March 2023, multiple iCanConnect staffers have been terminated, laid off, or transferred into non-iCanConnect roles. These moves were designed to silence employees who raised concerns about compliance with FCC regulations and California law.
By April 2025, the pattern culminated in mass layoffs of staff, including iCanConnect staff — gutting the very program the FCC funds to ensure DeafBlind access.This history makes clear that the recent layoffs are not isolated. They are part of a long-running pattern of retaliation, concealment, and failure of accountability inside LightHouse.
A Climate of Fear and Retaliation
Our Campaign has received multiple accounts of retaliation from former LightHouse employees and community members — both shared publicly at protests and privately through email.The stories describe events canceled, opportunities withdrawn, and staff intimidated into silence after speaking out. Many were retaliated against through harsh disciplinary actions, while others were forced to leave because of the hostile work culture. Community members who spoke out were further marginalized.We are withholding names because LightHouse has created a retaliatory culture where people know that speaking out can result in punishment, including actions that LightHouse leadership knows would be hard to prove in administrative or civil proceedings.The lack of named testimonies is not proof of safety. It is proof of fear. Retaliation is working, and it has silenced those most directly impacted.
The National Pattern
This crisis isn’t just California’s problem. Across the country, iCanConnect programs are failing under the FCC’s state-by-state certification system.For example, in Maryland, LightHouse’s overall iCanConnect program manager Diana McCown, who receives her LightHouse salary while living in Maryland, has strong connections to iYellow Group, which manages iCanConnect under Perkins School for the Blind. The lines of accountability are blurred beyond recognition.
As another example of the ineffectiveness of the current iCanConnect service delivery model, the FCC itself issued a notice to revoke certification of the iCanConnect program in Alaska. If revocation is warranted in Alaska, it must also be considered where the same failures exist elsewhere.
In many states, iCanConnect staff are not DeafBlind and lack qualifications — leaving consumers without the cultural competence, Braille fluency, and technical expertise they need. The result is the same as we have seen with LightHouse: the absence of accountability and regulatory inaction. The FCC’s patchwork system invites exploitation, silences accountability, and abandons DeafBlind people to substandard or nonexistent services. This is not the intent of Congress. This is not the American way.
The Stakes: Life and Death
The nationwide neglect of DeafBlind people, as exemplified by LightHouse, is not an abstract policy debate. Communication is safety. We as a society have a moral imperative to ensure the well-being of a long-neglected community. Just because we are different from the rest of society does not mean we should be relegated to substandard living that jeopardizes our safety.When DeafBlind people are left waiting for services, it means:
No way to call a doctor.
No way to reach help in an emergency.
No way to access interpreters, work, or community.
Lives are on the line. It would be a national disgrace to ignore a whole community of striving Americans their only crime is being DeafBlind.
Every day the FCC refuses to act is another day DeafBlind people are cut off from the most basic, life-sustaining human right: the right to communicate.
Exploitation of Federal Resources
LightHouse and other state-by-state certified programs continue to receive FCC funds intended to guarantee DeafBlind people communication access. But when they cut staff, retaliate against community members, or hire unqualified workers, they are exploiting federal dollars while failing to deliver services.By presenting themselves as leaders in accessibility while silencing complaints, LightHouse benefits from public trust and funding — while DeafBlind people remain without equal communication access. This is exploitation disguised as service.
Congress Already Provided the Solution
The Helen Keller National Center for DeafBlind Youths and Adults (HKNC) is the only national organization recognized by Congress under the Helen Keller Act as the rehabilitation and training center for DeafBlind Americans.Unlike LightHouse, HKNC has deep expertise, national scope, and the trust of the DeafBlind community. It is uniquely qualified to ensure consistent, accessible, and accountable iCanConnect services nationwide.A single national provider would mean:
Accountability: one organization responsible for compliance, no excuses.
Accessibility: a single, simplified complaint system for DeafBlind people, designed with accessibility in mind.
Equity: equal service quality no matter the state.
Opportunity: real jobs for DeafBlind staff across the country, fulfilling the ADA’s promise of equal economic participation.
The FCC’s Silence Means Defiance of Congress and the ADA
Congress created iCanConnect to ensure DeafBlind people are never cut off from communication. By ignoring protests, petitions, and retaliation, the FCC has betrayed that mandate.It is not just inaction. It is defiance of the Communications Act and betrayal of the ADA’s goal of equal participation in economic life.
Our Demand
We have protested. We have petitioned. We have filed complaints. We have been ignored.To protect our rights, we demand:
Decertify LightHouse.
Certify Helen Keller National Center.
End the exploitation.
Protect DeafBlind lives.
The Cost of Silence and Exclusion
The FCC’s silence has not only denied services — it has eroded trust. DeafBlind people who protested, petitioned, and complained have been ignored for so long that some have resigned themselves to the belief that the FCC does not care, leading to the erosion of hope and the normalization of injustice.But we refuse to accept that future. We are DeafBlind Americans, endowed with the same inalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
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