I received an email from my friend about VP fund problem. Is this true?
COMPANY MESSAGE
We Need Your Help!
Stop Funding Cuts that Would Severely Limit VRS
Everyone who has used Video Relay Service (VRS) knows that it is revolutionizing the way deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals who use American Sign Language communicate with the hearing world. Sorenson Communications is working to ensure VRS users have the highest-quality VRS experience possible. We do this through:
Outreach to deaf consumers
Interpreter training
Improvements to VRS technology
Although great strides have been made in providing access to VRS, many deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals still either do not know about VRS or do not realize its potential. It is estimated that approximately 90 percent of deaf individuals still do not have VRS.
Unfortunately, our ability to provide increased access to VRS faces an enormous challenge. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) staff, in Washington D.C., which oversees VRS, has proposed serious funding cuts to the VRS program. Some of the FCC cuts are so drastic they would severely limit VRS providers' ability to provide VRS access.
These FCC proposals to cut the VRS program are wrong. The FCC should be doing everything in its power to make VRS available to more deaf people—not seeking to limit the number of deaf people with access to VRS!
As VRS gives deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals a communication system that is equivalent to a voice telephone service, we all need to support the widespread use of and continued funding for VRS technology. Please join us in petitioning the FCC for a fair, stable, and predictable VRS rate for the next three years. Please send comments, indicating you are against cuts to the VRS rate and support establishing a stable and predictable VRS rate, before the end of June, to the FCC using the following address:
Chairman Kevin Martin
Commissioners Adelstein, Copps, McDowell, and Tate
Federal Communications Commission
Re: CG 03-123
445 Twelfth Street SW
Washington, DC 20554
As an example, a comment might include: "I am deaf, and I need VRS to be able to place phone calls with hearing individuals. Please do not cut funding for VRS, but, instead, create a fair and predictable VRS rate for the next three years." Or, "Cutting the VRS rate would severely impact the quality of VRS, which I rely on for my communication needs. Please create a fair and predictable VRS rate for the next three years."
Comments to the FCC may also be submitted online by visiting the Video Relay Services Consumer Association (VRSCA) Web site at
www.vrsca.org/vrsrate We—the deaf community and our hearing family, friends, and associates—can make a difference!
Pat Nola
President and CEO
Sorenson Communications