Closed-captioning essential to deaf

[Miss-Delectable]

Closed-captioning essential to deaf -- Page 1 -- Times Union - Albany NY:1051:

I want to express my anger, displeasure and disappointment with the television news coverage of President Barack Obama's visit to Hudson Valley Community College. I am deaf, and rely on closed-captioning to understand the news in our region.

As a citizen and as an adjunct faculty member at HVCC, I was looking forward to hearing what the President had to say about the role that community colleges would play in the economic recovery and how HVCC's excellence in education can serve as an example for other community colleges.

Our local news programs failed to provide closed-captioning during their coverage. (Channel 13 had closed-captioning only during the lead-in to the actual event.) Their responsibility is to convey information to all people in the Capital Region, including the hearing, individuals with hearing loss and the deaf community. Closed-captioning is essential to the deaf and hard of hearing in our community. It allows us to be informed, and to share in all local happenings. I felt deprived of access to an important and historic news event.

I have often wondered why no captioning exists during the "live" morning, afternoon and evening news programs. The deaf should not be excluded.

Russell Wolff, Ph.D.

Psychologist

 

[BSchuman]

Phone Caption

Has anyone heard of Phonecaption? It's a free service funded by the US government that provides captions on phone calls for individuals who are hard of hearing or have some degree of hearing loss. By registering for this innovative service, you will be allowed to make calls and receive what the other party is saying via a written message. Calls are transcribed by qualified communication assistants. This convenient, free of charge and user friendly service is certain to better your quality of communication.

Just visit PhoneCaption. Click "sign up Now" and proceed to sign up, at no charge. Once you fill in some basic information, you will receive your own personalized 1-800-number. This number may ultimately be distributed to family, friends, doctors, lawyers, community members, etc.

To Make Calls: Simply log into your account. Then, dial the number assigned to you followed by the number you are calling. It's that simple! All the captioned text will appear on the web.

The text will appear on your Mac or PC, or if you prefer, PDA device, mobile blackberry, or Cisco IP phone.

You can also Receive calls by having callers dialing the number assigned to you.

This is completely free, no download required.

Hope this helps someone.

Have a Blackberry? You’re eligable for captions, too.

Certainly, busy individuals whose professional life is coupled with much haste cannot be tied down to their desk at work. And, as our technology has advanced, we’ve taken into account peoples hectic schedules. This way of life, particularly in a metropolis, is inevitable. Recognizing this has allowed us to tie PhoneCaption to your personalized PDA or blackberry device. So, as an alternative to receiving the captions on your computer screen, you may simply visit m.phonecaption.com, subsequently log in, and receive the captions on your very own blackberry. The service is still free, seamless, and here to help you in every way possible. We’re aspiring to progress at your pace, making our service conducive to individuals with varying schedules and lifestyles.

 

[JHuschke]

I have tried the phonecaption and got myself a phone that types up words of what the other is saying. But remember, programs like these can make grave mistakes and you don't want to respond in a wrong way when you've been told something other than what the person is actually saying.