Difference between deaf people living in US and UK.

Speedy Hawk said:
Loops isn't that common in UK. 80% of time loops don't work if they do have loops.
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I didn't realize that. Then I reread the "Let's Loop America" web site and I saw that the country they pointed out as a good example of having many hearing loop installations in businesses, theatres, homes and churches was Denmark.

I'm surprised that so many don't work though. I helped get one installed for a HLAA chapter in NYC and its pretty fool proof. And that system is combined with a multi-channel FM system which can be tricky to install successfully without interference. The hearing loop part though, as far as I know, was simple to install and simple to maintain. *

But at least the UK has non-working loops! In the US, hearing loops are still unknown by the general public. Many HH people are sold hearing aids without telecoils and don't even know that they exist.

Saw it on See Hear.
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That's a big difference! In the US we don't have a TV show broadcast on a national channel for the D/deaf in sign language.

I tried to see if I could watch it, but I got a message saying its only available for viewing in the UK.

I wonder if part of the difference between deaf culture and how the deaf are treated in various countries can be attributed to what percentage of the population we are in various countries?

Maybe Denmark and the UK have a higher rate of deafness in their population than the US does?




* They can be tricky to install in a building that has a lot of metal rebars -- but I've been told that there are ways to work around that.
 
Jazzberry said:
I didn't realize that. Then I reread the "Let's Loop America" web site and I saw that the country they pointed out as a good example of having many hearing loop installations in businesses, theatres, homes and churches was Denmark.

I'm surprised that so many don't work though. I helped get one installed for a HLAA chapter in NYC and its pretty fool proof. And that system is combined with a multi-channel FM system which can be tricky to install successfully without interference. The hearing loop part though, as far as I know, was simple to install and simple to maintain. *

But at least the UK has non-working loops! In the US, hearing loops are still unknown by the general public. Many HH people are sold hearing aids without telecoils and don't even know that they exist.



That's a big difference! In the US we don't have a TV show broadcast on a national channel for the D/deaf in sign language.

I tried to see if I could watch it, but I got a message saying its only available for viewing in the UK.

I wonder if part of the difference between deaf culture and how the deaf are treated in various countries can be attributed to what percentage of the population we are in various countries?

Maybe Denmark and the UK have a higher rate of deafness in their population than the US does?




* They can be tricky to install in a building that has a lot of metal rebars -- but I've been told that there are ways to work around that.
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US deaf people are much more spreaded out in US than in UK and Denmark, so therefore, less support in real life situations as such as hearing loop and TV channel programme. I do believe Denmark has their own deaf programme on national channel (Source: Me in 10 years ago) like UK does.

US has better support for deaf people in telecommunications sector for some obvious reasons that has been stated above already.

I think it's that UK and Denmark government doesn't need to pay every each person to support, they can pay for one group of deaf which much cheaper.

For example, there are at least 10-50 deaf going to one the same state college in every major city, and government can just pay total of 20-30 interpreters since there will be good chance that deaf people will be grouped in one class. Thus reducing the cost by 50%.

SeeHear is well-known deaf programme broadcast in BBC2, which is national channel and it's free for everyone and there are no advertising on that channel.

Mostly, it's boring (IMO), it only highlights deaf problems in UK which we all already know, and they sometimes show deaf events which are also boring.

I've appeared on that channel more I can count with both of my hands.
 
Jazzberry said:
I didn't realize that. Then I reread the "Let's Loop America" web site and I saw that the country they pointed out as a good example of having many hearing loop installations in businesses, theatres, homes and churches was Denmark.

I'm surprised that so many don't work though. I helped get one installed for a HLAA chapter in NYC and its pretty fool proof. And that system is combined with a multi-channel FM system which can be tricky to install successfully without interference. The hearing loop part though, as far as I know, was simple to install and simple to maintain. *

But at least the UK has non-working loops! In the US, hearing loops are still unknown by the general public. Many HH people are sold hearing aids without telecoils and don't even know that they exist.
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Main reason they don't work are:
Broken and don't know where and how to fix it
Staff don't know how to use it
Not being set up properly

That when See Hear ask why theirs don't work.
 
one of the difference between UK and US is there accent of saying a word..But the thing is they are good in english..is that right?
 
UK'er said:
US deaf people are much more spreaded out in US than in UK and Denmark, so therefore, less support in real life situations as such as hearing loop and TV channel programme. I do believe Denmark has their own deaf programme on national channel (Source: Me in 10 years ago) like UK does.

US has better support for deaf people in telecommunications sector for some obvious reasons that has been stated above already.

I think it's that UK and Denmark government doesn't need to pay every each person to support, they can pay for one group of deaf which much cheaper.

For example, there are at least 10-50 deaf going to one the same state college in every major city, and government can just pay total of 20-30 interpreters since there will be good chance that deaf people will be grouped in one class. Thus reducing the cost by 50%.

SeeHear is well-known deaf programme broadcast in BBC2, which is national channel and it's free for everyone and there are no advertising on that channel.

Mostly, it's boring (IMO), it only highlights deaf problems in UK which we all already know, and they sometimes show deaf events which are also boring.

I've appeared on that channel more I can count with both of my hands.
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Very interesting comments!

I think another reason for the growth of the telephone services for the D/d/HH in the US is because there's opportunity for companies who provide the services to make money in the relay business. Sometimes they are so eager for a share of the govt funded pie they will give away the equipment to attract and lock in a customer base. It's probably hard to get that initial base though so one of the ways they do this is to innovate to encourage people to move over to their company to try out the new services. So perhaps that helps explains the development of new services over the years like video phones, captioned phones with voice over, internet based relay, etc.

Just curious -- does the UK also have public access TV? That's channels that are set aside for the public and anyone who wants to produce and air a show can. It seems to me to be an underutilized asset by the D/d/HH in the US.


Speedy Hawk said:
Main reason they don't work are:
Broken and don't know where and how to fix it
Staff don't know how to use it
Not being set up properly

That when See Hear ask why theirs don't work.
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I recall when the movie theatres first implemented listening systems for the HH in New York City. The national law (ADA) wasn't enough -- it took a lot of lobbying on the local level to make the local businesses follow the law. Than after the systems were installed it took more lobbying on the local level to make the local businesses maintain it. It took years and a lot of hard work -- I know some of the people who worked on this in NYC. Their tenacity was really impressive.

I wouldn't be surprised if in some of the smaller cities with fewer D/d/HH people if many of the movie theatres are inaccessible 24/7. It appears to take a large base to provide an continous active lobbying force for mutual encouragement and to make sure you always have new people coming in to replace the other people who get burnt out.
 
Cinema in past be okish have major release of films released on Sundays mornings with subtitles/captions. But last 2 years it dropped down so much and now it almost nothing. Harry Potter films are major and there was no subtitles/captions available for Order of Phoenix and Half Blood Part 2 and bit of pressure they did provide subtitles/captions for Part 2.
 
How frustrating that in the UK you have to keep lobbying for access and captions also -- but 3 cheers for the UK folks who did the lobbying. :)

It's hard work.
 
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