What You Can Do Now:1. Send an email to the FCC.
[
Kevin.martin@fcc.gov ]
You can write your own message or just copy and paste the text below—insert your own name: Dear Chairman Martin, Commissioners Adelstein, Copps, McDowell, and Tate:
I am a deaf person and I use Video Relay Service (VRS) to communicate. I was appalled to learn that the FCC staff is intent on drastically cutting the VRS rate, and effectively cutting VRS availability for the deaf. Instead of seeking to limit the number of deaf people with VRS access, the FCC should do everything in its power to make VRS available to more deaf people.
I, along with other Deaf individuals, use these services in both my work and personal life. It is an important way in which I/we communicate with both hearing and deaf individuals. I urge you to do everything you can to make VRS service available to the many deaf people who currently do not have access to this vital, life-changing service.
The VRS rate should encourage the VRS providers to:
* Serve more deaf people, not discourage them from reaching out to more deaf people
* Provide interpreter training programs so that there will be an adequate number of qualified interpreters for VRS and the local Deaf communities
* Provide service and technology improvements, such as the development of new videophone equipment, fulfilling the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) mandate of functionally equivalent telecommunications services
I, along with other deaf individuals, their families and coworkers, depend on VRS and other relay services.
Please stop any VRS program cuts and fulfill the mandate of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) to provide deaf people with functionally equivalent telecommunications services.
Sincerely,
[Insert Your Name Here]
2. Write a Letter to the FCC.
Federal Communications Commission (FCC)
445 Twelfth Street SW
Washington, DC 20554
Do it now as you can to tell your friends and family.
Please support at video relay services!
Source:
Blog - Sorenson VRS [FCC] « -[[ Neo Kent ]]-