Archive for the 'communication' Category
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Ed. note: I updated this post at 14:35 PST on Monday, Feb 11, 2008 to add more information of each candidate’s voting record on accessibility & deaf tech issues, and upgraded McCain’s grade from “F” to “D-” based on his voting record.
This post over on Daily Kos by “slinkerwink” describes how Barack Obama is the only candidate with consistently captioned videos. That got me thinking, and I did some research: a report card grading each presidential candidate on their accessibility to the deaf.
DEMOCRATS:
Barack Obama - Grade: A+
Barack Obama’s website lists disability as a major issue in the main navigation bar and provides a PDF file titled “Disability Plan FactSheet” which states:
Investing in Assistive Technologies: Barack Obama believes we must use technology to make community based living a reality for more people with disabilities. Obama supports the Fostering Independence Through Technology Act, which offers 21st century solutions, such as home monitoring and communications technologies, to overcoming barriers for people with disabilities.
Obama’s campaign has partnered with Project ReadOn to provide captioning for all their online web videos. Every single video on Obama’s website is offered in closed captioned format and is easy to find. And while this isn’t a deaf-tech item, I thought it was noteworthy that his campaign video features a deaf actress using American Sign Language.
In Obama’s technology record, he supports net neutrality and supports bringing high-speed broadband to every American, which is important for ASL vloggers, video relay services, remote video interpreting, and the like.
Obama’s voting record on deaf-tech and accessibility issues stands as follows: he supports the ADA Restoration Act of 2007, he voted for the Stem Cell Research Act of 2007 and the Stem Cell Research Bill (which is important for cochlear research,) and voted for the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act.
The American Association for People with Disabilities submitted a questionnaire to each candidate asking them what their plan was for people with disabilities. Barack Obama’s answers are here.
Hillary Clinton – Grade: C
Hillary Clinton’s website does not list disability as a major issue in her campaign, and has a very hidden, hard-to-find page that outlines her plan for Americans with disabilities. In the assistive technology area, she states she plans to:
- Doubling Funding for Assistive Technology Loan Programs. Assistive technologies should be affordable to all people with disabilities who need them. Expensive loans that weigh down people already struggling are not the answer. Hillary will double loan programs that enable people to purchase assistive technologies and support state initiatives like the Virginia Assistive Technology Loan Fund Authority, which has helped Virginians of all income levels (including SSI and SSDI recipients) to access low-interest loans to purchase equipment like wheelchairs, Braille equipment, hearing aids, low vision aids, and communication systems. To ensure that financing such technology is never an undue burden on the work aspirations of people with disabilities, Hillary Clinton will require an income-contingent option that never requires more than a modest percentage of one’s income for repayment.
- Providing More Technical Assistance for Employers. Many employers are hesitant to hire people with disabilities because they are unsure about the accommodations necessary to enable successful work. President Bush has not kept his promises to fund programs that remove employment barriers that keep people with disabilities from work. He has cut funding for the Office of Disability Employment Policy by 41%, and his current budget proposes to cut the Office by an additional 34%. As President, Hillary Clinton will restore funding to the Office of Disability Employment Policy, with an emphasis on giving employers the tools to effectively employ people with disabilities. She will establish a new technical assistance resource center to provide real-time support for employers and help them link with local resources to implement workplace accommodations.
The video page has closed captioning (symbolized with a black “CC” graphic”) listed on some, but not all videos. Clinton has partnered with Project ReadOn to caption her videos, but as stated, not all of her online videos are captioned.
In technology, Clinton supports net neutrality, but voted for the Internet Access Tax Bill. She supports the ADA Restoration Act of 2007 and voted in favor of stem cell research and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act.
The American Association for People with Disabilities submitted a questionnaire to each candidate asking them what their plan was for people with disabilities. Hillary Clinton’s answers are here.
REPUBLICANS:
John McCain – Grade: D-
John McCain was one of the senators that helped to pass the Americans with Disabilities Act in 1990 and served on the Board of Trustees at Gallaudet University, the only four-year liberal university for the deaf. He resigned from the Board during the student protests over the appointment of Jane Fernandes as president of the University>. Fernandes doesn’t know American Sign Language and McCain supported her as president of Gallaudet, so I wouldn’t be too quick to say McCain is “in touch” with the deaf community.
His website does not list disability as an issue, nor can I find any sort of plan for Americans with disabilites. His online videos are not closed captioned. He does not support net neutrality, he voted for the Internet Access tax bill, and in 1995/96, he voted “NAY” on the Telecommunications Bill S652, which provided more accessibility for the deaf with stronger FCC regulations on closed captions and Relay services. However, he supports the ADA Restoration Act of 2007, voted for the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act, and voted for stem cell research.
The American Association for People with Disabilities submitted a questionnaire to each candidate asking them what their plan was for people with disabilities. John McCain did not respond.
Mike Huckabee – Grade: F
Mike Huckabee’s website does not list disability as a campaign issue, nor does it offer a plan for Americans with Disabilities. His online videos are not closed captioned.
The American Association for People with Disabilities submitted a questionnaire to each candidate asking them what their plan was for people with disabilities. Mike Huckabee did not respond.
Ron Paul – Grade: F
Ron Paul partnered with Project ReadOn to provide captioning on his online videos, but the first video on the page is “unavailable” and the videos on his website do not have closed captions. His website does not list disability as an issue, nor does it outline a plan for disabled Americans. Paul is also against the ADA Reform Act of 2007, stem cell research, and net neutrality.
The American Association for People with Disabilities submitted a questionnaire to each candidate asking them what their plan was for people with disabilities. Ron Paul did not respond.
Stone Deaf Pilots would like to officially endorse Barack Obama for President. He has the deaf and hearing impaired community’s best interests at heart and is willing to provide access for all. Please consider voting for Barack Obama if your state still has not had a primary election. A vote for Obama is an investment into a better future for the deaf and hard of hearing. To continue my support, I have created a Deafies for Obama page on MyBarackObama.com. Please consider joining and spreading the word!
If you are planning to vote for another candidate, please encourage them to make disability an issue on their campaign. Contact them and refer them to this post to help them understand how they compare to other presidential candidates on accessibility and disability issues.
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Text 4 Deaf is a web-to-text message service that allows users to send a text message from the web site to a cell phone belonging to an individual or a group. The recipients can return the messages via their cell phones, and the messages will be delivered to the sender via Web.
Text4Deaf is a web-based service that allows two-way web texting – from the web to the phone and back. With other services, recipients can only reply to the sender’s phone or email address – not ideal for real-time planning or collaboration. It also offers unique features like Group Messaging, Scheduled Messaging, Reminders and SMS Forwarding.
The idea is to make text messaging easier to use and more accessible. Using a full-sized computer keyboard is much easier than typing on a cell phone, and the costs of Text 4 Deaf are much lower than what most cellular carriers charge for text messaging. Many deaf and hard-of-hearing people use text messaging to communicate and stay in touch, but many others don’t have cell phones, so this service is providing a way for people without text-enabled cell phones to stay connected to deafies with text-enabled cell phones.
There are two plans, the Basic – which is free, and the Premium, which is $2.95 a month.
Text messages can be sent to an individual or to a group of up to 10. Via Text 4 Deaf’s website:
When using Group Messaging, you also have the option of web texting in Broadcast mode or Chat mode. In Broadcast mode, when someone in your group replies to the message, their reply only comes to you. Chat mode means replies are sent to everyone else in the group – like hitting “Reply All” to an email.
Text4Deaf web texts can be sent from any web-enabled device worldwide to any U.S. or Canadian mobile phone, and is compatible on either PC or Mac.
Previously:
GotVoice – read your voicemail
Jott – getting the hearing & deaf in touch via voice-to-SMS
Spinvox: voicemail to text service
Text transcripts on LiveJournal voice posts
SimulScribe – voice mail transcribing service
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You may have noticed that at the top of my posts on this blog, there’s a blurb that says “Listen to this as a podcast” with a button labeled “Odiogo.” I received a comment from a reader asking me what it was for, so I am going to relink to the post I made in April about Odiogo, the text-to-voice podcasting service.
Previously:
Spinvox: voicemail to text service
Casting Words transcripting services
Jott’s potential to transcribe podcasts is unrealized
Earize Text Streaming for Internet Radio
Podcast transcripts for the deaf
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Officials in Los Angeles are looking into implementing a text message system for 911 emergency services that would allow people to send not only text messages, but also photos and videos from their cell phones when immediate assistance is required.
Officials told the L.A. Police Commission that they were beginning to seek money to install the new system, which they believe could aid crime fighting by providing callers with alternative methods for alerting authorities and police with new visual evidence.
‘Sometimes a person calls 911 and says they just saw a robbery and they’ve snapped an image or video of the getaway car,’ said Sgt. Lee Sands. ‘We want to find a way to get that to officers in the field as fast as possible.’
Text messages can also help.
‘There are circumstances when a person during a kidnap or robbery can’t talk to an operator but they can message them,’ Sands said.
In New York state this week, police stopped an alleged kidnapper after his victim was able to text-message her sister and report she was being driven on the Long Island Expressway.
Previously:
Text messaging and 911
Twitter
Emergency notification service for email and SMS
Floridians can now receive hurricane warnings via SMS
911 centers need to upgrate to accommodate new technology and be accessible to the deaf
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Russell Errigo, a deaf race car driver, emailed me these pictures showing him using an Ultratec Compact TTY as a wireless TTY radio to communicate with his pit crew while zooming around the track at 100+ mph speeds.
Photos courtesy Russell Errigo – thanks!
EDIT: For the commenters below that wondered if this was a hoax, Russell himself commented below:
It’s not a hoax. This was a prototype in 1992 with Motorola, Ultratec and Racing Radios, Inc. have been working passionately. I read what the pit crew tells me and I speak back to the crew. It has been successful for 3, 6, 12 and 24 hour endurance series.
For me as a driver, I’m very calm and collected. There’s a time to read what the dash is telling me going over 100 mph. Pro drivers are like that. They’re calm and easy going. It’s slow motion. Not to brag, but this is how it works to be a top driver.
It was a neat stuff and pit crews loved it. They enjoyed making jokes!
Nowdays, technology has changed and we do have heads up display. But I do not need them for my own personal shifter karts, today.
Russell Errigo
Previously:
Hiptop Sidekick – why it’s so popular among the deaf
Text messaging and 911
911 centers need to upgrate to accommodate new technology and be accessible to the deaf
Listen to this as a podcast:
GotVoice is a service that converts voicemails to text and sends them to you via email or text messages. It’s a paid service, but very useful if you’re deaf and need to be in contact with hearing people who don’t do Relay services, email or text messages.
Previously:
Jott – getting the hearing & deaf in touch via voice-to-SMS
Spinvox: voicemail to text service
Text transcripts on LiveJournal voice posts
SimulScribe – voice mail transcribing service
Listen to this as a podcast:
Via IBM’s press release:
HURSLEY, UK - 12 Sep 2007: IBM (
NYSE: IBM) has developed an ingenious system called SiSi (Say It Sign It) that automatically converts the spoken word into British Sign Language (BSL) which is then signed by an animated digital character or avatar. SiSi brings together a number of computer technologies. A speech recognition module converts the spoken word into text, which SiSi then interprets into gestures, that are used to animate an avatar which signs in BSL. Upon development this system would see a signing avatar ‘pop up’ in the corner of the display screen in use — whether that be a laptop, personal computer, TV, meeting-room display or auditorium screen. Users would be able select the size and appearance of the avatar.
This type of solution has the potential in the future to enable a person giving a presentation in business or education to have a digital character projected behind them signing what they are saying. This would complement the existing provision, allowing for situations where a sign language interpreter is not available in person.
Previously:
CART
Voicewriting
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Research students at IBM’s Extreme Blue research laboratory in the United Kingdom have developed a new technology that is being tested in the UK. Called “Location Aware Messaging for Accessibility,” or LAMA for short, it aims to be an alert system for the deaf and hearing impaired in public places such as airports, train stations, hotel rooms, and conference centers.
How it works: a deaf person enters a place that has the LAMA system installed. The LAMA system is detected by their mobile phone, which will then display a list of the services availabe, such as announcements, alerts, alarms, location information, and other real-time information. After the user has signed up for the service, public address annoucements will be delivered to their mobile in either a text message, a vibrating alert, or an image. Users can choose which format the information is delivered in. Example alerts include train/flight departure times and fire alarms. Possible future additions include:
Previously:
Fully Accessible Airport Paging System at PHX
Airport improvements made for deaf travelers
Salt Lake City airport installs video phones for the deaf
Floridians can now receive hurricane warnings via SMS
Emergency notification service for email and SMS
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Yesterday I had a connection at Phoenix SkyHarbor Airport, and noticed a new piece of deaf-friendly technology there. Throughout the airport large screen monitors have been installed, and they display the names of people being paged over the airport intercom system. There are over 30 terminal stations for the intercom system that are fully accessible – these are called Paging Assistance Locations (PALs.) The headsets have adaptors that are compatible with hearing aids and cochlear implants, and for those who don’t have aids or implants, there is a QWERTY keyboard and a touchscreen which enables users to send and receive text messages via the paging system.
Previously:
Airport improvements made for deaf travelers
Salt Lake City airport installs video phones for the deaf
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Deaf travelers at airports are obviously oblivious to verbal announcements that come over the intercom. Some of these announcements might contain pernitent information, and should be made accessible to all.
Gerald R. Ford International Airport in Grand Rapids, Michigan installed new technology into the public address system that allows verbal announcements to be transmitted directly into hearing aids and Cochlear implants that have a special kind of receiver called a hearing loop. Essentially, this is like wifi for hearing aids.
Previously:
Salt Lake City airport installs video phones for the deaf
