Deaf Apps for Android based Mobile Phones

Here is a website that tracks the number of apps for Android based cell phones that people can download. Most of them free with a few requiring a few bucks to download. The site targets apps that, supposedly so, could help deaf and hard of hearing people who have internet enabled Android-based cell phones. What do you think? Have you downloaded any of those apps? Do you find any of apps presented in that website which could be helpful to you? What kind of apps would you like to see on your Android based cell phone that could help benefit you as a deaf or hard of hearing person?

Enemies of Choices

There is a recurring yet common theme I keep seeing in some segments of the Deaf community and that is the constant attempts to restrict choices whether it's choices on communication options or about competitions or of ideas.

Let's begin with Deafread, a blog and vlog aggregator site.

In the beginning many liked what Deafread was doing. So did the people who linked their cochlear implant, AVT, oral/aural blogs and by bloggers who may be critical about some ideas or people in the Deaf community. This was soon met with a gradual backlash by some segments of the Deaf community believing it was time that Deafread needed to refuse blog links on those very subjects. Deafread refused and believe that readers have the right to choose their own subjects or topics for their reading pleasure. It is an aggregator site.

Let's look at DVTV, a mostly signing vlog aggregator website.

In the beginning many liked what DVTV was doing. So did the people who did their videos on many subjects even by some vloggers who may have been critical about some components of the Deaf community. This, too, was soon met with a gradual backlash by some segments of the Deaf community believing it was time that Deafread needed to be shutdown over certain controversies. DVTV didn't bow to their demands. Viewers and participants have the right to choose their subjects for their viewing pleasure.

Let's look at the recent AB2072 bill controversy. It was a bill about choices where ASL was quickly amended to this bill along with many other communication options to help make available to parents of children with hearing loss so they can make an informed decision. But many Deaf people were against this bill outright. Many Deaf people were in favor of the concept of that bill and supported it. And many Deaf people were against it unless amended to their satisfaction.

Promoting Veditz's 1913 speech.

Veditz at the time was for the preservation of sign language (ASL, BSL, etc). His support for it was valid at the time. But today's technology makes a huge impact on communication choices and how it has fostered competition over ideas. Over time the educational component improved in its understanding on what works effectively and in what particular environment for a child with hearing loss. Just as well over time we saw information on these communication and educational options become increasingly available and easy to access over the internet. Compare this electronic access to information of today to parents of the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s and even into the 1990s who had to struggle to get their needed information and the people they needed to contact in regard to their child with a hearing loss.

Using Veditz's "enemy" speech is an outdated attempt to try and squelch choices and competition. An attempt to try and squelch other hearing loss support organizations that may be more favorable to other communication or educational options. What people tend to forget is that parents of children with hearing loss have the trump card. It is they who have the duty and right to make an informed choice on the decision for communication and/or educational options. The decision does NOT belong to any one deaf/hh or Deaf organizations or groups of people. The child belongs to the parents.

Veditz lived in a time when there were NO form of technology that can help with the communication and educational components for people with hearing loss. It made great sense at the time about sign language since technology simply did not exist. Yet, sign language is still valuable today. However, using Veditz's speech today in the attempt to call out other hearing loss organizations as their "enemies" will simply not work. Why?

1) It's because of our improving technology and greater understanding on the educational component for children with hearing loss.

2) Secondly, it will not work because doing so make them look like an extremist group who are against choices, competition, and the free exchange of ideas.

3) And thirdly, there is no one size shoe fits all for all children and adults with hearing loss.

This is all about choices.

There is so much what technology has to offer for people with hearing loss and understanding that it is technology that ensures choices will remain on the table and not be restricted by any one hearing loss organization or culture group.

Compared to 15 to 20 years ago what we have now we didn’t have then or the improvement we have now. It might seem snail pace but if you put everything together there has been leaps and bounds on the improvements in communication and technology in virtually in all areas.

*Internet relay service
*Automatic transcriptioning of videos on YouTube (accuracy varies)
*Video phone
*CART
*Communication Devices (UbiDuo)
*Enabled smartphones for people with hearing loss
*Video relay service via smartphones
*Instant Messaging (AIM, Yahoo, MSN, etc)
*Real time texting, simultaneous communication via smartphones (UbiVia)
*Email
*Movie theater captioning
*DVD/CD/Tape movie CC
*Real time human captioning
*Free subtitling/captioning software
*Digital hearing aids
*Cochlear implants
*Blogging
*Vlogging
*Internet video captioning (e.g. Project ReadOn)
*Automatic real time captioning (non-human, continues to improve)
*Core computer chips by improving efficiency, speed and performance where we go from dual core chips, to quad, to 16 core, to 32 to soon in a few years a several thousand core chip that will help in the area of communication including ASL recognition software (ASL to voice, ASL to text, text to voice, voice to ASL, Voice to text, voice to translated voice and so on).

The United States is the most technologically advanced along with vast support in the social services on providing the most communication access and choices for people who are deaf and hard and hearing. In fact, we are the most "spoiled" bunch of people in the world in that respect but at the same time we continue to bethe proving grounds for the world to see on technological advancements for people with hearing loss.

Choices. It continues to grow. Technology will ensure that.

Communication Technology - the ultimate aphrodisiac for Deaf, deaf and hard of hearing people

The one thing I can safely say that everybody can agree on is that communication technology is probably the ultimate aphrodiasic for Deaf, deaf and hard of hearing people. The kind of technology that gives us the ability to communicate with anyone, including hearing people. And vice versa, too. Gone would be the identity of who's exactly behind that cell phone you're talking with. Perhaps there would be no distinction on what cultural group a person would be identified with. No distiction whether if one is deaf or not simply because there is no communication barrier to begin? Would that be possible someday within our lifetime? With the way communication technology has been progressing I'd say very much so. And I think many of us deaf, Deaf, hard of hearing, CODA, parents of deaf/hh children, late deafened people and even the deaf and blind are certainly hopeful at this prospect. Meanwhile with the communication technology we have today, it has transformed many of us in how we continue to interact with the deaf, Deaf, deaf/blind and hearing communities. This will bound to improve over time. There's no doubt in that.

We're not yet at the tipping point but technology is certainly paving the way on voice recognition to text such as YouTube, text to speech, and even ASL or sign language recognition to voice or text. I believe we'll see one technology wave after another over the next 10 to 20 years regarding communication access and improved interaction between people with hearing loss and hearing people. Things will be done much more automatically and without the need of a 3rd party to intervene if one chooses so.

We are slowly becoming a highly interactive and connected world. Communication barriers are slowly coming down in many areas. The tipping point for the deaf and hard of hearing community is yet to come but its coming. The day will come that no matter who you communicate with using your preferred mode of communication it will be understood by anyone, deaf or hearing. Don't believe that? Try and remember what it was like exactly 10 years ago and compare to what you have today. Imagine what it might be like 10 years from now. And with communication technology today, it has the ability to help preserve, enhance, and even promote Deaf culture such as ASL. Imagine that!

Ask this question yourself. How many communication technology companies do you know of that were run by deaf/hh people ten years ago? What about today? What do you think it'll be like 10 or 20 years from now? What kind of communication technology devices will you have on you that will enable you to communicate with others in face to face situations more readily and easily? What about wirelessly like smart phones? On demand remote captioning? On demand remote ASL interpreter? Communication devices that will enable deaf and blind become even more independent than ever before? And so on? Maybe a futuristic iPad that would enhance Deaf people communication experiences through it's own version of the video phone? The possibilities are endless when you have technology on your side.

This is a roller coaster ride and we've just begun. In twenty years from now you'll look back and say, "Wow! What a ride!" And what was that ride like since 1990, twenty years ago? That was the kiddie ride. Next, it's the quadruple loop with a 200 foot drop roller coaster ride. Hang on! And, oh, bring your vomit bag, too.

"Not 'terp' enough" - when interpreters discriminate and demean lower ranking learners

This is something I hadn't considered or even thought it existed but apparently it does according to one person detailing the encounters at a sign language interpreter conference. It's when some ASL/sign language interpreters look down upon those not at their level of skill saying how they are not deserving to receive CEU points. Sort of like the old "you're not Deaf enough" kind of thing in an off skewed way.

My daughter needs to keep up her skills as a terp so she went to a convention. I took the opportunity and went with. Looked forward to having a good time and did and learned a lot.

Met people there from top scale terps to students to be. Some retained their professional persona at all times, others were kick-back and T shirted. My daughter forced me into a sports jacket, slacks and tie. Some signers made me dizzy and others were so unskilled they did not know the difference between "late" and "later." Bought a couple of DVD's on ASL.

Many arrived as early as possible, stayed as long as they could to get as much as possible, and darted to the next conference room. Those typically were dressed more relaxed. Those who dressed professionally tended to arrive on time and leave shortly after they received confirmation they had attended the class.

Confirmation consisted of a small bar code pasted next to the class you had attended during that time frame. Everyone ran up after class and got one and so did I.

A significant number made it plain, they were there for the bar code. They arrived at the last possible moment and left as soon as they got one. A couple even made it clear in the foyer they were taking the classes easiest for themselves. Seen as there was no test and you got a bar code whether you challenged yourself or not I found this particularly odd.

It was from this group the complaints came.

The argument was, "We are here to get CEU's so we can maintain our standing as terps and maintain our payscale." Or, "We are here so we can upgrade our payscale and charge more for our services." Continuing with, "Students should not be allowed bar codes even to show they attended these classes -- because we have put in our time, students have not, and it is how we earn our money."

I felt this was pretty petty as students cannot get CEU's whether they have the bar code or not. All it can do for them is show they attended. And that is all they have to show they did.

When I pointed out I wanted my little bar code too even though I am not a "terp in training" I was given the info that I was just a visitor and didn't even belong there in the first place.

I went ahead and got my bar codes any way. All told the trip, hotel, and convention fees cost me over $1,500. I felt I deserved something to show I had been in attendance.

And it is nice to know there is one more place in the world I do not belong.

Here I thought I'd used them all up already.

CEU stands for Continuing Education Units or learning points in case you're wondering. But note the bolded portion in the above. That convention was open to anyone and no prerequisite was required for attendance or to get the coveted CEU points for attending one. That convention is by no means cheap and comes with a hefty price tag just to attend one.

Aside from the convention points of view, I could imagine that there are some snotty ASL interpreters out there with the attitude that they won't associate with those who are "not at their level" when it comes to ASL skill level. And that they wouldn't dare associate themselves with. I wonder if it is a common attitude in the world of certified ASL/Sign Language interpreters? And they have nothing to do anything or anyone as long as they get their money? Is it really that bad out there? Does this "not 'terp' enough" exist at all? Have some them become so corrupted with their $35, $50, $70, $100 dollars an hour fees?

This brings up another question. Do the high fees set the stage to discourage people from hiring expensive interpreters? One unknown person made this comment in a blog "Anonymous Deaf Law Student":

You can argue that requiring professionals to pay for interpreters will not lead to discrimination because of an oath all you want, but the fact is it will. I am a practicing attorney. Our office just handled its first deaf bankruptcy and now we are being charged with the interpreter’s bill. I can tell you, it will be the last deaf anything we do. I’m not saying we want to discriminate, I’m saying that we are running a business here and we are not seeing the profits we want from this last client. Not only was the case overall more difficult because of the communication problem, but now it is costing us extra in fees. So, we have a hundred different reasons not to take someone’s case, and now we have one more.

All the more reason to hope that technology in itself will one day help alleviate this problematic case of getting billed too much for interpreting services. We already saw what happened with the whole VRS mess. Greed has a way of doing that. Though it'd be great to have real time sign language recognition avatar-like interpeter that recognizes voice and sign language. That might be a awhile but with technology comes with creative solutions. It is a fact that private businesses are there to make money, not go out of business. Technology is the key to help level the playing field so that everybody benefits.

Blackberry Smartphones and Closed Captioning

Here's a good announcement for deaf/hh Blackberry smartphone enthusiasts who might be interested in helping or creating a closed captioned content for Blackberry smartphones which will take place this March at CSUN.

Creating Closed Captioned Content for BlackBerry Smartphones

This hands-on lab will demonstrate how you can develop, deploy and distribute accessible, close captioned multimedia content for and to BlackBerry smartphones.

Greg Fields
Research In Motion (RIM)

This will take place at the 25th Annual International Technology & Persons with Disabilities Conference in San Diego, Ca on March 22nd - 27th. Seats are limited to 31 seats. Get 'em while they're still hot!

Also, a poll for all you deaf and hard of hearing users of smartphones.

UbiDuo helps those who are unable to write

Aside from people who are deaf or hard of hearing, or have a speech impediment, the UbiDuo can help a small minority of population that have a condition that make hand writing difficult. This is a condition called "handwriting deficits." Or it can be called "dysgraphia" which is a learning disability in writing where it affects an individual’s writing ability and is manifested by difficulties in hand writing. Students with this condition often struggle during writing assignments while in school.

In a recent 2009 Assistive Technology research article called "Assistive Technology for Writing, including Motor Aspects of Writing and Composing," it discusses the motor and cognitive functions of a person with "handwritting deficits" of varying degree and severity on what it takes to write using a pen or pencil. The paper goes on to mention the UbiDuo as a possible face-to-face communication technology for students with certain "handwriting deficits."

The UbiDuo is not only just a face-to-face communication device but a potential assistive writing device to assist students with certain writing disabilities with their composing or writing assignments.