A win-win-win situation

For any organization that serve the deaf and hard of hearing population as well as for parents of deaf and hard of hearing children should take every effort to accommodate the potentially wide ranging communication access needs for an audience with deaf, hard of hearing, culturally deaf and hearing people when doing live presentations.

The concept and idea are quite simple. Three things are needed at the same time.

1) Real time captioner where the spoken words can be displayed visually for the audience.
2) Sign language interpreter.
3) Voice interpreter.

Using that prescription it wouldn't matter if the people in the audience or the speakers are deaf, hard of hearing, culturally deaf or hearing, communication access wouldn't be missed by anyone. This is how you "walk the walk" instead of talking out of the sides of your mouth.

Using the three communication access points satisfy 6 different possible outcomes for people who are:

1) Culturally deaf people who rely exclusively on sign language can take advantage of sign language interpreters.
2) Hard of hearing and deaf people who are not native signers can get assistance from captioning to help supplement their weak signing skill.
3) Hard of hearing and deaf people who can hear well with their hearing aids or cochlear implants and sign well can take advantage of either voice interpreter, captioning and/or sign language interpreter to help fill all of their communication gaps.
4) Hard of hearing people who can hear well and understand the spoken words well but do not know sign language can take advantage of voice interpreters and captioning.
5) Deaf people who do not know sign language or cannot hear well to understand the spoken words can take advantage of captioning.
6) Hearing people who do not know sign language can take advantage of voice interpreters and, if they need to, captioning.


If you're a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that caters to deaf and hearing people, and even hearing people such as parents of deaf and hard of hearing children would be wise to use take advantage of all three communication access points if you plan to do presentations at a workshop, training session, or at a convention where the public is invited. It just make smart sense to do this because no one would be left out of the communication loop. No one would feel discriminated or left out. Everybody can participate and be a part of the larger discussion. Catering to only a specific group of people with hearing loss or cultural identity helps no one when the bigger picture is to help everybody understand deafness-related issues and concerns. 

The most accessible stadium...evah!

I've said this over four years ago at Gallaudet University while giving my  speech presentation regarding technology and communication access in the future. I explained that technology will play a major role in how we will interact with anyone on and off campus. Today we continue to see this happening as communication access technology slowly unfold before us such as voice recognition smart phone to text feature. As for entertainment communication access here's a video of Kevin McGuire, an attorney and an ADA consultant, pointing out features accessible for all patrons with mobility, sight, and hearing impairments at Gillette Stadium. A positive example of how a business can become the most accessible business to wide ranging number of people.  This is a true example of how the use of technology and engineering combined can easily make accommodations a part of every day business and still be successful. Gillette Stadium is not just for baseball but certainly for football as well and for any other venue event.

Free Translation and Captioning Service for ASL Vloggers?

Here are some interesting questions on the equal access issue of signed video bloggings if you were given the opportunity to use a free service to translate and caption (or transcript) for your ASL video blogs. Would you take it if done free so other non-signers may be able to access your ASL vlogs?

Would you accept free ASL translation and captioning service for your ASL vlogs?
	Yes
	No
pollcode.com free polls

Would you accept free ASL translation and transcripting service for your ASL vlogs?
	Yes
	No
pollcode.com free polls

Equal Access – When a Village Agrees

The one single issue unanimously agreed upon without hesitation by those who helped found Deaf Village was that submitted video blogs (“vlogs”) are required to be subtitled/captioned or included with transcripts to go with them. Currently there are a few people outside of Deaf Village who are having a bit of a conniption fit over Guideline #5. However, this was a decision that came from a diverse group of Deaf, deaf, hard of hearing and hearing people from a variety of background and life experiences. This was a decision that naturally made sense because greater communication access to video blogs (or any online videos for that matter) whether signed, cued speech or spoken would reach more people and increase inclusivity. This requirement is no more of an eye-brow raiser than the requirement for television shows or movies to be captioned just so the viewing audience can feel more “included” like any others. It just makes good common sense that videos need to have that kind of access. Not doing so merely shuts out those who do not know sign language, cued speech or unable to hear or understand clearly the spoken words in a video blog. The greater majority of the population with hearing loss does not know signing or even cued speech but rather English as their major language of use in the United States (even elsewhere, too). It’s better to grant communication access to the majority of the 30 million people with hearing loss than to exclude them along with the rest of the hearing population by doing an ASL-only video blog with no captioning/subtitling or transcripts. And it's just not a deaf thing either when it comes to captioning since hearing people benefit from it as well like those learning the English language. Deaf Village’s goal is about inclusivity rather than to practice total exclusiveness. And thus by allowing video blogs with captions/subtitles or transcripts the readers, whether deaf, hard of hearing or hearing, will have the opportunity to understand what was said.

It is NOT Deaf Village’s responsibility to provide captioning/subtitling or transcript services to video bloggers in order to ensure that their videos are accessible to the rest of the population. Deaf Village is in the aggregator business. After all, the onus falls on the vlogger to decide whether it's important to provide subtitles or transcripts for their online videos or not. And they should be mindful of their own demands from others (e.g. movies, tv shows, online shows, video blogs, YouTube videos, etc) on requiring/wanting/wishing that videos be subtitled/captioned or included a transcript at the very least. The irony of seeing people complain about Deaf Village’s guideline concerning subtitling or transcript requirement is that for years a certain group of people with hearing loss complained the loudest about how no captioning/subtitles were available over the internet when it came to online videos. Deaf Village now has that opportunity to help ensure that video blogs come with captioning/subtitling or transcripts.

Should a technology down the road come up with a software that can convert sign language into printed text automatically as easily as the spoken words into text then the issue of captioning/subtitling or transcript requirement wouldn’t be such an “issue.” But for right now those who submit videos online are asked to proactively make sure that their internet videos are captioned/subtitled or come with transcripts at the very least before Deaf Village accepts them. Doing so would allow deaf, hard of hearing and hearing people contribute and interact more fully in an accessible “village.”

Currently YouTube offers a way to add subtitles for your submitted videos. Overstream.net also allows subtitling capability for online videos. Laptops often contain software that allow subtitling such as Windows Movie Maker.

Regardless on how videos are prepared, the responsibility lies with each person to ensure that their own submitted videos be captioned/subtitled or included with a transcript at the very least. Lest he or she become a hypocrite by demanding all videos be captioned.

The idea of “inclusivity” simply opens more doors to those who want to participate and understand, in this case, what each vlogger has to say. For those who are serious about equal access themselves need to be proactive in what they believe in when it comes to captioning needs. This is about the assurances on providing an accessible service to the greatest number of people and not about a single communication ideology that promotes exclusiveness to the greater number of people. If one is serious on reaching out to the greater number of people then one should also seriously consider on taking the time and effort to add subtitles or transcripts to their own video blogs or online videos.

Deaf Pagan said it well,

“I’ve always been taught that it is not enough to just sit around and complain when there’s a problem. If you’re not willing to be a part of the solution, then you’re only contributing to being a part of the problem.”

After all, when I make my own online videos I make sure I take the time and effort to include subtitles to all of my videos whenever I speak. Hopefully others will take to task this same philosophy when it comes to signing, using cued speech or by using one's voice by speaking.

UPDATE: Deaf Village's requirement that submission of vlogs be captioned/subtitled or included transcripts is not intended to create "apathy towards ASL" or "drive ASL vloggers away" but rather to create greater inclusiveness *FOR ALL*. Not all can sign or understand sign very well and having, especially, a subtitled video can help create a continued interest for those who want to learn sign language someday. Or cued speech. Or whatever. It's the message that people want to hear, watch or read about. But if your target audience is a Deaf one then you don't have to worry about subtitling or adding a transcript to your vlogs. Or if you want your message to be heard by reaching out to a greater number of people then include subtitle or transcript to your vlog. But if you want Deaf Village to accept your vlog then their guidelines must be met, which means a vlog need to have subtitle or a transcript. Otherwise, it'd be practicing greater exclusiveness to the rest of the population.