Deaf, Perhaps, But Not Mute
What your phone bill tax is paying. Wired News:
The article also mentions Grant Laird Jr.
I sometimes prefer to use Voice Carry-Over (VCO) so that I can talk to a hearing person, but whatever the hearing person says will be translated into ASL for me to understand.
VCO is a difficult concept to understand for some hearing people, so I'll try to explain. Let's say Mark is hearing and Shirley is deaf.
First scenario: To communicate with Mark in person, Shirley has an interpreter that translates both ASL-to-English and English-to-ASL.
Second scenario: Shirley may choose to talk instead, so the interpreter does not need to translate ASL to English.
Now, let's say Shirley wants to call Mark instead of meeting in person. She uses a VP-100 to connect to an interpreter, who will then call Mark. Just like the first scenario, Shirley can sign on camera, the video will be compressed and sent over the Internet to the interpreter's TV screen. The interpreter will translate what she sees into spoken message to Mark.
But, if Shirley wants to talk to Mark, she can let the interpreter know. The interpreter will call Shirley's phone and Mark's phone and connect three of them in a conference call. In this way, Shirley can talk over the phone with Mark, but whatever Mark says will be translated by the interpreter. The interpreter naturally hears everything that is spoken, but rest assured, she has signed a vow of silence (an oath of confidentiality in lawyerly terms) that she will not breach. Read More
"VRS providers are paid approximately $6 a minute by the FCC from a tax levied on every U.S. phone bill. That makes VRS an expensive replacement for conventional TDD-based services, in which an operator relays between a deaf person typing on a computer terminal and a hearing person on the phone. Those calls cost the FCC about $1 a minute."I am not trying to convince you to try to lower tax to cut off services for the deaf, but it's good to be informed of how your tax dollar is being used for other people's benefits, and for the benefits of society. You can find the tax you pay in your phone bill, under a certain name that I can't exactly remember. It's a few cents a month, but it makes a difference. Since not many people, Deaf included, are known for typing fast.
The article also mentions Grant Laird Jr.
I sometimes prefer to use Voice Carry-Over (VCO) so that I can talk to a hearing person, but whatever the hearing person says will be translated into ASL for me to understand.
VCO is a difficult concept to understand for some hearing people, so I'll try to explain. Let's say Mark is hearing and Shirley is deaf.
First scenario: To communicate with Mark in person, Shirley has an interpreter that translates both ASL-to-English and English-to-ASL.
Second scenario: Shirley may choose to talk instead, so the interpreter does not need to translate ASL to English.
Now, let's say Shirley wants to call Mark instead of meeting in person. She uses a VP-100 to connect to an interpreter, who will then call Mark. Just like the first scenario, Shirley can sign on camera, the video will be compressed and sent over the Internet to the interpreter's TV screen. The interpreter will translate what she sees into spoken message to Mark.
But, if Shirley wants to talk to Mark, she can let the interpreter know. The interpreter will call Shirley's phone and Mark's phone and connect three of them in a conference call. In this way, Shirley can talk over the phone with Mark, but whatever Mark says will be translated by the interpreter. The interpreter naturally hears everything that is spoken, but rest assured, she has signed a vow of silence (an oath of confidentiality in lawyerly terms) that she will not breach. Read More
Labels: asl
posted by Alan at April 16, 2006
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