Jennie Bourgeois

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
WWW.USDOJ.GOV

Justice Department Signs Agreement with Gregg County, Texas, to Improve Civic Access for People with Disabilities

WASHINGTON – The Justice Department today announced an agreement with Gregg County, Texas, to improve access for persons with disabilities to its programs, services, activities and facilities. The agreement was reached under the Department’s Project Civic Access initiative, which helps bring localities into full compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). This agreement is the 163rd entered into under Project Civic Access.

“Because of Gregg County’s willingness to work cooperatively toward this agreement, individuals with disabilities will now have greater access to those programs, services and facilities that so many of us take for granted,” said Loretta King, Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division. “Civic access is a civil right, and I applaud county officials for their commitment to improving access.”

The Department’s Agreement with Gregg County provides that the county will:

* Make physical modifications to specified facilities so that parking, routes into the buildings, entrances, public telephones, restrooms, service counters and drinking fountains are accessible to persons with disabilities;
* Post, publish and distribute a notice to inform members of the public of the provisions of title II of the ADA and their applicability to the county’s programs, services and activities;
* Ensure that the county’s official Web site is accessible to persons with disabilities;
* Take steps to ensure that all appropriate employees are trained and practiced in using the Texas Relay Service to make and receive calls;
* Maintain the database that tracks and assists the county in prioritizing repairs necessary to eliminate barriers to accessibility in the county’s sidewalks;
* Develop a method for providing emergency management policies and procedures for persons with disabilities, including preparation, notification, response and clean up;
* Develop a method for providing information for interested persons with disabilities concerning the existence and location of the county’s accessible services, activities and programs;
* Install signs at any inaccessible entrance to a facility directing users to an accessible entrance or to information about other accessible facilities.

Project Civic Access was initiated to ensure that individuals with disabilities have an equal opportunity to participate in civic life in their communities. As part of the project, Department investigators, attorneys and architects conduct on-site surveys of state and local government facilities and programs to identify modifications needed for compliance with ADA requirements. The agreements are tailored for each community to address specific areas where access to a government’s programs or facilities can be improved.

People interested in finding out more about the ADA, today’s agreement with Gregg County or the Department’s Project Civic Access initiative may obtain this information on the ADA Web site at http://www.ada.gov or by calling the toll-free ADA Information Line at (800) 514-0301 or (800) 514-0383 (TDD).

Source: http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/pr/2009/July/09-crt-731.html

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Supporting English Acquisition: Resource for
Teachers of English to Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Students
from the Rochester Institute of Technology

The purpose of the Supporting English Acquisition web site is to assist
educators of hard-of-hearing students, of students of English as a second
language (ESL), and of other students with limited English proficiency
(LEP), whose English difficulties are often similar to the difficulties
experienced by many deaf students.

The Supporting English Acquisition web site consists of modules that address a variety of problematic English structures and processes. Most of these modules consist of the following components: Introduction, Grammatical Summary, Research Findings and Implications, Guided Practice, and Action Steps. Clicking on “Structures and Processes” on the top menu bar will take you to the menu of modules
currently contained in this site. The components of each module contain a
variety of linked subsections that cover the most essential aspects of the
target structure or process.

http://www.rit.edu/ntid/rate/sea

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For Immediate Release

Contact: Tina Hunt, 402-694-3656 v/TTY
Marketing Communications Manager
Hamilton Relay, Inc.

Captioned Telephone: New Service Implemented in Louisiana for People with Hearing Loss
AURORA, NE, July 30, 2009 – Hamilton Telephone Company, d/b/a Hamilton Telecommunications, today announced an agreement with The Louisiana Relay Administration Board to provide Captioned Telephone service in Louisiana beginning August 1, 2009. Similar to closed captioning provided on most television programs, Captioned Telephone service is designed for individuals who have difficulty hearing on the telephone.
Captioned Telephone (CapTel®) technology, developed by Ultratec, Inc. of Madison, Wisconsin, allows individuals with hearing loss to view word-for-word captions of their telephone conversations using a CapTel phone. This device is ideal for individuals who use their own voice while conversing on the telephone but may have trouble deciphering the words of the other party.

Through the efforts of the Louisiana Relay Administration Board (a board created by the Louisiana Public Service Commission to administer the state-wide program that provides access to telecom services for people who are hard of hearing, deaf, deaf-blind and speech disabled), Louisianans now have a new option available for communicating via the telephone. “We are thrilled to provide CapTel service to the residents of Louisiana as many across the state have expressed interest in the service,” says Dixie Ziegler, Vice President of Hamilton Relay. “Hamilton’s goal is to provide its customers with the latest developments in telecommunications technology, resulting in services that are functionally equivalent to traditional telephone services.”

Individuals with hearing loss in Louisiana have looked forward to the availability of captioned telephone. Ann Boyd, who has lost her hearing, has been active in expressing her desire for the service and is excited about the startup on August 1st, “You could not have given me any better news! I was just thrilled to learn that Louisiana will be offering CapTel services beginning in August to its citizens who are hard of hearing. As you know, it is the news I’ve been waiting to hear! I am really looking forward to being able to use CapTel when making and receiving calls. With both volume control and captions, the CapTel phone is an effective and comfortable way for those with mild to profound hearing loss to make phone calls to businesses, doctors, dentists, family members, grandchildren and friends with greater ease and understanding.”

To make a call, the CapTel user dials the number of the person they wish to call on the CapTel phone. The call is then connected to the service which provides the captioning. Using state-of-the art voice-recognition technology, a specially trained operator “re-voices” everything said by the standard telephone user, converting speech into text. The captions appear almost simultaneously with the spoken word, allowing CapTel users to understand everything that is said by listening along with reading the CapTel phone’s screen. The CapTel phone features adjustable levels of amplification which extend to an additional 35 dB and works in conjunction with a hearing aid’s telecoil. CapTel is a telephone designed to allow the user to have natural back and forth conversations with the support of captions.

Residents of Louisiana are invited to attend a 60 minute demonstration of the Captioned Telephone service on Saturday, August 8, 2009 at 10:00 AM in the Louisiana Relay Service Center’s training room, 9107 Bluebonnet Centre Blvd, Baton Rouge, LA. If you are unable to attend this event, information about the service and how to obtain a CapTel phone will be available at the 2nd Annual Summer Picnic at Highland Road Park on Saturday, August 8, 2009 from 10:00 AM – 3:00 PM.

Hamilton has arranged, for a limited time only, to make the CapTel phone available for $99.00 (retail value of $495). This offer comes with a 90-day trial period, which guarantees that if the customer is not entirely happy with the CapTel phone, s/he can return the phone for a full refund within 3 months.

For more information about CapTel, including how to obtain a CapTel phone, please contact:

Louisiana Relay Customer Service
9107 Bluebonnet Centre Blvd.
Baton Rouge, LA 70809
Voice/TTY: 1-866-560-1452
Fax: 225-293-3583
E-mail: larelay@hamiltonrelay.com

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From Tech Soup

New FREE Services for People who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing
Mon, 07/13/2009 – 3:43pm — Becky Wiegand

If your nonprofit or library works with supporters or community members who have difficulty hearing or are deaf, there’s a cool new freebie out there to help ensure that people can communicate well by phone with you and everybody else. Please feel free to share this info with your networks, local community centers, or health care facilities.

As of January 2009, American Network has “been approved by the Federal Communications Commission to provide IP Relay, Video Relay Services (VRS) and Internet Protocol Caption Telephone Service (IPCTS).” This phone captioning service is free because it is funded by the Federal Communications Commission.

PhoneCaption.com provides free captioning for telephone calls to help those who are hard of hearing. PhoneCaption.com supports normal phones to IP phones and sends voice dialogue via text through the Internet or your IP phone screen. The non-hearing party receives captions to read of what is being said, via the web or a Cisco 79XX IP phone screen display for example.

In addition to the phone captioning, they also provide FreeRelay.com, a text or instant messaging relay service where calls are relayed through a live “Communication Assistant” 24 hours a day.

There are an estimated 1 million deaf people and nearly 10 million hard of hearing in the U.S. This service can provide new methods of communicating for many of these people who may not have special relay equipment and would prefer to use their phone, Internet connection, or VoIP to make calls.

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Image by Getty Images

Reinforce your knowledge of the ADA Amendment Act

To celebrate the anniversary of the ADA, the Job Accommodation Network (JAN) and the EEOC produced a recent webcast (approximately one hour long) on “ADA Tricky Issues”:

http://breeze.jan.wvu.edu/p83419231/

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Tip Sheets for Hard of Hearing College Students

RIT’s National Technical Institute for the Deaf and PEPNet (Postsecondary Education Program Network) have developed tip sheets for hard-of-hearing college students and those who work with them to help improve communication access. The tip sheets are the latest information provided free by NTID’s Center on Access Technology for Students who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing.

Yes, they are free!

Here is a link to the release and to the tip sheets themselves:

http://www.pen.ntid.rit.edu/resources/documents/other/tipsheets.php

By the way, this is a follow-up to existing tip sheets that have been proven popular relating to a variety of other related topics, including education of deaf and late-deafened students. That information is also free and available here: http://www.pepnet.org/pdc.

Thanks for helping spread the word!

Greg Livadas
Director of Media Relations
National Technical Institute for the Deaf Rochester Institute of Technology
52 Lomb Memorial Drive LBJ #2207
Rochester, New York 14623
(585) 475-6217 (V-TTY)
email: Greg.Livadas@rit.edu

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Article and picture from NAD website

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Submitted by admin on Thu, 07/02/2009 – 12:38

The National Association of the Deaf (NAD) and the law firm Willis & Willis Co., L.P.A., filed a lawsuit on behalf of Vincent Sabino against Ohio State University (OSU). Mr. Sabino, an OSU sports fan who is deaf, wants OSU to provide captioning for announcements made over public address systems before, during, and after OSU events, such as basketball and football games.

“Ohio State sports have been the life blood of my family. Having captioning at games will not only ensure access for me as a deaf fan but also allow all fans who miss a play to understand what happened,” Mr. Sabino said. “My earliest and fondest memories of my childhood are going to Ohio State games with my Dad. Now I take my children and continue that tradition. I have attended games every year since I was a young child. All I want is to be involved in the game with my family and all those who attend Ohio State sporting events.”

Because OSU does not provide captioning, Mr. Sabino claims OSU is in violation of Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act.

In 2006, the NAD filed a lawsuit, Feldman v. Pro-Football, Inc., against the Washington Redskins for not providing captioning at their football games at FedExField. In September 2008, the court ruled that “the ADA requires Defendants to provide deaf and hard of hearing fans equal access to the aural information broadcast over the stadium bowl public address system at FedExField, which includes music with lyrics, play information, advertisements, referee calls, safety/emergency information, and other announcements.” This case is pending appeal.

“Nearly 20 years after the ADA was enacted, many sports stadiums are still not fully accessible to deaf and hard of hearing fans,” said Michael Stein, attorney for the NAD. “Accommodations such as captioning are required by law to ensure equal access for deaf and hard of hearing individuals.”

“This case speaks to so much more than one individual’s rights,” said Laren Knoll, attorney at the law firm of Willis & Willis Co., L.P.A. “Every single fan deserves the opportunity to participate, understand and enjoy the sporting event, while they’re watching it. Mr. Sabino had the courage to take a stand, not only for himself, but for sporting event fans everywhere.”

“The time has come for stadiums to come into compliance with the ADA,” said NAD President Bobbie Beth Scoggins. “We expect professional, college, and university sports teams to provide and display captioning to ensure equal access, an equal opportunity to participate, and effective communication with deaf and hard of hearing individuals.”

The lawsuit was filed with the United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio. The complaint asks the court to order OSU to provide and display captioning for all announcements made over the public address system at its venues, including the Ohio Stadium, the Schottenstein Center and St. John’s Arena.

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In follow-up to this story, it has been reported that the individual filing the complaint never actually requested Ohio State to provide captioning services for the football game. The individual’s argument is that captioning should be available without him having to request it because it is a public event.

One blog posted the following about the story -

Quote from the Deaf Digest (www.deafdigest.com)

How powerful is the Power of the Attitude?

Ohio State University would not caption their football scoreboard, thus eliciting a lawsuit from a football fan. And the Cowboys Stadium is accessible,and the team recently gave tour to the disabled, showing them how friendly the stadium is.

Two famous football programs. One with Bad Attitude; other one with Great Attitude.

And as a matter of irony, Ohio State has a great Deaf Education program. Unfortunately the Deaf Education program and the football program are not connected to each other!

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It will definitely be interesting to watch this case in the courts.

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The blog HR Bartender has a great article on one of my favorite topics, Life Long Learning. The article explains that ultimately, each of us is individually responsible for our own personal and/or professional development rather than our employer.

Interesting read .. Check It Out!

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I have been meaning to read this book for several years. It has been waiting patiently on my ever growing book list. I am finally succumbing to audio books to try and get through more books that I want to read. I am now admitting to myself I simply don’t have time to read as much as I would like and audio books will allow me to multi-task while doing other necessary activities.

This book has been touted for years as one of the “must read” personal finance books. The perspective this book provides probably seems quite foreign to most individuals I suppose. However, I have read most all of Dave Ramsey’s books and have been through his 13-week Financial Peace University classes. Ramesy’s perspective about consumerism and what is considered financially “normal” in today’s society is not how actual self-earned millionaires manage their own finances. The ideas shared about the consumerism perspective between this book and Ramsey are very similar.

The New York Times provides a very detailed summary of the book. The author provides a great deal of statics and research on America’s hidden millionaires. This summary includes many of these statistics in a great outline format.

Another great online resource that provides additional information related to this book is from Bankrate. They provide an online calculator that utilizes the formula described in The Millionaire Next Door for individuals to plug their financial numbers in to determine if they meet the definition of a Prodigious Accumulator of Wealth or an Under Accumulator of Wealth. Retire Early also provides a similar version of the online calculator.

One of the authors of this book, Thomas J. Stanley has written a second, book, The Millionaire Mind.

Here are some additional articles that further discuss this book.

20 Things the Millionaire Next Door Does NOT Do

What’s Wrong with the Millionaire Next Door

Shop Like the Millionaire Next Door

Millionaire Next Door (MND): How to Determine if You are Wealthy

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