CRTC requires access improvements to phone, cellular and TV services. The Canadian Radio-television Telecommunications Commission has set new standards in the coming months.
Included in the new requirements are improvements to captioning services for television programs and provision of text-to voice and voice-to-text over the Internet. To read the July 21, 2009 story on CBC’s web site, click this link.
Assistive Listening Devices to the Rescue! A Primer to Help You Get Started
(The Center for Hearing Loss Help (http://www.hearinglosshelp.com/) is directed by Neil Bauman, Ph.D., and is run by and for hard of hearing people. The introduction to the following article is published with Dr. Bauman’s permission.)
© February 2008 by Neil Bauman, Ph.D.
Hard of hearing people often lament, “Hearing aids don’t work well for me, particularly in noisy places such as while driving in the car or talking in noisy restaurants.” They then ask, “What can I do in order to better hear my spouse and friends under such conditions? Being unable to communicate freely is putting a strain on my marriage and my friendships.”
Unfortunately, when most people lose some of their hearing, they are told to get hearing aids, as though hearing aids were the whole answer to hearing loss. The result is they become disillusioned with their hearing aids.
You see, hearing aids are not perfect, and in some listening situations such as in noisy places, or when you are at some distance from the speaker, they can be almost useless!
That’s where Assistive Listening Devices come in. To read the rest of this excellent article on assistive devices, click here.
Read On Line: The Canadian Hearing Society Position Paper on Accessibility and Accommodation. The society is located in Toronto, and has offices throughout Ontario.
White House Sets Agenda for People with Disabilities “We must build a world free of unnecessary barriers, stereotypes, and discrimination … policies must be developed, attitudes must be shaped, and buildings and organizations must be designed to ensure that everyone has a chance to get the education they need and live independently as full citizens in their communities.” Barack Obama, April 11, 2008. For President Obama’s full position statement on disability issues published on-line January 26, 2009, visit http://www.whitehouse.gov/agenda/disabilities/
Developed by a team of US Advocacy Groups – December 11, 2008 Proposal for Leadership and Public Policy to Ensure Equal Access and Equal Opportunity for Deaf, Hard of Hearing, Late-Deafened and Deaf-Blind Americans visit http://www.hearingloss.org/advocacy/pdfs/Obama_Recommendations_DeafandHOH.pdf
Statement on Accessibility from the Hearing Loss Association of America – “Accessibility for people with hearing loss means being able to hear and understand communication and an audio signal in whatever form it takes: face to face – one on one and in groups; over the telephone; public address announcements; recorded sound – TV, radio, movies, internet based; amplified sound – theater, public presentations; alerting and emergency notifications.
“Most people with hearing loss use spoken language, and whatever residual hearing they have with hearing aids, cochlear implants, and other assistive technology. They do not use sign language and therefore sign language interpreters are not appropriate accessibility accommodations for them. There are laws that require that people with hearing loss have access to public, private, federal, state and local government programs and services and telecommunications services and products. Examples of ways to provide accessibility for people with hearing loss include: assistive listening device, (FM, Infrared, Audioloop) captioning, CART (computer assisted real time transcription), hearing dogs, communication strategies, visual and tactile alarms, oral interpreters, Cued speech transliteration, volume control phones and telecommunications relay services – particularly captioned telephone.”
Additional articles will be published over time – to submit an article or story, email admin@chha-mb.ca.