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Siri Comes Up Short for Deaf and Speech Impaired
abledbody I recently bought an iPhone 4S. I was anxious to try out Siri, the (supposedly) game-changing voice recognition software. Siri is great at some things (fetching the weather), reasonably good at others (setting up reminders), and relatively hopeless at many other things (it's fallback to anything it doesn’t know how to do is to suggest [...]
Thu, Jan 05 2012

Supermarket Tests Mobile Tech for the Blind
abledbody Finding a loaf of French bread and a wheel of Camembert could get a lot easier for people with disabilities. French supermarket chain Casino is testing the potential of chip-enabled smartphones that would make grocery shopping easier for people who are blind, visually impaired or have a physical disability. Casino is working with The Vision [...]
Sun, Sep 18 2011

Starkey Hearing Foundation Seeks World Travelers
abledbody The Starkey Hearing Foundation is looking for “ambitious and warm-hearted” young adults age 18 to 26 to participate in a volunteer program that will be turned into a 13-episode documentary centered around Starkey's philanthropic work in third-world countries. As fans of Celebrity Apprentice know, actor and Starkey Foundation ambassador Marlee Matlin ...
Sun, Sep 18 2011

Three Films Cast A New Light on PWDs
abledbody [By Lisa Cape Lilienthal] It was a different time back in 1982 when my Home Economics teacher suggested I enter the Miss Berkmar High School contest.  My peers were cheerleaders and dance champs; the overachiever in me loved the idea of being recognized for something other than class president.  And the idea that I could do [...]
Thu, May 19 2011

On TV, PWDs Are “Ratings Gold”
abledbody [By Suzanne Robitaille] Every now and then the media writes an article about reality shows that blend in people with disabilities. Favorites are American Idol contestant James Durbin, who has both Tourette and Asperger syndromes, and Luke Adams, the first Deaf contestant on The Amazing Race. While it’s great to see differently abled folk thrown into [...]
Tue, May 10 2011

On TV, PWDs Are “Ratings Gold”
abledbody [By Suzanne Robitaille] Every now and then the media writes an article about reality shows that blend in people with disabilities. Favorites are American Idol contestant James Durbin, who has both Tourette and Asperger syndromes, and Luke Adams, the first Deaf contestant on The Amazing Race. While it’s great to see differently abled folk thrown into [...]
Tue, May 10 2011

Chipotle ADA Suit Is a Big, Fat Flop
abledbody As I sit in a Starbucks watching baristas serve up morning coffee drinks from behind wood-paneled counters, I think about how easy it would be for Maurizio Antoninetti to sue them. Antoninetti, of San Diego, successfully brought a lawsuit against Chipotle Mexican Grill and yesterday the Supreme Court denied Chipotle's appeal. The four-foot-high counter at [...]
Thu, Apr 21 2011

Speaking Proudly of “The King’s Speech”
abledbody [By John M. Williams] I was very slow to see the movie “The King’s Speech.” I had wanted to see it for many months, and am overjoyed with having seen it. It’s a movie I will watch many times — I enjoyed it that much. I also drew many parallels between the sometimes despicable ways that [...]
Fri, Apr 15 2011

Is nTouch Mobile Relay for the Deaf Worth It?
abledbody Sorenson Communications has announced two products that will help deaf people who sign to communicate with their deaf and hearing friends on the go. The products, ntouch PC and ntouch Mobile, turn laptops and cellphones into videophones with the same Video Relay Service technology now used by deaf individuals to place calls. With Video Relay, [...]
Wed, Feb 02 2011

Girl Power: Inclusion a Priority for Girl Scouts
abledbody [By Megan McDonnell] Sometimes, the best way to move forward is to embrace the past. This seems to be working well for the Girl Scouts of the USA – especially when it comes to inclusion practices. On March 12, 1912, Juliette Gordon Low, who was partially deaf, formed this world-renowned organization with just 18 girls. At [...]
Tue, Feb 01 2011

Purple Launches Real-Time Phone Captions Service
abledbody Don't you hate it when you can't hear people on the phone? Purple Communications has just launched a great solution for deaf and hard of hearing people. Purple has launched ClearCaptions, an online and real-time telephone captioning service that takes all the guesswork out of phone conversations. While still in beta, the new service utilizes a [...]
Thu, Jan 13 2011

EEOC Disability Claims Hit Record High in 2010
abledbody By Suzanne Robitaille The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission today announced that private sector workplace discrimination charge filings hit unprecedented levels during fiscal year 2010. The EEOC, the federal agency enforcing employment discrimination laws, including the Americans with Disabilities Act, saw 99,922 filings, a 7% increase from last year and ...
Tue, Jan 11 2011

Warning Signs for Would-Be Deaf Divers
abledbody If you came across the Sunday New York Times‘ Travel section this week, you may have read the can-do article, Deaf Divers Sign in the Soundless Depths. The Siren Worldwide Dive and Sail is one of a handful of companies that organizes regular scuba diving tips for deaf and hard of hearing drivers. This story [...]
Mon, Dec 27 2010

NAD Opposes Netflix “Deaf Tax”
abledbody The National Association of the Deaf sent another letter to Netflix on Friday addressing concerns about Netflix's new pricing plan for its Watch Instantly movies, which the deaf community says amounts to a “deaf tax.” NAD also requests, again, that Netflix caption all of its Internet movies and provide an easy way to search for [...]
Wed, Dec 22 2010

Five minutes of Fame at DOJ Hearing
abledbody The Department of Justice hearing went really well; thanks to everyone for their support. Michael and I arrived in the afternoon to a rare Washington snowstorm, grabbed a quick bite at Corner Bakery and then headed over to the U.S. Access Board, where the meeting was being held. Access Board helps create guidelines for [...]
Fri, Dec 17 2010

Abledbody Publishes White Paper on Video Accessibility for...
abledbody By Michael Janger Today, Suzanne Robitaille and I have released a white paper which takes a look at the current state of video accessibility in the context of the Twenty-First Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act, which was signed into law this past October by President Obama. It assesses the scope of the new law [...]
Thu, Dec 16 2010

ABC, Comcast and COAT Top Video Captions Panel
abledbody The Federal Communications Commission appointed a mixture of media behemoths, including ABC and Comcast, and top disability advocates to serve on its new Video Programming and Emergency Access Advisory Committee (VPEAAC). The 45-member committee will guide FCC policy on captions and audio descriptions for video programming and emergency services that are delivered ov...
Wed, Dec 08 2010

Understanding Assistive Technology (Video)
abledbody Here's a simple, quick video that really does the trick in explaining what assistive technology is, who uses it, and how to get your hands on some. It's put together nicely by The PACER Simon Technology Center and includes closed captions as well as a neat interactive transcript.
Thu, Nov 18 2010

Nuance and WGBH Team Up on Captions Accuracy Project
abledbody Nuance Communications and WGBH's National Center for Accessible Media have teamed up on a project to develop a prototype system that will automatically evaluate the accuracy of real-time captions for live news programming, and hopefully improve on live captions for deaf and hearing-impaired viewers. Funded by a grant from the U.S. Department of Education, the [...
Tue, Nov 09 2010

Elections Are a Mixed Big for Disabled
abledbody Many local, state and national level positions were up for grab last night. Republicans captured the House but fell short in the Senate. Republicans scored the biggest party turnover in more than 70 years with their win in the House and, in doing so, will boot Democratic Rep. Nancy Pelosi, who became the first female [...]
Wed, Nov 03 2010

Iceland’s “Magga” Shines as First Deaf Parliament Member
abledbody Sigurlín Margrét Sigurðardóttir, the first deaf person to serve in Iceland's Parliament, talks about her efforts to recognize Icelandic Sign Language and the challenges of using interpreters at work.
Wed, Nov 03 2010
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Sizing up Disability In the Media
abledbody [By Suzanne Robitaille] After disabled model Tanja Kiewitz got the courage to pose with her missing limb to recreate Eva Herzigova's infamous Wonderbra ad, she thanked her friends and “a couple of glasses of wine,” according to Huffington Post. You might remember Herzigova: A voluptuous brunette wearing nothing but a black brassiere dares readers, w...
Thu, Oct 21 2010

Closed-Captioning, CART Jobs to Grow Under New Law
abledbody When President Obama signs the 21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act into law on Friday, millions of citizens who are deaf or hard-of-hearing ultimately will have new-found access to video programming on the Internet through closed captioning. Working behind the scenes to make captioning of live Internet broadcasts possible will be realtime court rep...
Wed, Oct 06 2010

Web Content Accessibility Law Needs More Brawn
abledbody [By Michael Janger] After passing in the Senate last week, the 21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act, which will improve access to mobile content for the deaf and blind communities, will soon become law. This means deaf consumers can now watch closed-captioned shows and movies on the Web on their PC or mobile devices. Before, [...]
Tue, Oct 05 2010

Pepsi Refreshes Its Disability Employee Network
abledbody I’ve spoken a lot about PepsiCo and its EnAble employee network for people with different abilities. Under direction from CEO Indra Nooyi, the consumer food and beverage company is out to deliver shareholder growth through its Performance with Purpose principles. The goal is to “improve all aspects of the world in which [Pepsi] operates – [...]
Tue, Sep 21 2010

A Deaf Diplomat Fights A Pound Foolish Move
abledbody Even in the upper echelons of employment, disability issues continue to muddle the workplace. In England, a British foreign diplomat who is deaf recently had her promotion revoked after officials ruled that her deafness would make it too expensive to send her abroad. Jane Cordell, who was to be Britain's new deputy ambassador to Kazakhstan, [...]
Thu, Sep 16 2010

Labor Stats Suck, But Here’s the Good News on Disabilities
abledbody Two years ago the government began collecting data on disabilities and employment as part of the U.S. Census. The information collected helped the Labor Department to create the first-ever report on the employment landscape for the 27 million working-age Americans with disabilities. Not surprisingly, the outlook is bleak, as reported in today’s Wall Street Journal. [....
Thu, Aug 26 2010

A Cautious Hooray for Captions
abledbody Amid all the Americans with Disabilities Act anniversary celebrations last week, it’s worth noting that the U.S. House passed a bill that’s crucial to the deaf and hard of hearing population. H.R. 3101 would extend protections from the Telecommunications Act of 1996 — the law that made closed captioning on T.V. mandatory — to the [...]
Mon, Aug 02 2010

Obama on ADA: “You Refused to Accept the World as It Was”
abledbody President Obama's remarks at the White House on Monday celebrating the 20th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act were eloquent, passionate and memorable. Speaking after performances by Patti Labelle and Marlee Matlin, Obama thanked the champions of the original ADA — signed by President George H. W. Bush in 1990 — for passing what [...]
Wed, Jul 28 2010

Obama Announces Revised ADA Regulations
abledbody Working with the Department of Justice, President Obama announced two final rules that will amend Americans with Disabilities Act regulations that relate to Title II and Title III of the law. The changes will improve access to programs and services for people with disabilities, such as at baseball games and public swimming pools. Under the [...]
Tue, Jul 27 2010

Obama Signs Executive Order to Hire More Federal Workers...
abledbody In front of invited guests including Cabinet officials, Members of Congress, grassroots leaders and Americans living with disabilities, President Obama commemorated the 20th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act on the White House South Lawn today. “I see so many champions of this law here today,” says President Obama.”I want to thank al...
Mon, Jul 26 2010

Yahoo!, Congress, DOJ Chart New Course for ADA
abledbody As the nation celebrates the 20th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act, both private and public organization are making efforts to show their initiatives. Yahoo! today announced its new accessibility blog, led in part by Alan Brightman, who works on accessibility issues at the Internet company. The National Council on Disability has gathered [...]
Mon, Jul 26 2010

ADA Anniversary Celebrations Start!
abledbody I'm in Washington this week as a delegate to the National Council on Disability's National Summit on Disability Policy 2010. NCD and its delegates will join with group of federal partners, Congress, and disability community stakeholders to launch a national dialogue on disability policies and programs in the 21st century. This year's theme is Living,...
Sun, Jul 25 2010

DOJ Promises “Renewed” Focus on Disabilities
abledbody The Department of Justice celebrated the American with Disabilities Act's 20th Anniversary, with Attorney General Eric Holder speaking about the ADA. Holder says that over the past two decades, the law has “helped create revolutionary improvements in the lives of Americans with disabilities ... [and] helped improve our society’s understanding of what A...
Sun, Jul 25 2010

FCC To Launch Accessibility Forum at ADA Celebration
abledbody For the rest of the month I'll be devoting some of my blog to announcing nationwide events that are taking place to celebrate the American with Disabilities Act's 20th anniversary. The Federal Communications Commission is inviting the public to mark the American with Disabilities Act's 20th anniversary in Washington. On July 19, the FCC will [...]
Fri, Jul 16 2010

Deaf Get Mobile Relay with iPhone’s FaceTime App
abledbody Apple's Facetime feature for the iPhone 4 is already making waves in the deaf community because for the first time, two deaf people can use sign language to communicate with each other. FaceTime also lets hearing-impaired people supplement voice calls with video; features like lip-reading and facial expressions go a long way in aiding such [...]
Fri, Jul 16 2010

Captions Need a Push in Congress
abledbody I’m really glad the New York Times is paying notice to the issue of captioning on new and digital technologies (“On Web Video, Captions Are Coming Slowly”, June 21.) What a hassle and annoyance (and frankly, somewhat of a civil rights violation, in my opinion) this has been for the deaf and hearing-impaired community. We [...]
Mon, Jun 21 2010

New Law Will Make Cruise Ships, Ferries More Accessible
abledbody Taking a cruise may sound luxurious, but for people with disabilities it can be a logistical nightmare. From making sure a wheelchair can fit through the doors, to finding your way around a ship using tactile braille, it's almost easier to just stay home. Things may be getting a little easier for this group. [...]
Fri, Jun 18 2010

XBox Kinect Uses Voice and Motion to Game, Chat and More
abledbody Microsoft unveiled its new add-on for the Xbox 360, known as Kinect, which uses motion detection instead of hand controls to play –- similar to Nintendo’s Wii. Microsoft, which launched Kinect at E3 in L.A., believes the program will make the Xbox more accessible to disabled gamers. Ablegamers.com writer Steve Spohn has some nice things to [...]
Tue, Jun 15 2010

How To Make Video Games More Accessible
abledbody Tobi Saulnier gave a talk on how gamers can consider making Nintendo DS — the popular handheld game console — accessible for people with disabilities, particularly kids. Saulnier is founder and CEO of 1st Playable Productions in Troy, N.Y., just outside Albany, where she specializes in making video games for young children. Handheld platforms [...]
Tue, May 25 2010

iPhone Movie Captioning App To Be Shelved?
abledbody [By Michael Janger] Last month, I wrote here on abledbody.com about a new captioning application for the iPhone that lets deaf and hard-of-hearing moviegoers follow the dialogue of almost any movie in any movie theater in the nation. Subtitles, as this app is called, was developed by Dan Walker, who did not realize that [...]
Fri, May 14 2010

Netflix To Caption Some Web TV and Movies
abledbody The deaf community's frustration with Netflix may be going away, or at least subsiding for now. Netflix has enabled closed captioning for some TV episodes and movies that you can watch instantly on your PC or Mac, says Neil Hunt, Chief Product Officer at Netflix. Although it's a limited library of content with subtitles available [...]
Fri, Apr 16 2010

Deaf Entertainers Documentary Hits All the Right Notes
abledbody Hilari Scarl’s See What I’m Saying is an exciting, funny, emotional and ultimately worthy addition to the rich compendium of films chronicling the deaf experience. Providing its own unique spin on the deaf film genre, the documentary explores the desire to strike it big on the stage from the perspective of a drummer, actor, comic [...]
Wed, Apr 14 2010

iPhone App Delivers Movie Captions On the Go
abledbody For four years, I have lived within three blocks of two major movie theaters on the Upper East Side in Manhattan, yet, as a deaf person, I have never gone to a movie in these theaters because they do not use captioning systems. Consequently, my wife and I are forced to go across town to [...]
Fri, Mar 26 2010

FCC’s Broadband Plan Endorses Accessibility
abledbody In a move that has been eagerly anticipated by the disability community, the Federal Communications Commission on Tuesday submitted its National Broadband Plan to Congress. The 360-page plan, which lays out a vision for high-speed broadband that’s both affordable and accessible, has wide implications for American with disabilities. Only 65 percent of American househo...
Tue, Mar 16 2010

FCC Talks on Broadband for People with Disabilities
abledbody The Federal Communications Commission, getting ready to officially present its national broadband plan to Congress next week, is holding a conference in Washington, D.C. — live streamed with open captions — to discuss what needs to be in the plan in order to ensure equal access to high-speed Internet content for people with disabilities. FCC [...]
Wed, Mar 10 2010

A Chat with ABC News on Assistive Gadgets
abledbody I recently did an interview for ABC news video. They asked me to come and talk about five new assistive technologies. I did the interview in their New York City studio, which presented somewhat of a difficult challenge as ABC News' anchor is based in Washington, D.C. Which meant a remote feed — an [...]
Tue, Mar 09 2010

Google’s Smart Captioning Move
abledbody By Suzanne Robitaille Ah, video and search. Frank Sinatra said it best: Try, try, try to separate them – it’s an illusion. Here’s proof of that: Speech Technology. This week, Google sealed the deal on video search capabilities for its YouTube portal, saying it would provide auto-captions for all of its uploaded videos using proprietary Google’s [...]
Sun, Mar 07 2010

Expedia and Hotels.com’s Accessible Room Gimmick
abledbody I got two press releases yesterday. One from Hotels.com, and another from Expedia.com, both claiming that they have renovated their websites to let people with physical disabilities search for accessible hotel rooms. While this seems like good news, here's what they didn't say: 1. Customers can search for, but not book, accessible rooms. I thought the [......
Wed, Feb 17 2010

For the Deaf, Captioned Tours Wherever You Roam
abledbody Picture this: You fly off to Rome, head to the Coliseum and, using your iPhone, play a video that guides you around the ancient arena where gladiators and lions once roamed. Later, walk across Piazza del Colosseo to the Roman Forum and view a video tour of the sprawling Forum ruins, taking in what [...]
Thu, Feb 04 2010