TDI

Day 2 - Tuesday July 15, 2003

TDI 15^th Biennial International Conference
Green Valley Ranch Resort & Spa ¨ Las Vegas, Nevada

TDI Conference in Full Swing!

By Jim House, TDI

The conference is nearly over and the best is yet to come. The second day of the conference was a day of learning and sharing new information about telecommunications and media access. The third day of the conference had more of the same and it was also a day to recognize our leaders.

The second day began bright and early with the Telecommunications and Media Professionals Breakfast. Bobbie Beth Scoggins shared with us her experiences making her first TTY call, watching her first captioned television program and making her first video call many years ago during an experiment. From then on she shared her perspectives on interpersonal relationships with family and friends at home and with colleagues at the workplace and gave us tips on how to develop successful relationships that last throughout life.

In between workshops, the attendees had ample time to check out the exhibit hall. The exhibits displayed the innovative technology that we have enjoyed for years and those emerging technologies that many of us are beginning to appreciate.

There was a buzz going around in the hallways as people learned about an article in the Las Vegas Review Journal on the front page in the business section. The reporter, Chris Jones, came in during the opening ceremonies and toured the exhibit hall, learning about our technology.

Multimedia on the Web:
Making it Accessible - W3C, WAI and You

By Mindi Scroggs, Gallaudet University

Judy Brewer, Director of the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), spoke to the TDI conference participants early Tuesday morning about multimedia on the Web. Specifically, Brewer addressed issues such as cross disability requirements on websites. The World Wide Web has become such an integral resource for every aspect of American life that technical standards for the Web have evolved to assist equal accessibility options for people with one or more disabilities. The four areas to be evaluated while determining if a website is accessible are called the four domains: 1) architecture, 2) interaction, 3) technology and society, and 4) Web accessibility initiative. Brewer commented that people with disabilities are often better able to solve problems from within an organization, such as W3C, rather than trying to fix things from the outside.

The Web Accessibility Initiative is sponsored by government and industries to provide technology support, guidelines, tools, education/outreach, and research to make the Web accessible for various disabilities collaboratively. WAI carefully looks at visual, hearing, physical, speech, cognitive, and neurological disabilities to establish cross-disability requirements to apply to Web designs. Brewer encourages people to take a look at the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0, developed in May 1999, when designing or redesigning a website. She reminded the audience that the WAI group is working on new drafts to address more advanced Web technology and ask for involvement and comments from the deaf community. Visit the World Wide Web Consortium at www.w3.org/WAI for more information.

Association Board Meeting

By Katie Spiegel, Gallaudet University

At the Association Board Meeting, Dr. Roy Miller, TDI President, reported on TDI’s achievements since the last biennial meeting. After recognizing members who were involved with TDI, he highlighted TDI’s progress in several fields such as advocacy, publications, and public outreach.

Miller began by showcasing TDI’s publications, including the GA-SK, the annual Blue Book, and the new eBlue Book. The eBlue Book will be a web-based version of the print Blue Book, and is slated to be out by September 2003. Another useful electronic publication is TDI’s eNotes, initiated in 1999, to provide advocacy action alerts and other timely news items as they occur.

Miller also highlighted TDI’s activity in the advocacy field. TDI has worked relentlessly in the advocacy field and gave a sample of a couple of filings that were submitted to the FCC.

TDI has also made their presence known by attending many expos and exhibits, including DeafWay II, the NAD Conference, and Deaf Fiesta, among others. The report wrapped up with the invitation for everybody to visit them often at www.tdi-online.org.

Wendy House, volunteer (not pictured) and
Gloria Carter, administrative assistant, signs up
a new TDI member at TDI/BayFirst’s booth

Town Hall on Advocacy

By Mindi Scroggs, Gallaudet University

As if giving a very thorough and carefully planned lecture about telecommunications problems of today was not enough, Karen Peltz Strauss of the Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center on Telecommunications Access and Powrie V. Doctor Chair of Deaf Studies at Gallaudet University responded personally to TDI conference participants’ top concerns in access issues. At the beginning of Strauss’ session, she instructed the audience members to write down their top concerns. Later her response to the current status of those concerns intrigued and offered insight to her audience.

According to Strauss, the current issues in telecommunications access are broadband (Internet), interactive voice response systems (phone menus), captioning quality, TRS, VRS, CapTel, 911, and FCC complaint handling. After identifying the issues, Strauss incorporated the regulations currently in tact that govern the role and duties of these functions. Mention of legislation in the works and pending FCC approval was made.

Other issues that are predominant in telecommunications access that topped Strauss’s list were wireless TTY access, pagers, instant messaging, and IP relay. Strauss encouraged audience members to attack issues at the local level if they were not being addressed at the federal level. To close the session, Strauss provided information on how consumers may file informal and formal complaints with the FCC. Strauss’s indepth knowledge of each of the issues provided a comprehensive overview of what is going on today in the field of telecommunication access.

AT&T Relay Presents:
What's New

By Katie Spiegel, Gallaudet University

Sue Decker, General Manager of AT&T Relay Service, outlined their new focus and approach towards marketing their relay service with their “what’s new” campaign. Decker elaborated on their new look, new image, where they are today and how they got there.

Their approach has changed from being a provider that worked directly with the state to working directly with the consumers. From that change of perspective, they have established focus groups of deaf and hard of hearing people from different backgrounds in order to devise the web site’s look. Their objective was to find out what their marketing concepts should be and what type of language and look to use. The findings showed that focus groups wanted functionality, performance, user identification and clarity.

Decker demonstrated how the AT&T relay web page has changed according to their findings. Emphasis has now been placed on simplicity and functionality. These changes have made the AT&T relay website more user-friendly – a bonus for everyone!

Conference Scenes

In the exhibit hall, Phil Moos (NJ) discusses Speech-to-Speech Relay
with Dr. Bob Segalman.

Captioning Access on the Internet

By Jim House, TDI

Linda Idoni, Director of Operations for the Media Access Group at WGBH’s West Coast facilities brought us the latest on captioning with digital media and Internet streaming videos.

Captioning on television is pretty well established, as it is with home videos. However, captioning on the Internet is still in its infancy. Yet, the Media Access Group, with its forward thinking, has already come up with a treasure trove of resources from its own National Center for Accessible Media and other web accessibility organizations. Attendees received copies of a resource book “Making Educational Software and Web Sites Accessible: Design Guidelines including Math and Science Solutions.” Most of these resources can be found online at http://ncam.wgbh.org

Several tips for advocacy were shared with the attendees. First of all, make the content providers aware of your needs. If a media outlet does provide captioning on television, but not on their website videos, let them know.

Let Congress know that Internet websites need to be accessible. Congress is right now looking at several pieces of legislation that could have an impact. The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) is up for reauthorization and advocates are proposing a lot of technology enhancements.

Congress is also working on broadband legislation to ensure that deployment of advanced telecommunications technology is done in a way that helps all Americans. Advocates are working to make sure that the final version of the bill includes the requirement for accessibility and usability by people with disabilities.

Place Your Bet on VRS

By Katie Spiegel, Gallaudet University

Tim Rarus, CSD Vice President and Chief Officer of Interpreting Operations, picked up on the theme of the conference by encouraging the audience to place their bets on VRS because they would hit the jackpot if they did. Mark Tauscher, Business Development Manager for Sprint’s Internet relay product, aided Rarus in the presentation. Their goal was to show the audience how their VRS service, USAVRS, has changed the lives of the deaf and hard of hearing community.

Both of the speakers started off by recounting USAVRS’s history. Rarus described how the alliance between CSD and Sprint resulted in one of the first nationwide video relay services. Tauscher clarified the role of both organizations. He explained how CSD focuses on the operator aspect while Sprint focuses on the marketing aspect. They also explained how to access the service on the web, and why their service should be used.

Rarus emphasized how utilizing their VRS empowers users, and explained how it has opened doors to those who feel uncomfortable communicating through the written form. Removal of communication barriers, increased communication speed and equal facilitation were the other benefits mentioned by Rarus and Tauscher. They then showed how the USAVRS’s web page has been updated with a simpler look to make the process of making a call more convenient. They concluded their presentation with highlights of their future plans, new features and the benefits of using USAVRS.

Conference Scenes

In the exhibit hall, Sorenson demonstrates its VRS technology.

911 Access:
Continuing with TTY & Expanding
with Other Technologies

By Mindi Scroggs, Gallaudet University

The U.S. Department of Justice, Washington State 911/TTY Education Program, and the Positron Public Safety Systems teamed up on Tuesday for an informative workshop on 911 Access for the deaf community. The session focused on the ADA mandate and relay service, and an update of the current status of 911 access. Future developments that the community can expect were also detailed.

Robert Mather, Civil Rights Attorney with the Department of Justice, gave a brief overview of emergency services and the current accessible features including direct access, automatic number and locator identifier functions. Operational functions such as mandatory testing, comprehensive training of 911 call takers, and handling of TTY calls by Public Safety Answering Points (PSAPs) were also hot topics of discussion. Mather stated that perhaps the most effective way to strengthen 911 call centers is to consult with people with disabilities themselves.

Following Mather was a discussion lead by Toni Dunne of the Positron Public Safety Systems. Dunne, who has over thirteen years of experience working with the deaf and hard of hearing community, also works hard with PSAPs to ensure that public safety needs are met. Dunne reported that approximately 200 million 911 calls are placed annually. PSAPS across the United States carry both stand-alone TTY equipment and integrated TTY software. The 911 call centers quickly learned that equipment must be upgraded when legislation was put in place that PSAPS must have TTY capabilities. Dunne proclaimed, in support of Mather’s earlier comment, “911 folks do want to do the best job for every single citizen out there [U.S.].” Unfortunately, 911 is not yet equipped to accept emergency calls using technology such as IM chat, IP relay, email, or two way text.

To conclude this session, Donna Platt of the Washington State 911 TTY Education Program in Seattle explained the status on PSAP call center training. Platt stated that training emphasized communicating effectively no matter the medium (i.e. TTY, VCO, HCO, and phone). Other training such as commonly used TTY abbreviations, Deaf-Blind sensitivity, and ASL/English translation are already in the works. Various training styles are used to enhance positive outcomes. The key for call centers is to provide fast and appropriate service.

Thanks to Our Sponsors

¨ The Jackpot

CSD

¨ The Royal Flush

Verizon

¨ The Four-of-a-Kind

Bayfirst
MCI Gobal Relay
Sprint
Ultratec

¨ The Full-House

Cingular

¨ The Flush

AT&T Relay Services
AT&T Wireless
BellSouth
Hamilton Relay
Gallaudet University
NTID

¨ The Straight

AOL
CTIA
Hewlett Packard
NCTA
National Cable and Telecommunications Association
PhonicEar

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