Live captioning services

Dual output live captioning

January 19, 2014/0 Comments/in Live captioning services /by Tina Lannin

Carla was sitting in London today, chatting online to our realtime captioner, Jeanette, in Kansas. Jeanette was about to dual output live captioning for a religious service to a television station in Arkansas and asked if Tina wanted to watch. You bet!

What is remote dual output live captioning?

Remote captions means the captioner is listening to a speaker in a different location and producing web-accessible captions. We use the internet and VOIP (typically Skype) to do this.

Jeanette called the Arkansas TV station over VOIP so she could hear their audio. Her computer equipment and CAT software connects to a modem or network through the internet and captions are embedded in the television’s signal which captions are then visible to the viewer watching a TV with a decoder built into the TV set. In the UK this is known as subtitles. In the US this is known as closed captions.

Today, Jeanette was using a dual output setup for live captioning. This means the captions can be streamed to different devices at the same time.

Jeanette was sending a signal to the Arkansas station from Kansas to send three lines of text to TV. The captions were also accessible for those watching TV via the internet; PLUS, this same live broadcast could be viewed as a live text stream by anyone in the world with an internet-connected device!

The idea of dual output allows a TV station to offer added value by streaming captions to those in emergency situations. For example, in the event of an emergency and the electricity goes off making live TV impossible, families can turn on their handheld devices and can still see internet TV and get the emergency closed captions. Isn’t that awesome?

Even more awesome, Carla is in London, watching live TV captions from an Arkansas TV station, originating from a captioner in Kansas. Doesn’t that just blow your mind!

Contact us if you would like to find out more about making your services accessible through remote dual output live captioning, email us at bookings@121captions.com

Importance of Quality Communication Access – No Waving Hands or Auto Captioning

December 15, 2013/0 Comments/in Live captioning services /by Tina Lannin

Captioning and sign language: How important is quality access to you?

Originally posted by Svetlana Kouznetsova on Audio Accessibility website

People attended the memorial service for former South African President Nelson Mandela at FNB Stadium in Johannesburg on December 10 which was broadcasted around the world. Sadly, the tribute to the well respected man was overshadowed with an embarrassing incident – the service was “interpreted” in sign language by Thamsanqa Jantjie who was reported to be a fake interpreter.

That incident made the signing community around the world very upset. It also went viral and was published in so many international newspapers. How could the security personnel overlook him? Who did the hiring decisions and why that person was picked to make some gibberish gestures? Also, the event was several hours long, and normally a team of two professional interpreters are hired, especially for such significant events like these.

While that fake interpreting incident was very upsetting and embarrassing, I think it was also some sort of a blessing in disguise because more people around the world would be aware that just someone who can wave hands is not qualified to be an interpreter. There were positive news of Lydia Callis interpreting for Bloomberg during hurricane Sandy emergency announcements, but many do not realize how often it happens that deaf people may get bad interpreters at any event.

I would encourage you to read a great article by Kelly Rogel about unprofessional interpreters. She is not alone – I have had enough share of my experience myself, too, and so do many others like us. I remember having a bad interpreter for one of my job interviews who was asking me to write down what I was signing, for example, and I had to explain to the employer why that interpreter was not qualified even with her 20 years of experience. Also, professional interpreters should not only to be able to interpret and read signs, but also follow the strict code of ethnics. For example, I had a conversation with a respected speaker and communicated with him via two interpreters who happened to accompany me at an event. Both interpreters had good expressive and perceptive skills, but one broke the code of ethnics by taking over my conversation and interrupting me and the speaker – even though she was certified and had more experience than another interpreter who was not certified with only a few years of professional experience and yet followed the code of ethnics.

For these reasons, it’s important that sign language interpreters be screened thoroughly. When attending events, I encourage event organizers to hire reputable agencies and freelance interpreters that I recommend to them. They are not familiar with sign language and cannot tell which interpreters are good or bad – only deaf people or those fluent in sign language can determine that.

Another, also very important, thing that was unfortunately not discussed is the lack of access to information via quality real time captioning. The majority of deaf and hard of hearing people are oral using spoken languages and know a little or no sign language to benefit from interpreters, so signed events are still not “fully” inclusive, especially for those people.Also, sign language is not same for every country – what about deaf attendees from other countries whose sign languages are different from one interpreted into at an event? While the news are captioned on TV in USA and some other countries in the world, they are not captioned in online streaming videos. It is very important especially with the increased use of mobile devices. That was the issue with the past Olympics and Paralympics in London.

I remember visiting Sea World with my family in Florida the summer before I started college. There was a sign language interpreter at a performance with seals and dolphins. While my family and I thought it was cool, I could not understand anything the interpreter was saying as I did not know any ASL. It was before I picked it up in college. If that event was open captioned, it would have been 100% accessible not only to myself, but also to my hearing parents whose English is not first language. Even now I would prefer captioning for most situations as it is more verbatim than sign language interpretation.

121 Captions wrote an article, We asked for access in English not BSL – where are our captions?, stating that real time captioning services were not provided at the National Disabilities Conference on July 4th, 2012, in London organized by Government Knowledge – despite requests from NADP (National Association of Deafened People) for it. It was only interpreted into BSL (British Sign Language) which left out many deaf/hoh people who use spoken languages. The article mentions that 70,000 deaf people in UK use sign language while about 10 million of deaf and hard of hearing people do not use it and usually rely on captioning and lip speakers (wording in UK for oral interpreters).

Captioning access is very important to those who don’t use sign language, and not just to those who are deaf and hard of hearing, but also to foreign language speakers and others who may need it for various reasons. Even those who know sign language also prefer captioning for certain situations as it is more verbatim than sign language interpreting. Yet, that access is not as well known as sign language interpreting access. Many also do not realize that it is also very important to provide quality captioning services and not to rely on auto captioning or speech recognition. The article, Issues of Bad Captions and Subtitles, explains how many deaf Brits are frustrated with poor TV captions provided by BBC because they use voice writers instead of stenographers.

I am often being asked if using speech recognition would be enough which is not. Like with bad sign language interpreters, I also have had bad captioners sometimes. Many even think that it’s enough to just have someone to volunteer to type for me on a QWERTY keyboard which is not as fast as typing on a steno machine. Although CART writers are trained as court reporters, court reporters are not even qualified to provide real time captioning as it is different from providing court reporting. Professional CART writers type at least 225 wpm with at least 98% accuracy – not something that an average person can do.

While it is great that more people are recognizing the need for sign language interpreting access at public events, I hope they also realize that it is not the one and the only communication access used by deaf and hard of hearing people. Just like with qualified foreign language translators and interpreters, it is also important that aural information at events is provided via quality captioning and sign language interpreting.

Deaf and hard of hearing people are more like foreign language speakers than individuals who have some or no hearing. For many years it was considered that successful communication can happen only via listening and speaking which is not necessarily true.Communication can happen in any form – spoken, signed, cued, written, amplification, or a combination of a few of those forms. As ALDA (Association of Late Deafened Adults) says: “Whatever works.”

However, unlike foreign language speakers who choose to move to another country and can learn a new language, people do not choose to become deaf and cannot become hearing even with hearing devices. They would not have felt disabled if information was accessible to them in other ways than just via listening. Therefore, it is important that they get quality access to aural information via visual means.

I wrote an article, ASL or CART or ALD?, explaining why certain deaf/hoh people prefer certain type of access and why even one type of communication access may not fit for all events.

In the spirit of holidays, I would like to wrap up the article by sharing a heartwarming video of a 5-year-old hearing kindergartener signing the holiday concert for her deaf parents. It is also captioned in English.

[youtube=http://youtu.be/zQeygYqOn8g]

Reprinted with permission of Svetlana Kouznetsova

Captioning – on a bus!

December 1, 2013/0 Comments/in Live captioning services /by Tina Lannin

Have you ever seen captioning on a bus?

Our captioner Michelle tells us about a day in her life, captioning for everyone around her ….

We all know that every day in the working life of a captioner is different, and can be a challenge, and then there are days like Tuesday 26th November!

It began like any other day, with a booking for a regular client at a conference they were holding to discuss accessible tourism in Ireland, interesting! But then I was told we wouldn’t be needed till after lunch as the morning was being spent on an ‘accessible bus tour’ to some of the accessible sights of Dublin…hold on a minute though, if I’m there for access for the deaf/hard of hearing tourists, and I’m not needed, then how accessible is this tour going to be for them? So I asked how they’d feel if we tried to make the tour bus accessible? Without hesitation, we got a resounding yes – if you can do it, let’s go!

On the morning of the job I arrived at their office with laptops, screens, projectors, extension cables etc, I could see the perplexed expressions as they tried to work out how best to explain to me that they wouldn’t be able to plug in my extension lead on the bus, or indeed my projector! But once they were confident that that wasn’t my intention, and that I did really have some clue about what we were about to embark on, everyone relaxed 🙂

And I have to say, it was by far the most fun job I’ve done. Three double-decker Dublin buses pulled up outside the office, everyone was given a name tag and allocated a bus. The idea was that as the buses travelled between destinations the facilitator would lead the discussion and debate onboard and then in the afternoon all three busloads would feed back their information to the group at large.

As our bus was now equipped with live captioning (CART – Communication Access Realtime Translation), the occupants of the other buses could see what we were discussing, or joking about! The tour very quickly descended into a school tour mentality (we were even given some snacks) with lots of good natured joking, and one of our blind facilitators even scolded me for shielding my screen from him which meant he couldn’t copy my answers to the quiz 🙂

It soon became apparent that our driver was quite new to the concept of braking in a timely fashion and had probably never passed a pothole he didn’t enter! This being the case, I was finding it increasingly difficult to stay upright myself, and my machine, so with that in mind, the guys and gals on our bus decided to take bets on when the next bump in the road, traffic light etc would cause me and/or my machine to slip! It really lightened the mood, everyone had a laugh and it brought home to people in a very real and tangible way, that accessibility for everyone is not just a soapbox topic – but it became something that everyone on our bus played an active part in (even if some of them were “accidentally” bumping into me to get an untranslated word, and a laugh). But it showed that access matters, and that it should matter to us all!

What I didn’t know before that morning was that not only were we doing a tour on the bus, but we also had two stops; one at a brand new and very accessible hotel and one at a greyhound race track. Initially it was suggested that I would stay on the bus and not transcribe the tours, but where’s the fun in that? So, once we got off the bus, the bets turned to how many different positions they could get me to write in; standing; sitting; balancing on a bed; squatting; machine on a table, machine held by another tour member in the lift! – it was a truly interactive tour 🙂

And to finish the day off we went back to Guinness Storehouse for our panel discussion and debate about accessible tourism in Ireland (and free pints of Guinness of course).

All in all a brilliant day. An important topic discussed, debated, delivered and demonstrated in our different locations – the best job ever 🙂

A Play in the Life of a Theatre Captioner

October 3, 2013/0 Comments/in Live captioning services /by Tina Lannin

A captioner in the theatre?

If you‘re one of the 10 million deaf, deafened or hard of hearing people in the UK who uses television subtitles, you may already know there’s now something similar in theatres. It’s called ‘captioning’ and it means you can enjoy a wide range of plays, musicals, comedies and family shows along with your hearing friends and family.

STAGETEXT, the charity which introduced theatre captioning to the UK back in 2000, was established by three deaf people who were passionate about theatre but couldn’t follow it through sign language or sound enhancement and who wanted to access plays and musicals via English text. Last year STAGETEXT captioned over 264 shows in more than 80 venues; in addition, over 50 theatres now have access to their own captioning equipment and captioners and provide the service in-house; this brings the total number of captioned shows to well over 650 a year.

So how does captioning work and what does a captioner do?

It takes skill, experience, training and a great deal of hard work to prepare for a captioned performance and, to settle any misconceptions, there isn’t someone madly typing away during the show! What few people realise is that a trained captioner will have already prepared the captions in advance, checked the production several times at the theatre, marking their ‘formatted’ script for any inaccuracies that need to be followed up, then rehearsed at home with a DVD recording of the show. Captioners follow the captioning conventions taught on their training course, and the preparation involves many hours of work – often between 60 to 80 hours – working with an electronic version of the script. Excellent attention to detail is required.

We start by removing any stage directions, correcting spelling and punctuation errors (there are usually lots of those), then we add sound effects and descriptions of music, including the words of songs that have been specially written for the production or which are played during the show. Character names are also included to help the audience follow the action around the stage.

The captions include the full text of the production. What we’re aiming to do is give deaf, deafened and hard of hearing people as near as possible the same experience as the hearing audience, so we try to mirror the actors’ performance, indicating any pauses, stress, irony and accents.

Scripts develop and change frequently so we have to work closely with stage management to keep on top of any cuts and additions to the script to ensure the captions are as accurate as possible on the night.

STAGETEXT Captioner at Bristol Old Vic. Photo: Mike Lusmore

Captioner software

The captioning software developed by STAGETEXT allows us to include italics, foreign accents – in several languages – and musical notes, and we can alter the brightness of the captions and the speed at which they reach the captioning screens.

Symbols indicate sound effects: a crotchet for music, with the name of the piece or an indication of style and mood, often discussed in advance with the stage manager or sound designer. There is also a ‘mimic box’ in the software (like a small caption unit) so we can rehearse our timings without being hooked up to a caption unit.

Occasionally, a show may include some ad libs – usually pantomimes. The software allows captioners to type short pieces of text live, if there is sufficient time. In a recent production, one actor had spoken to the captioner before the show and warned her that he might include her in the performance and test her skills by shouting out something. On that occasion, it was the word ‘antidisestablishmentarianism’ which she typed as fast as she could, resulting in a huge round of applause from the audience. However, it’s situations like these that captioners would prefer to avoid at all costs, because the text appears late and spelling mistakes can occur. It’s also very stressful typing live in front of an audience of over 2,000 people!

Actors’ warm up before captioned play, Donmar Warehouse. Photo: Matt Humphrey

Preparation

Captioners often see the show first in the audience, if time allows, to get a feel for the production. We need an up-to-date DVD of the production, ideally shot after press night, so that we can rehearse at home and check the actors’ delivery and timing, and we carry out a number of ‘script checks’ at theatre. This is when we sit in a technical box where we can hear and see the action on stage via ‘show relay’ or ‘cans’ (headphones), or in one of the audience boxes in the auditorium.

When the script checks have been completed, we’re ready to roll. On the day of the captioned performance we get to the theatre well before the show, usually when the caption units are being rigged, then we test the equipment to make sure everything is working properly. We cue the captions from a laptop which is linked to the caption unit (or units) via a small converter box. At this point, we also check with the production and front of house teams whether there will be any special announcements before or after the show, any actor changes (our biggest nightmare) or any last-minute changes to the script. Sometimes we demonstrate the scrolling captions to the actors during their warm-up.

As the audience arrives, a welcome message is displayed on the caption unit and one explaining the purpose of the captions. This is so that anyone using the captions can make sure they can see them clearly from their seat, and to explain to the hearing audience who they are for.

When the show starts we send each line to the caption unit, taking care to skip any missed ones so they don’t appear. (Yes, this can happen!) The whole process demands a combination of skills, not least the ability to maintain concentration for a long period of time.

The preparation is hard work, but knowing that you’re working towards a live performance and giving access to deaf, deafened and hard of hearing audience members who would otherwise be unable to enjoy the show makes everything worthwhile.

For more information on the work of a captioner, have a look at this film on the STAGETEXT Youtube channel.

[youtube=www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZIfNzSt5rSw]

STAGETEXT has also produced a new film, Getting More Theatre For Your Bucks, featuring deaf, deafened and hard of hearing people talking about their experiences of captioned theatre:

[youtube=www.youtu.be/nMzm1yvtwKU]

A list of forthcoming captioned performances can be found at Stagetext and there’s a free mailing list you can join by contacting enquiries@stagetext.org

Deafened actor Tim Barlow at captioned performance, Bristol Old Vic. Photo: Mike Lusmore

Seating for caption users

Responsibility for the seating for deaf, deafened and hard of hearing audiences varies depending on whether STAGETEXT is providing the captioning or whether the venue has its own in-house service. (This is indicated in the What’s On listings on our website.) Whenever a new theatre decides to offer its first captioned show, STAGETEXT will carry out a site visit to determine the best place for the caption unit (or units) so that caption users can watch the show in comfort, ideally with minimal or no head movement. Each theatre and each production are different so it’s important that people use the booking details on the STAGETEXT website rather than going online or through a ticket agency, and they should make sure they ask for seats suitable for viewing the captions.

If I’m in the wrong seat, what should I do?

As you enter the auditorium there will be a welcome message on the caption unit. If STAGETEXT is captioning the show, it may say something like: ‘This performance of The Show That Never Was will be captioned by STAGETEXT’. You should be able to see the captions from your seat. If you can’t, then speak to one of the theatre ushers or Front of House Manager who should be able to help you. Obviously if it’s a very popular show, it may be more difficult to move, but the Front of House team will do all they can to help.

DDA compliance – where are the captions?

July 5, 2013/0 Comments/in Live captioning services /by Tina Lannin

Is DDA compliance difficult to achieve? No!

The National Disabilities Conference on 4 July in London was organised by Government Knowledge. This is an important event at this moment in time as benefits are being cut, wages are frozen, jobs are cut, and people with disabilities are increasingly marginalised. Yet, DDA compliance is still expected, as the Disability Discrimination Act has been law since 1995.

98% of deaf people could benefit from captioning and DDA compliance

In the UK, less than 70,000 deaf people use sign language however there are approximately 10 million deaf and hard of hearing people who do NOT use sign language – they might lipread and/or use their residual hearing, and therefore rely on captioning and lip speakers. We would expect, therefore, that a national conference of this nature about access, inclusion and disability would be accessible to its OWN customers. We would also expect such an event to be accessible without having to fight for such access – which is our right, not a privilege, under the 2010 Equality Act. We expect and have a right to DDA compliance.

NADP (National Association of Deafened People) asked Lidia Best to attend on their behalf. They requested communication support (captioning) as Lidia is deaf, she does not use sign language. Captioning support provision at the event was confirmed by the organisers. Delegates were asked to pay almost £300 each to attend and NADP paid a reduced fee.

After NADP’s request for captioning support, 121 Captions were contacted by Government Knowledge for information on providing captioning for this conference. They did not book any captioning services.

Lidia turned up to the National Disabilities conference to find only sign language interpreters were available, and there was no captioning support. There was an induction loop but it did not work. A loop can work for some deaf people, but not all deaf people have enough residual hearing to be able to use one. A lip speaker can work for those deaf people who can lipread, but not all deaf people can read lips. Therefore captioning is a necessary service.

Mrs Lidia Best, NADP Trustee

What is shocking is that such access had been requested by NADP and confirmed by the organisers Government Knowledge. This conference is expensive to attend, but for a disabled person to attend and to find it inaccessible, when it had been confirmed that it would be, is unacceptable.

The conference organisers should be making this kind of event affordable and accessible for disabled people on benefits who would be best placed to explain the relevant issues. Government Knowledge say they have provided access for all delegates and have followed all requests – which we know not to be true. Government Knowledge checked their system and they had no special requests for communication support. They asked Lidia if she had organised the captioners herself. They even blamed Lidia for not telling them.

We have asked the deaf community if any sign language users attended this conference. There has been a deafening silence….

This is a common occurrence for deaf and hard of hearing people who do not sign, to request captioning support at events and find it is not provided, or to turn up and find there are only sign language interpreters. We have had enough. This has got to STOP.

Deafness can happen to anyone. It could happen tomorrow to your friend, your parent, or even YOU.

There are 1 in 6 people in the UK with a hearing loss who don’t sign. Could you be next?

Support ALL deaf people on Facebook: Hearing Loss Worldwide

…. and to add a little more irony, check THIS out – another shining example of our government’s inclusive attitude towards the disadvantaged, where Government Knowledge hosted a conference about financial inclusion… a shame the tickets are £320!

You can join the Deaf People Against Welfare Cuts campaign on Facebook – look out for connected talks and events happening across London.

If you’d like to find out how to make your event more accessible to the majority of deaf and hard of hearing people, contact us for a chat with our access auditors about successful DDA compliance for your organisation.

CART services for the Emergency Services

June 2, 2013/0 Comments/in Live captioning services /by Tina Lannin

Demonstration of CART services

We are being kept busy with conferences, exhibitions, and trade shows. This week – on the same day! – our team exhibited at the Deaf Unity 2013 Deaf Learner’s conference and at the first Deaf Awareness Day in Hertfordshire. In Hertfordshire, one of our captioners, Orla, captioned the day’s presentations. She explained how she writes what she hears in shorthand into her steno machine, then her laptop converts this into English. Orla’s captions were streamed to a large screen for everyone to read. She also gave a demonstration of remote captioning CART services on her iPad – the latest in CART technology. CART is Communication Access Realtime Translation, a verbatim capture of what is said in real time.

Steno machine

Contact us to find out how you can have realtime captions streamed to you anytime, anywhere. Our captioners reporters are NRCPD and NCRA registered, providing high quality captions with no droppage of service. We offer the highest quality remote CART services in the UK.

A delegate’s thoughts

On Tuesday 28th May I went to a Deaf Awareness day organised by Hertfordshire County Council. The police and the fire brigade both gave presentations, as did several senior members of the council’s Social Services department. I am a Police Community Volunteer with Hertfordshire Police, so I was sitting at a table with 5 police officers. I was wearing a black suit to try and blend in with their uniforms and it was surprising the number of people who took it for granted I’d be a police officer rather than a deaf volunteer! It was a very wet day but it was a well attended day with deaf people, and those working with them, present.

There were lots of displays for all sorts of deaf charities. I was delighted to see a table with leaflets about CART services and had a chat with the smartly dressed lady running it, Orla from 121 Captions. Orla captioned the presentations and gave a very professional and competent service with the minimum of errors. Many people at the event were very interested in what she was doing because they hadn’t seen CART services before. I would certainly seek out 121 Captions again if looking for captioning services.

Delegate, Deaf Awareness Day, Hertfordshire

Captioning and subtitling Deaf Learners 2013 Conference

May 28, 2013/in Live captioning services /by Tina Lannin

We were a sponsor of Deaf Unity’s Deaf Learners 2013 Conference today. It was great to meet students and those interested in facilitating access to education for deaf learners with captioning and subtitling services.

We caught up with Rachel from Deaf Umbrella .. a tough feat, since both our schedules are so full and we’ve been trying to meet up for ages! We got to talking about the amazing Hearing Dogs and she roared with laughter when she heard the story of Smudge helping himself to the chocolate display while Jeanette was super busy lipreading the shop assistant 🙂

One of the sponsors, SignVideo, had their stall next to us – did you know they have classy new videophones and that you can use a laptop, mobile phone or tablet to access their sign video relay interpreting services? Technology is really opening up new opportunities for learning and work to sign language users.

Sign video relay interpreting

Our partner Positive Signs brought their expertise in delivering apprenticeship opportunities for deaf people in London. There was certainly a lot of interest! We hope to see more deaf learners take advantage of the fabulous opportunities offered through Positive Signs. The apprenticeships are offered with 121 Captions’ remote captioning and subtitling services. Think about what it feels like to be the only deaf person in the room at a prestigious city firm, and you have an interpreter next to you. Now think how it would feel to have instead, no interpreter next to you, but an iPad with an almost instant word-for-word translation of what is being said. It feels so liberating!

Deaf Apprenticeships

We were demonstrating our remote captioning and subtitling technology and today we decided to have red text on a white background – it was much easier on the eye than the traditional black or yellow text. You can change the colours of the captions to suit your viewer, as well as the background. If you would like to book a live demonstration, contact us.

Remote captioning and subtitling services suit everyone

As usually happens at such events, the service providers rallied together and we worked as a team to offer the delegates a successful event. James from SignVideo was our honorary IT expert 😉 and helped us to figure out the venue’s ethernet. We did not have full communication support available for hard of hearing and deafened people, so the team of sponsors thought on their feet, pulled together, and instantly provided us with a volunteer lip speaker – so a huge thank you, you were marvellous *claps wildly*. A huge thank you is also due to Nadine who was our BSL interpreter – she stepped in and interpreted into Sign Supported English. Nadine is amazing, she can listen to Arabic and translate into British Sign Language – we can’t wait to test her skills. We loved how the communication support providers pulled together to support one another today. Deaf unity at its best!

The 121 Captions captioning and subtitling team

On today’s agenda were …

David Chater, Department of Education spoke about breaking educational barriers and providing deaf people with access to information, resources and support that leads to sustainable achievements.

Liz Sayce OBE, Chief Executive Disability Rights UK talked about breaking work barriers and providing deaf people with employment support to find and keep jobs. She is working towards a world where everyone can get into gainful employment.

Asif Iqbal MBE spoke about his leadership journey and how he loves getting involved with community projects, supporting and empowering deaf people. I had a quick chat with him over lunch about Harrow Asian Deaf club of which he is President – it’s great to see some deaf awareness-raising in west London.

Rob Wilks, Deaf Lawyer and head of RAD Law centre spoke about equality for deaf learners and why the law is failing them. It has taken me years to get to meet him – finally! – as we used to write on each others blogs but I was in London and he was far far away in misty Wales!

There were four workshops facilitated by experts;

Jane Cordell, former deaf diplomat in the Foreign Office – As always, Jane spoke eloquently and emotionally about deaf equality in employment and education, and how to overcome barriers with confidence. *Just ignore all those negative thoughts!* – good advice, Jane! We were privileged to see for ourselves how she got so far in the Foreign Office and broke the glass ceiling for deaf people (we’re so proud of you!).

Penny Beschizza, Teacher of the Deaf and Dr Marian Grimes, Head of Centre for Deaf Education, City Lit talked about the need for good communication support for deaf learners.

Gary Morgan, professor of Linguistics at University College London told us about the linguistic needs of deaf learners in education – a fascinating insight into statistics and his personal stories.

John Hay, Deaf historian talked about deaf history & education.

Deaf Unity hopes to inspire change and empower the next generation of deaf learners through role models, networking and technology. We had some great role models on the day from deaf people who were able to give the benefit of their experience to others in the spirit of sharing. Deaf people working together can empower each other now, and in the future.

To find out more about our captioning and subtitling services, led by an ace deaf team, contact us.