Oh %@*#, here we go again

Damn it, I’m mad again. This seems to happen whenever I try to venture into the hearing world, where the inhabitants are ready to squash us like the bugs they think we are.

Here’s the latest. My dentist referred me to an orthodontist (Steven M. Kazley DDS, 1688 Monroe Ave., Rochester, NY 14618, 585-244-3500) for a consultation. When I told the office I would need an interpreter, they replied with those dreaded and illegal words: “Feel free to bring your own interpreter.”

Hey, feel free to be sued for violating the Americans with Disabilities Act, pal.

I find it so dismaying and discouraging and disgusting that people are still trying to pull this crap 17 years after the ADA went into effect.

I find it very hard to believe that a busy orthodontics office that operates in two upscale suburbs of Rochester, the home to so many deaf people, could be so ignorant about their responsibilities under Federal law.

You have to wonder how many other deaf people they’ve pulled this stunt on, perhaps meek deafies who don’t know their rights and slink away with their tails between their legs.

Perhaps they are not ignorant of the ADA at all, but have made a conscious strategic decision to reject all such requests and only grudgingly give in to those few patients who complain

But I lost all interest in having this office deal with my orthodontic needs. I feel that if they are this stupid about one aspect of their business, you have to wonder what else they don’t know, like maybe how to straighten teeth.

I am apprehensive about orthodontia to start with, and here they are choosing to start our relationship with an illegal and unethical approach. I don’t want to fight them over an interpreter when they are going to end up rooting around in my mouth and could forget to give me novacaine or whatnot.

But here’s the funny thing. I am no stranger to these people. I have been taking my son there for his braces for more than a year. And just a few weeks ago, I brought my daughter in for a consultation. I expected to wait in the waiting room and get a written report at the end, but instead I was made to go in with them and sit there for 45 minutes and understand nothing except when my daughter would sign a snippet of the conversation.

At the end, the dentist’s assistant said to me, “Did you get that?” and I said, “Not a word,” at which point she and the dentist both laughed. Ah yes, how funny, the patient’s deaf father who is going to be paying all the bills didn’t understand a word about the treatment plan. Hilarious. Also humiliating and dispiriting.

So when it came time to make an appointment for my own consultation, I was damned if I was going to sit there for an hour and not understand anything.

I was prepared to spend thousands of dollars on treatment with this dentist but first they would need to do a sales pitch and explain things to me. How on earth do they expect to do that if I can’t understand a word they are saying? They need the interpreter more than I do if they want to make the sale.

There really needs to be a better way to call people out when they violate the ADA. As of now I have to send a letter to the U.S. Department of Justice and it could be six months before they send me a form letter saying they received my complaint. Or I have to come up with the money for a private attorney.

There should be ADA police whom we can call for immediate assistance any time a dentist’s office or other entity tries to weasel out of their obligations and trample on the rights of people with disabilities.

Bring my own interpreter? Yeah, right. You people can go and have a nice day.

See also:

Bring my own interpreter??!!, from November 2006, when the Town of Brighton Justice Court tried to play the same game with me.

Legal Rights: Doctors (from the National Association of the Deaf)

More on the Amazing Morons

The New York Mets gained the moniker “amazing” after they went from a string of last-place finishes to a 1969 World Series Championship, but the only thing amazing about the current-day Mets is their stubborn refusal to closed-caption their broadcasts on SportsNet New York (SNY).

Closed-captioning has been commonplace since the early 1980s, but the Mets continue to stick out like a sore thumb while they flash a different finger at their deaf and hard-of-hearing fans.

As noted in my previous post, the Mets could caption an entire game for what they pay Johan Santana to throw 1/4 of one pitch, but they cling to an FCC exemption that gives new TV stations four years to begin captioning. The Mets launched SNY in 2006, so it could be another two years before we see captioned Mets games.

I was a Mets fan for 40 years and went to Florida last month to see them in spring training, but my fandom ended a couple of weeks later when I turned the TV on to catch the season opener and saw that once again there were no captions.

I had been quite outspoken about the issue during the off season (see Karma is Cause of Mets Collapse) but SNY had never responded to my concerns.

Saturday of opening week, I spent several hours sending letters to people who I thought could help. Here’s who I contacted:

The Hon. Charles E. Schumer, US Senator
The Hon. Hillary Rodham Clinton, US Senator
New York Governor David A. Paterson
New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg
Mr. Charles Prince, Chairman and CEO, Citi Group
Mr. Fred Wilpon, Chairman & CEO, New York Mets
Mr. Donald Trump, The Trump Organization
Mr. Andrew M. Cuomo, NYS Attorney General
Ms. Helen M. Marshall, Queens Borough President
Mr. Willie Randolph, Manager, New York Mets
Mr. Michael Lupica, The Daily News
Mr. Bart Hubbuch, The New York Post
Mr. Mike Vaccaro, The New York Post
Mr. David Hinckley, The Daily News
Ms. Verena Dobnik, Associated Press
Mr. Charles Odum, The Associated Press
Mr. Jeremy Cothran, The Star-Ledger
Mr. David Lennon, Newsday
Mr. Ben Shpigel, The New York Times
Mr. Gary Cohen, SportsNet New York
Mr. Ron Darling, SportsNet New York
Mr. Keith Hernandez, SportsNet New York
Mr. Scott Pitoniak, Democrat and Chronicle
Mr. Terence Rafferty, President, Time Warner Rochester
Mr. David Wright, New York Mets
Mr. Johan Santana, New York Mets
Mr. Carlos Beltran, New York Mets
Mr. Jon D. Litner, President, SportsNet New York

It has been three weeks since I mailed the letters. Here is a list of those who have responded to my concerns:

(nobody)

If you ever want to know why deaf people can be prone to depression and anger and sometimes feel bitter and hateful toward the hearing world, this incident sheds light on where those kinds of feelings can originate.

I’ve checked SNY a few times this month, just long enough to see that the games are still not captioned, and I looked at the standings and saw that the Mets are off to a lousy start. This brings me great pleasure.

I just wonder how long it will take Flushing’s Amazing Morons to realize that nothing good will ever come to them as long as they insist on dissing the deaf.

Mets Continue to Diss the Deaf

Tradition Field, Mets Spring Training,
Port St. Lucie, Fla., March 15, 2008.
Photo by Tom Willard.

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The New York Mets have played only two games this season but have already lost one of their ace pitchers to what could be a serious injury. To which I say: Serves you right, you rat bastards!!

I was a Mets fan for 40 years, starting in 1968 when I saw a game at Shea Stadium with my Cub Scout troop, but as of now I truly hate Mr. Met and all the rest of them. I root for the team to lose every game, I root for every player to suffer a career-ending injury, and I root for Citi Field to burn down before it opens next year.

How did I go from being a dyed-in-the-wool Mets fan to hating the ground they walk on? Simple. The rat bastards won’t caption their games.

Mets games are broadcast on SportsNet New York, a station owned partly by the Mets. Normally SNY would be required to closed-caption the games under Federal Communication Commission rules. But SNY, which launched in March 2005, is intent on squeezing every last cent out of an FCC loophole that gives new stations four years to comply with captioning rules.

This four-year loophole was designed to give small stations time to get their act together. It was not meant to be exploited by megabucks corporations like the Mets.

I contacted The Caption Center in Boston to find out how much it would cost to caption the Mets games. Less than $500 an hour. With most games under three hours, you’re looking at $1,500 to caption a game.

I then dug up some stats on Johan Santana, the star pitcher acquired in a winter trade. I learned he throws around 3,400 pitches per season and will be paid $20 million this year. Thus, every time he throws one pitch, the Mets pay him about $6,000.

You can see where I’m going. For what the Mets pay Santana to throw ONE-FOURTH OF ONE PITCH, they could caption the ENTIRE GAME and benefit tens of thousands of people.

It truly boggles my mind that they won’t do just that. Don’t bother asking them about it. I’ve called, I’ve emailed, I’ve left messages, and they don’t even have the decency to reply. To me, that only makes things worse. All SNY offers is an old note on their FAQ page admonishing us to be patient.

I had my fingers crossed all winter, but on Monday I turned on the season opener and was let down yet again. Like a dinosaur-era relic, the Mets continue to lumber along without captions, sticking out like a sore thumb on TV and in the Major Leagues and certainly not presenting a good image for a city that thinks it’s all that.

The greed and selfishness and stupidity that allow this situation to fester year after year is truly astonishing and shameful. The problem could be solved so easily and inexpensively, yet the Mets are intent on saving an amazingly small amount of money at the expense of tens of thousands of hearing-impaired fans who depend on captioning to enjoy TV.

But what do you expect from rat bastards?

+++++

See also: Karma is Cause of Mets Collapse

‘We forgot about the deaf!’

My mind often gets baffled, and today’s example comes courtesy of the Arts and Cultural Council here in Rochester.

Next Wednesday, they are hosting an event called “Perspectives on Accessibility.”

Billed as a wine-and-cheese “evening of networking,” the event features a panel discussion “exploring multiple perspectives on accessibility and inclusion in the arts and culture community.”

Topics to be discussed include:
– Increasing accessibility through design and renovation projects;
– Efforts local arts and cultural organizations are making to create accessibility at events and performances;
– Marketing to diverse audiences; and
– An exploration of the challenges performers with disabilities face in local venues.

Panelists include:
– Lisa Helen Hoffman, owner of LHH Consulting specializing in audio described theatre for the blind, who has “a keen understanding of the satisfaction of broader access and independence for people who are blind or visually impaired”; and
– Chris Henning, Assistant Technical Director of Nazareth College Arts Center, who “is deeply familiar with all aspects of the renovation, including accessibility issues.”

Apparently that’s it, just those two people.

“Hello? Arts and Cultural Council? Hi, it’s the deaf calling. What about us?”

But I’m not surprised. Twenty years ago this spring, when we opened the Deaf Artists of America Gallery in downtown Rochester, it launched a heyday of accessibility for deaf people in the arts. But DAA expired in 1995, and these days the deaf community mixes with the arts & cultural community as well as oil mixes with water.

It’s obvious that if we don’t stay vigilant and make sure accessibility happens, it won’t happen. The hearing world will not do it on their own. And if we feel left out and start to complain, they will think we are shrill and strident and demanding, and an expensive group to serve, as well!

I just wish that all large arts events would provide interpreters as a matter of course, even if no deaf people end up attending. You may think it’s a waste of money, but you will be giving deaf people something you take for granted; the ability to get up and go do something at the last minute.

As it is now, we must ask for interpreters well in advance, and if something better comes along, we must say no, sorry, we’ve already made arrangements for an interpreter, we have no choice but to go.

In regard to next week’s event, it seems the idea of “accessibility” is limited to blind people and wheelchair users, those who can still carry on a conversation and balance their refreshments without the need to bring in outside parties (interpreters) at $50 an hour.

An announcement of this event at http://www.artsrochester.org/news/pr012808FebNetworkingEvent.htm gives no indication that an interpreter will be provided. There is nothing there that makes me feel welcome as a deaf person at this event.

How ironic … not only are we denied access to local arts and cultural events, we are denied access to this “accessibility” event!

I feel as if deaf people are forever destined to sit at the children’s table and beg for crumbs from the grownup’s (hearing) table. Access is granted grudgingly, and deaf people instinctively brace themselves any time they summon up the nerve to broach the subject. “Yes” is always a nice surprise.

I wrote to Christy Post at the Arts & Cultural Council to express my opinion on this matter and to ask for more information on the council’s Cultural Diversity Advisory Committee, which provided “considerable input and participation” in planning this event. I want to know how many deaf people are on the committee and what this group is doing for the deaf and hard-of-hearing population.

So far I haven’t heard back from her, but I’ll give it some time. I think they’re running around their office right now going, “The deaf! The deaf! We forgot about the deaf!”

The deaf dudes wouldn’t stop talking!

I asked the Housing Council if they could provide an interpreter for their landlord workshop, and when they said yes, I put out the word on DeafROC.com to encourage other deaf people to sign up.

I hate being the only deaf person in that situation. I feel guilty about someone spending all that money just for me, and I don’t like having an interpreter staring at me relentlessly for hours on end.

It worked; four other deaf guys signed up. But I ended up having mixed feelings. Why? Because throughout the two-night, six-hour course, these deaf dudes wouldn’t stop talking.

There were two tables with about 10 hearing people who were quiet and respectful when the teachers were talking, and then there was the table with four deaf guys who all thought that what they had to say to each other was more important than what the teacher was trying to say.

I guess what happens is that the teacher says something that makes one of the deaf guys think of something, and unlike their hearing classmates, who also think of things but for the most part keep their thoughts to themselves, the deafies must instantly share their thoughts with others.

So they will launch into their own conversation, and when they finally stop, one of them will ask the teacher a question, and it will probably be something that was covered while they were blabbering.

Even worse, on the first night, one of the two interpreters took an active role in these conversations. She was sitting right next to the working interpreter, so I had two people in front of me signing different things.

You would think an interpreter would know better, that she would remind the deafies to pay attention instead of being a willing participant.

The flurry of movement in the corner of my eye was a constant distraction, but imagine how the teacher must have felt with all this signing going on and all these people obviously not paying attention.

It is one thing when hearing people whisper asides to one another in class, but don’t these deafies realize how obvious and annoying and rude and disrespectful and embarrassing it is when they yak-yak-yak throughout a class that people are paying good money to take and the sponsor is paying good money to interpret?

Perhaps this kind of behavior is accepted and even expected in the deaf classroom, but when we venture out into the hearing world, a certain amount of decorum is required, don’t you think?

What a weird press release

I’ve been reading press releases for over 20 years, and today I came across one that has to rank in the top 10 for weirdness.

A company called RBC Life Sciences, Inc. sent out a release to say that it “announced today that it will now be able to handle calls received from our deaf and hard-of-hearing customers through Sorenson Video Relay Services (VRS).”

I read the rest of the release, which can be seen HERE, and I just can’t figure out what’s the big deal. As best I can tell, they’ve sent out a press release simply to say that they accept relay calls.

Since it is illegal to NOT accept relay calls, I have to wonder what this company has been doing up until now. Hanging up on every deaf person who calls?

And I have to wonder why Sorenson VRS is singled out. If a deaf person calls through a different VRS provider, will the company hang up?

While it may take special equipment to MAKE a relay call, to be on the receiving end simply means to answer the phone when it rings and talk with the interpreter or relay operator instead of directly with the customer.

“We are incredibly proud to now offer this free service to our deaf and hard-of-hearing customers,” said John Price, president of RBC Life Services. “We’ve finally figured out how to answer the phone!”

He didn’t say that second sentence, I made it up, but that’s how it comes across.

Relay services have been around in various shapes and forms for decades, long before Sorenson or VRS came along, and any decent business should have been accepting relay calls right from the start.

So why does RBC Life Services need to send out a news release to say that it accepts VRS calls? It’s like announcing that you pay your taxes.

Can anyone help me figure this out?

I’m not trying to destroy ASL

This is for Susan, who left a comment on my post, Oh, leave AGBell alone! My response got to be too long to be a response, so I decided to make it a new post instead.

+++++

Hi Susan …

Thank you for taking the time to write. Once again, I am not supporting AGBell’s positions, I am supporting their right to have and promote their positions, just as we can do the same.

I myself support ASL so I didn’t like it when you said, “Tom, you should not destroy ASL.” That was not the point of this post at all. And to understand my position on ASL, you might want to read one of my earlier posts, Free sign language classes a MUST!

I am sorry to hear of your upbringing. Unfortunately I have heard this same story from other people over the years. But I like to think the world is changing for the better and with IEPs and No Child Left Behind and more general enlightenment, there is a better focus on the individual students and what is the best approach for each one.

ASL is also more accepted nowadays and we don’t hear about kids being swatted for signing. If we did, it would probably be in regard to a teacher being arrested.

It is also much more normal nowadays to have interpreters in mainstream schools and for kids to have a variety of options.

Interpreters would have helped me when I was in high school and losing my hearing, but such a thing was unheard of in the early 1970s. I sat up front and tried to lip read and borrowed people’s notes and read like crazy, and somehow I made it out with good grades.

I didn’t have much of a social life, though, being the only deaf kid in a school of over 2,000. But I made a life for myself on the school newspaper, writing and taking pictures and breaking through the communication barriers with my cohorts. They liked that I could take good pictures of them and write nice things in the paper. You can see how it shaped who I am today.

I understand what you mean about low self esteem, though, because it kind of crushed the spirit to be the odd man out during one’s formative years. Fortunately, five years after high school, I decided to attend NTID and I learned sign language and began to feel a part of the deaf community.

Every deaf person has their own experiences of pain and hurt and sadness from interactions with the hearing, non-signing members of their family.

I tend not to get together with my family, the one I grew up with. They are hearing and don’t sign, except for one brother who knows fingerspelling. When I was visiting Mom in the hospital last February, I learned by finding photos at her house that the family had held a reunion the previous summer and did not tell or invite me. I thought it was a classic example of what deafness can do to a family.

It is usually us who must conform to their way of communicating. There is seldom an effort to meet halfway (learning the manual alphabet and some basic signs) or coming fully over to ASL (i.e. becoming fluent). We have to do it their way, speech and lipreading. There’s paper and ink involved, too.

Last year I had a lot of interaction with my hearing family members due to my mom’s illness and death. After years of dealing with our communication issues by avoiding one another, we were forced together by circumstances and HAD to communicate.

I think they want to believe I’m still the same guy who used to be able to lipread them when I was hard of hearing. It just doesn’t work that way anymore, though. At one point, my older brother was still trying, telling me something long and complicated. As I watched him, I could hear sounds via my hearing aid and realized he sounded exactly live a caveman.

It was a sudden and stark realization (so THAT’s what people sound like to me) and it struck me as quite humorous, as if he had taken a Berlitz class and was trying out his Caveman. Fortunately I was able not to laugh, because he was probably saying something serious, though I’ll be damned if I know.

My point is that I’m not against ASL at all, and like most deaf people, I understand your feelings of suffering just fine.

Midwest Airlines Center Invited AG Bell Conference, Refused ASL EXPO!

From: James Kittell, CEO of ASL EXPO 2008

Hello, everyone!

I am writing this letter to ask for your support. Last August, the ASL EXPO team communicated with the Midwest Airlines Center about reserving a space for June 27-28, 2008. We were told that Exhibit Hall D was available. This space is next to the hall where our long-time rival, the AG Bell Conference, will be held-on the same weekend as ASL EXPO 2008.

Midwest Airlines Center was concerned about the conflict of events, but we explained to them that we do “sign” and they do “oral.” They penciled us in and said they would send us a contract. We contacted them repeatedly since September and never got a response. Finally, we received a notification of refusal from the convention center last week. We were told that AG Bell is occupying space during these dates, and no other exhibit halls would be available for other such events, including ASL EXPO.

We are greatly disappointed, and we are concerned that AG Bell is continuing to mislead families with deaf children. Thousands of deaf victims tell horror stories of physical abuse and education failure at oral schools affiliated with AG Bell.

ASL EXPO 2008 wanted to be next to AG Bell for one reason: to share appropriate hope to the families of deaf children. They deserve to see their kids come in both AG Bell’s exhibit and ASL EXPO, and then choose the path that is right for them.

Now, we need your help. Please copy the letter below and send it to Milwaukee’s mayor, Tom Barrett, at mayor@milwaukee.gov
<mailto:mayor@milwaukee.gov> :

========================================================

Subject: Please reinstate the ASL EXPO 2008 to the Midwest Airlines Center

Dear Mayor Barrett:

We admire your hard work to keep the city of Milwaukee beautiful and make it much more attractive to visitors. We truly look forward to visiting your city this summer!

As a supporter of the American Sign Language, I am writing to ask for your help in reinstating the American Sign Language Expo (ASL EXPO 200 to the Midwest Airlines Center June 27-30. ASL EXPO was refused exhibit space because of the AG Bell Conference in a neighboring hall.

I make this request because American Sign Language, established in 1817, is the dominant sign language of the deaf community in the United States, in the English-speaking parts of Canada, and in parts of Mexico. Today, ASL classes are offered in many secondary and postsecondary schools.

At ASL EXPO events, they provides a full day of fun, hands-on activities that children enjoy, and attendees get to see the latest technology for sign language users and those who are deaf or hard of hearing.

As you may know, thousands of families with little deaf children are coming to the Midwest Airlines Center in Milwaukee June 27-30, 2008, and families are looking for a choice between whether their children should sign or speak. More and more deaf children are failing in education because they learn to “speak” 25 words or less as toddlers-compared to others who learn to “sign” more than 500 words.

Finally, thousands of deaf victims tell horror stories of physical abuse and education failure from oral schools affiliated with AG Bell. All we want is a chance to provide families a positive option: ASL EXPO 2008.

Thank you for intervening on our behalf. I look forward to your response to my request.

Sincerely,

(Your name here)

Oh, leave AGBell alone!

Boy, am I sick and tired of all the whining going on in Deaf Blog Land about the A.G. Bell Association of the Deaf.

Look, everyone knows there are two schools of thought in deafness – oral communication and manual communication. So it makes perfect sense that there would be two different organizations to promote the two philosophies – AGBell and the National Association of the Deaf..

I sign and I support ASL, but I’m not going to try and impose my beliefs on others. If people want to join AGBell and support their agenda, more power to them.

This is America. We live in a country where people are free to express their own beliefs.

You people who are attacking AGBell and saying to boycott their sponsors and picket at their meetings remind me of the religious nuts who insist that their own beliefs are the only correct beliefs and everyone else should just die already.

It surely has not escaped my attention that many of the deaf people who have accomplished big things in life – Heather Whitestone, Curtis Pride, Lou Ferrigno, et al – live an oral life.

Where are the manual deafies in the larger world? Marlee Matlin, and then who? No one!

If parents want to raise their kids orally without sign language, it is their right to do so. They are not breaking any laws. You may not agree, but it is not your place to butt in on a private family matter and you should mind your own business!

Similarly, you may not agree with a farm family that puts its kids to work at an early age, but that is their way of life and it’s not our business to stick our noses into their affairs.

Do you think AGBell is going to put up with these attacks forever and do nothing? They could easily decide to picket at the NAD conventions. They could easily decide to launch a boycott of any company that supports the NAD. They could even go to the federal government and say they would do a better job of running the Captioned Media Program and pull it away from the NAD, along with half the NAD’s budget.

(I don’t think they will do any of these things.  I think they look at their critics like gnats … unworthy of their time or concern.)

If you think your way is so much better, it should be obvious to other people as well, and there should be no need to try and pull down AGBell.  It’s like politicians spending all their time attacking their opponents instead of saying why we should choose them, or people who try to make themselves more popular by putting down other people.

Personally, I disagree with any anti-ASL approach, but it’s like that old saying, “I disagree with what you say, but will defend to the death your right to say it.”

AGBell has the right to promote an oral lifestyle if that is what they choose to do.

If you don’t like it, join the organization and change it from within. Otherwise, shut the hell up!

If I Were President of the NAD

If I were President of the National Association of the Deaf, here is the press release I would be sending out today:

NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF THE DEAF URGES BOYCOTT
OF COMPANIES WITH NON-CAPTIONED SUPER BOWL ADS

SILVER SPRING, MD — February 4, 2008 — The National Association of the Deaf today urged a boycott of some of America’s biggest corporations for not closed-captioning their Super Bowl ads.

AT&T, Dell, Ford, Disney, E-Trade, Hyundai, Taco Bell and PepsiCo were among the companies that ran uncaptioned ads this year. PepsiCo’s failure to caption was especially ironic, given that it also aired “Bob’s House,” a commercial filmed in American Sign Language with open captions.

“Enough is enough!” said NAD President Tom Willard. “As we near the 30th anniversary of closed captioning, there is absolutely no excuse for any company anywhere to put an ad on TV without closed captioning.”

“But the Super Bowl?! Come on! Companies pay $2.7 million for a 30-second spot this year, plus the costs of producing the ads. And they can’t pay an extra $200 for the captions?”

Closed captioning is neither complicated or expensive, said the NAD. All it takes is an awareness that about 10 percent of the Super Bowl audience of 75 million 95 million is made up of people who are deaf or hard of hearing. Captioning also benefits people watching TV in airports, gyms and noisy places like bars — where people traditionally watch the Super Bowl.

“The man on the street might not know much about closed captioning, but for people who make a living in TV advertising to show such disregard for such a simple and yet important thing, frankly, boggles my mind,” said Willard.

Some companies in the past have said that they could not add captioning because they were tinkering with their ads up until the final moments. “That is a sorry excuse,” said Willard. “It can be done in as little as an hour. And when’s the last time an ad ran without sound because they didn’t have time to put it in?”

Fox could easily adopt a requirement that every ad be captioned, he added, and he doesn’t understand why they don’t. The NAD plans to request a meeting with Fox executives to get to the bottom of it.

The NAD praised an anonymous group of parents who have been compiling statistics since 2000 on which Super Bowl ads are captioned and which are not. A quick look at this year’s list, posted at www.captions.com, shows that the uncaptioned ads outnumbered the captioned ads by nearly 2 to 1.

Closed captioning began to grow in the early 80s, and around 10 years later, Congress mandated that most TVs have captioning built in. Today a majority of TV programs are captioned, in part because of FCC regulations, but the majority of commercials still run without captions. The NAD is particularly disturbed by the large number of political commercials and public service announcements that are uncaptioned.

“Someone once joked to me that I was lucky, as if hearing people have to put up with the ads and deaf people don’t. But I’ve come to see it as an unending assault when I’m in the comfort of my own home. I find ads without captions offensive and insulting and demeaning and a form of entrenched discrimination that has to go. Enough is enough!”

The NAD urges people all over — deaf and hard of hearing, family, friends, other people with disabilities, supporters — to go to www.captions.com and make use of the links provided for most companies. Take a minute to thank the companies that captioned their ads. Tell the ones that didn’t that you’re taking your business elsewhere.

“It’s time to put an end to this annual display of shocking insensitivity,” said Willard.

– END –