Communication Access needed on Zoom. Please sign petition

Posted by Julie, Volunteer Mentor @julieo4, Dec 8, 2020

Please read the post from hard of Hearing Blogger, Shari Eberts

NPR Highlights Need for Captions on Zoom for People with Hearing Loss

The author writes, “You would never build a building, include ramps but then ask people in wheelchairs to pay to use them. The same holds for people with hearing loss. Captions are our ramps. Why should we have to pay to use the feature we require for equal access?”

If you agree, please sign and share the petition to make Zoom have captions for those of us who are Deaf or hard of hearing:

Provide Free Captions for People with Hearing Loss on Video Conferencing Platforms

https://www.change.org/p/zoom-provide-free-captions-for-people-with-hearing-loss-on-video-conferencing-platforms

Interested in more discussions like this? Go to the Hearing Loss Support Group.

Colleen Young, Connect Director | @colleenyoung | Dec 8, 2020

I signed the petition and shared on Twitter
https://twitter.com/colleen_young/status/1336399819129180160

Julie, Volunteer Mentor | @julieo4 | Dec 8, 2020

In reply to @colleenyoung "I signed the petition and shared on Twitter https://twitter.com/colleen_young/status/1336399819129180160" + (show)

Thank you!! We just received some interesting news today. Zoom is really working on this. In fact, it appears that this can be done already if you can figure out how. An HLAA member has created a YouTube video with the basics. It features a MAC computer, so I am waiting to get more information about using a PC. This petition has generated a lot of attention, and was started by a member of the national HLAA board of trustees. Good to know it's getting attention.

Julie, Volunteer Mentor | @julieo4 | Dec 8, 2020

In reply to @julieo4 "Thank you!! We just received some interesting news today. Zoom is really working on this. In..." + (show)

Colleen Young. Please send me your e-mail address and I'll send you a copy of the YouTube I mentioned above.

Colleen Young, Connect Director | @colleenyoung | Dec 8, 2020

In reply to @julieo4 "Colleen Young. Please send me your e-mail address and I'll send you a copy of the..." + (show)

Can you post the link to the video "How to" here in the discussion, @julieo4? I think others might like to see it too.

Julie, Volunteer Mentor | @julieo4 | Dec 8, 2020

In reply to @colleenyoung "Can you post the link to the video "How to" here in the discussion, @julieo4? I..." + (show)

I hope this works.
Video on adding captions to Zoom
https://youtu.be/5D9M_TWROCI

tonyinmi | @tonyinmi | Dec 9, 2020

In reply to @julieo4 "I hope this works. Video on adding captions to Zoom https://youtu.be/5D9M_TWROCI" + (show)

@julieo4 Thanks for posting this. I see it on the HLAA Chapter Leaders group too
Tony in Michigan

John, Volunteer Mentor | @johnbishop | Dec 9, 2020

In reply to @colleenyoung "I signed the petition and shared on Twitter https://twitter.com/colleen_young/status/1336399819129180160" + (show)

Thanks for this discussion and sharing the link @julie04 and thanks @colleenyoung for letting me reuse your text 😊

Colleen Young, Connect Director | @colleenyoung | Dec 9, 2020

I DID IT! Zoom has live transcription with their paid version. All future Zoom meetings that I conduct will have live transcription. Thank you, @julieo4.

I updated my Twitter status.
https://twitter.com/colleen_young/status/1336731298199728130

ken82 | @ken82 | Dec 9, 2020

In reply to @tonyinmi "@julieo4 Thanks for posting this. I see it on the HLAA Chapter Leaders group too Tony..." + (show)

@tonyinmi A month or so ago I Zoomed Lincoln Project town halls and mtgs.. they always had captioning and it was just a click away.. Maybe they had to pay for it.. it that the issue?

tonyinmi | @tonyinmi | Dec 9, 2020

In reply to @ken82 "@tonyinmi A month or so ago I Zoomed Lincoln Project town halls and mtgs.. they always..." + (show)

@ken82 Yes, Zoom has had captioning for some time but there was always a cost. We always pay for our CART writer to provide live captions instead of relying on the automatic captions. Auto captions do not always do a good enough job, especially when you have speaker that does not have clear speech. This is highly probable with people that were born with hearing loss. Zoom has a lot of training videos and some are live. I've participated in several Zoom trainings that used the pre-released version of automatic captions and they were very good, especially since it seemed that English may not have been the speakers first language.
Tony in Michigan