What do the deaf and hard of hearing use for 

                            Communication access? 

The three most common 

communication access are:

Culturally Deaf = Sign Language 

 (10 percent of the deaf and hard of hearing use sign

 language, 3 percent primary users, 7 percent as a second language)

 Late deaf, Oral deaf, Severe and Profound  hearing loss

= Captioning (CART or Remote CART)

estimate 30 to 40 percent of the hearing loss population

 collectively.

Mild and Moderate Hearing Loss (Hard of Hearing) = 

Audio Induction Loops  

Mild and Moderate hearing loss estimate is about 50 to 60

 percent of the hearing loss population.

90 percent of the hearing loss population do not use sign

 language.

Who benefits from what kind of

 communication access?:

Of the Hearing Loss and deafness population, 

there is a rough estimate  of 10 percent benefiting

 from sign language, 

40 to 60 percent benefiting from CART (captioning),

 and 70 to 

80 percent benefiting from Audio Loops.   

There is an overlap here because many can benefit from

                                     BOTH

 audio loops and captioning so the line can blur if you are in

 the moderate, and moderate to severe hearing loss range with 

abilities to use both captioning and audio loops. 

  

It can also blur because some people can use 

BOTH captioning and ASL as well if they are bilingual 

and have a good command of English as well as a good command

 of American Sign Language.

  

In addition, it is also dependent on whether you are wearing

hearing aids with T coils or not, or wearing them at all (only 1 out 

of 5 people who could benefit from hearing aids wear them).  

 It also

 depends on whether you are wearing cochlear

 implants (only 1 out of 4 who could benefit from cochlear

 implants  have them).  


The ones who are not wearing hearing aids or cochlear implants

 can benefit from

 captioning which ends up being the majority of them if they are

 not wearing hearing aids and cochlear implants. 

  If  some of the ones who know sign language are hard of

 hearing, they can also use audio loops because they have

 enough residual hearing to benefit from audio loops.  So it is 

possible for

 some people to be able to use all three - sign language, 

captioning and audio loops. 



Primary native language users of ASL (first language) need

 ASL, and those with severe to profound hearing loss often

 need captioning because audio loops are not 'strong' 

(or reliable ) enough for them.  


The majority of the deaf (on an audiogram) do not

 know sign language simply because the majority of the deaf

 are the late deaf.   Therefore, captioning is a very

 effective communication  access for many deaf people.



In order to provide effective communication access

 to all the deaf and hard of hearing, we need a Universal 

access approach and provide Captioning, Sign

 Language and Audio loops to address this diversity

 within the deaf and hard of hearing population.

The Hard of Hearing 

(mild and moderate hearing loss) are the largest group of

 the Hearing Loss Population.  The late hard of hearing are 

the largest group of the entire Hard of Hearing population. 




 The late deaf are the largest group of the deaf 

population as well.  The 'late' deaf folks are fluent in their 

spoken

language with an established social-linguistic-cultural  identity

 with

 English (usually in the USA) and therefore typically do not

 know sign language.  Therefore, the majority of the deaf 

population do not know sign language.

Baby boomers are driving the demographics of hearing loss

 which is now 48 million Americans (12 million Catholics).  

The number of people with hearing loss is expected to double

 between now and the year 2030.

The people who most benefit from CART (captioning) are the

 late deaf, oral deaf, severe and profound hearing loss folks.  

Technically, any one who has a good command of 

English (read, speak) can use CART (captioning) and  

benefit from it for two directional communication (that is read 

in 

English, and respond verbally out loud, or mentally voicing in 

head 

(mouthing silently to follow along in  a church service and 

participate that way).  

You receive the English receptively 

through reading real time captioning, and verbally express it

 orally or following along mentally with the congregation with 

prayers in real time or a discussion group in real time.  It allows

 understand of homilies, prayer of the faithful, announcements and

 ability to track the missal, being on the same page as everyone

 else during the entire Mass if the entire Mass is being captioned. 



It allows understanding of speakers during conferences and 

workshops offered to Catholics.  It allows participation in prayers

 if the prayers are being done in captioning besides the homilies.

  The lag time is very small much like any interpreting.  This

 allows participation in group discussions and prayers and

experiencing effective communication access any more then

 someone who doesn't have a hearing loss when they go to a 

conference, workshop or the Mass.



The benefit of real time captioning is that it can absorb a wide

 range of people  on the spectrum of hearing loss if one can read 

English and respond in English (either out loud verbally or silently

 mouthing it in the head).  


It helps people learning English as a second language too because

 it allows easier processing when the language is in verbatim.

 Researchers point to the fact that same language subtitles

 improve English literacy. 

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Diversity and Inclusion - The Joy of Accessible and Effective Communication Access in many ways:

"One thing I liked best about the conference is that it offered all types of communication access – captioning, sign language, hearing loop." (Source: http://audio-accessibility.com/news/2013/10/we-want-the-joys-of-communicating-in-many-ways/)

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"….people who are deaf or have hearing loss can use assistive listening systems and see speakers, interpreters, and captioning; and all participants feel comfortable and ready to be engaged in discussion. Arranging an Accessible Meeting Space"

(Source: http://www.ada.gov/business/accessiblemtg.htm)

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"Accessible meeting space allows

 everyone to participate." 

(Source: http://www.ada.gov/business/accessiblemtg.htm)

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" Sacrosanctum Concilium, the Second Vatican Council's document on the reform of the liturgy, declared that in its mandate of fittingly celebrating the "memorial of [Christ's] death and resurrection," "The Church, therefore, earnestly desires that Christ's faithful, when present at this mystery of faith, should not be there as strangers or silent spectators; on the contrary, through a good understanding of the rites and prayers they should take part in the sacred action conscious of what they are doing, with devotion and full collaboration" (48). 

 (Source: http://whispersintheloggia.blogspot.com/2006/04/full-conscious-active-participation.html)

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CART is a 'Universal Communication Access' for the late deaf:

"I know for sure ALDA never would have thrived without CART-for deafened adults, communication is a special challenge; some of us lip-read, some of us sign, some of us hear with cochlear implants, and some of us do none of the above. The only way for us all to communicate together is through realtime captioning. CART is the cornerstone of ALDA."

Read more at http://www.lorilynroberts.com/late_deafened_adult_shares_his_story.html#Bi4w1OkBYoTdArCq.99

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"When an event needs to be made inclusive, projecting the CART display for the benefit of the entire room can be the best way to provide universal access for Deaf, late deafened, and hard of hearing people, as well as people who might have some degree of hearing loss but who don’t self-identify as hard of hearing or deaf. CART is also useful for English language learners and people with dyslexia, auditory processing disorder, or ADHD. When the CART display is available to every audience member, no one has to feel singled out or as if they’re demanding special privileges. Everyone benefits."

  (Source:  http://composition.al/blog/2014/05/31/your-next-conference-should-have-real-time-captioning/)

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"For various reasons, 

churches 

have lagged behind wider 

trends in

 society to be inclusive of 

people 

with disabilities." 

 (Source:  http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/.VAfQ5P2ezRo)

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Demo of Real time Captioning (aka Communication Access Realtime Translation (CART): 

 http://www.acscaptions.com/subpages/CART.asp  (scroll down to find demo video, click on CC)

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"With the growth of broadband access, improved software, and need for  CART in many settings, providers are now offering remote CART services.   The CART provider, located elsewhere, uses a telephone line {now evolved to wireless/wifi} to pick up   audio and an Internet account to transmit the captions to a computer at the  location where the deaf or hard of hearing individual needs the captions."

 (Source: http://www.nvrc.org/interpreting-and-transliterating-services/cart/)

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Rediscover the Faith:  http://www.catholicscomehome.org/discover-a-beautiful-faith/





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Come Pray the Rosary with others - together Online:  http://www.comepraytherosary.org

This link above for the Rosary prayer has a text guided version offered to follow along that will allow you to know when they are moving on to the next prayer. 

It will provide a clue to you where they are at during the Rosary prayer with the highlighted beads, along with providing a signal to you that they are at the next prayer with a text of each prayer as they go along.

Maybe someone in the future will improvise this to make it more 'Karoke style' with the words being said highlighted as they go along but for now this is very good to know when the next prayer begins.  I really enjoy this link. Try it!

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                                Captioning Shares the Message

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The purpose of this blog is to raise  Diversity Awareness among those with hearing loss and deafness, and to raise  awareness that many  with hearing loss are being excluded from full participation at the Mass if the church does not have Captioning. Catholics with hearing loss deserve the fullness of their faith.   Does your Diocese/Archdiocese have at least one Mass service in Captioning at a church that one who benefits from it can reasonably travel to in order to fully and actively participate at the Mass? Contact your Diocese/Archdiocese - find it here:    http://www.usccb.org/about/bishops-and-dioceses/all-dioceses.cfm.)

CC-Caption Catholic