"Why This Deaf Woman Supports Obama"

[sandnsea]

Interesting diary about the meaning of leadership and Project Readon, a site that captions internet videos for free. (Hattip to Pirate Smile)

by slinkerwink
Fri Feb 08, 2008 at 06:23:29 PM PST


slinkerwink's diary :: ::
"And there was a video on that site. It was an outline of Barack Obama's plan to empower Americans with disabilities. Project Readon said that Barack Obama's campaign was the first website to sign up to caption their videos. They asked other candidates to join in, but they didn't. The Republicans said no to Project Readon, which shows the lack of care that the Republican party has shown to Americans with disabilities.

I looked at Hillary Clinton's website. None of her videos are captioned, and she doesn't provide a link to Project Readon where you can find her videos. Barack Obama does provide that link, which you can find here with the green button that says "Closed Captioning."

You click on that link, and you see a whole line of videos with closed captioning in them. That really meant a lot to me as a deaf American, who relies on captioning to get information about the outside world.

I also read Barack Obama's plan for Americans with disabilities. They also provided a link to sign up in a Disability Discussion group to talk about policies that can help disabled Americans. His efforts to expand the dialogue to deaf and hard-of-hearing people like me tells me what kind of a leader he'd be in this area.

Hillary Clinton hasn't shown that leadership at all to me. I tried to tune in for her Hallmark town hall meeting, and it wasn't captioned at all. Her television ads here in Washington D.C., in which there is a very sizeable deaf community right next to Gallaudet University, the nation's first deaf university, are not captioned at all. Barack Obama's television ads are captioned here."

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/2/8/21511/86528/551/453033

[Hawkeye-X]

1. This deaf guy approves!

K&R!

[Pirate Smile]

2. I'm glad you posted it on its own.

:hi:

Here is a comment from the Diary:

thank you for this diary (116+ / 0-)

when i read obama's plan for Americans with disabilities i almost cried. i have multiple sclerosis and bush has been horrible on every issue from stem cell research on, that really makes a difference in my life. I look forward to Obama in 2008!

by allie123 on Fri Feb 08, 2008 at 06:30:17 PM PST

[johncoby2]

3. Cuz if you could hear him, he still isnt saying anything?

[K Gardner]

4. You total absolute ass. Hillary - this is why you're losing.

[jkshaw]

5. Why don't you just go away?

You're wasting bandwidth.

[NanceGreggs]

6. If only we had a forum ...

... for the thinking impaired, I'm sure you would be its most popular poster.

[Hepburn]

10. Boy, are you out of line....!

Making fun of someone's disability absolutely sucks! Shame on you!

[silverweb]

7. Attitude translates to action.

It's not at all hard to determine who and what a candidate considers important... or insignificant.

K&R.

GObama!

[Barack_America]

8. What an interesting perspective...

...on this entire election process. Really thought provoking.

Thanks a lot for posting this.

[Hepburn]

9. I am very hard of hearing....

...and if I do not have my hearing aids in, I have a hell of a time hearing anything. I am lucky enough that the new digital ones worked a miracle for me. I only got them a few months ago. Until that, I relied on closed captioning quite often. Especially for female voices. I had a hell of a time hearing voices in the higher range and I just could not stand hearing aids ~~ they drove me NUTS!!!!!

Thank you for the information on what Sen. Obama has on his website. It is so great to see the consideration for those of us who have profound hearing losses!

Unless you have been there....there is NO way to explain what it is like to not be able to hear well...and just sit there and smile and be on the outside looking in when others are discussing things that you cannot hear and understand.

[sandnsea]

11. I am almost deaf in one ear

Most of the time I hear okay, but if people are talking at a certain angle, I know exactly what you mean. I really appreciated the sensitivity, as well as the expertise of the staff to know to get this done. I think they both say a lot about the kind of administration he would run.

[Hepburn]

14. If you have not looked into digital hearing aids...

...I would encourage you to check this out and see if you have the kind of hearing loss that can be helped by this type of hearing aid.

One of my best gal pal's hubbies and I both just got the digital aids...and we both had struggled for years with trying to find hearing aids that would help and which we could tolerate. The other night, we all went out and her hubbie and I so enjoyed an evening with friends because we did not miss one bit of what was being said ~~ even in a very noisy restaurant! My friend's hubbie only uses one aid because his hearing loss sounds very much like yours.

Best of luck to you and hope you can try out these new style hearing aids and that they work for you. They are totally different than the old ones! I absolutely love mine and I even hate to take them out at night. First thing I do in the AM is put them back in! It is like I am a whole person again.

[sandnsea]

20. I need a surgery

I think my insurance will finally cover it, but I'm kind of a chicken. I will definitely remember the digital aid though, I have to get some kind of implant and will ask the doctor. Thanks!

[Hepburn]

24. If they can fix your hearing with an implant....I truly hope...

...this will work for you. If you need hearing aids, go with the digital ones and the major reason being for this is that they ONLY enhance the frequencies in which you have a loss and are not just an over-all amplifier. That was my problem with the old style ones...they just made every LOUD and not really clear. The new ones are not like that at all. The only way I can explain it is that it is like putting on reading glasses and the print crisps up just perfectly and there is an ease in reading it...except this is for your ears and not your eyes.

Best of luck...and please keep us posted on how it goes for you!

:hug:

[Hawkeye-X]

15. If you haven't already - check out our subform (my signature) n/t

[Hepburn]

17. Hey, thank you!

I did not know the DU had a group like this. I will most certainly ck it out and thanks for the info!

[tblue37]

12. I also use closed captioning. It matters. n/t

[JVS]

13. Slinkerwink! Good to see she's still kicking it.

[Hawkeye-X]

16. Yup. I remember her very well - she was a Deaniac

and a big supporter. I think I still have her IM, but she does not get on IM very often.

[JI7]

23. so is this slinkerwink's own personal story

or did she post someone else's ? if it's her own i never knew she was deaf but it's interesting to read this because of all the criticism of Obama and substance. but this is an example of him really understanding issues that people deal with in their daily lives and doing something about it.

also, why doesn't she post on DU anymore?

[bicentennial_baby]

25. Yes, it's her own story...she is deaf

:)

[JVS]

28. Anyone want some fried chicken?

[JVS]

27. I don't recall her mentioning deafness, but she wasn't the kind to tell other peoples' stories

She left DU (no tombstone for her) after a series of really mean-spirited flamewars. Have you ever heard of the Fried Chicken flamewars? Those happened when she started a discussion about how she fried chicken (she used crushed cornflakes as the breading)and asking others what their techniques are. Certain DUers, who had already been in the habit of flaming her over her support for Howard Dean, started giving her a lot of shit. I'm not saying that the chicken wars caused her to leave, but it is representative of the kind of hostility people gave her.

[JimGinPA]

18. What An Awesome Thread!

I've visted Barack's website a bunch of times and I've never noticed that the videos could be captioned. This is just another of the examples of why they are running such a successful campaign -details and thinking things through.

[boppers]

19. Whoa. So hillary, like, couldn't be bothered?

She thinks 508 compliance is a joke? Really, what possible excuse is there for this?

[Araxen]

21. Obama pulls the Okie Doke on the deaf now?

How can he convert them if they can't hear his speeches?!?!?

[bicentennial_baby]

22. Yay! Noelle!!

One of my favorite former DUers :bounce:

[Scurrilous]

26. K & R

:thumbsup:

[rug]

29. He deserves kudos for this.

It takes so little to make a such a big accommodation.