Beyondtone collaborated with Stacy & Lilo to share their story about a situation that happened on July 17 2017. As well last happened since and the results of the situation.
Close Caption available through Youtube
Deafinitely Wanderlust
Top Four Web Accessibility Excuses Deaf People Get
Not only are there accessibility laws for deaf people in the physical world, such as the right to request CART and interpreters and other reasonable accommodations, deaf people have the right to digital accessibility.
You would think digital accessibility would be easy for companies to accommodate, right?
True, but many don’t. Instead, they make excuses so they don’t have to change what they’re doing.
Announcement: Let’s Do an ASL WEB Series!
Beyond Tone is hosting a series of weekly meetups for deaf and hard-of-hearing people, interpreters, and anyone wanting to practice American Sign Language. We will create a web series for our new streaming service for the deaf.
This is an exciting opportunity for you to collaborate with one another using ASL while taking part of a production! Come on a weekly basis and put your ASL to good use, instead of waiting for the rare opportunity to talk to deaf people!
Click for more details.
How Deaf People Helped Change Texting Over The Years
Before the Internet came along, deaf people relied on TTYs and snail mail. They’d even drive long distances to their deaf friend’s houses and wave at the window to get their attention! If they’re not home, they’d write a note and leave it at the door before driving back home.
Once the Internet came along, deaf people began using email to communicate with each other. They still used TTYs to make phone calls, however. In the 1990s, it was “cool” to only check your email once a day, or even better, once or twice a week. But once we passed the year 2000, if you only checked your email once a day, you’d quickly get left behind on the latest news, upcoming events, and even gossip.
Who Wants More?
Video Transcript
Who Wants More?
Our deaf community can get more if we put our minds to it.
We need your help.
Send us a picture or video of your skills or talents.
Social Challenges For Deaf Individuals
This is a topic I’ve always wanted to talk about, but few people hardly address it.
Deaf people often struggle with social challenges, emotional detachment and isolation. In the worst cases, the lack of connection may lead to a dark path of addiction, bad habits and depression.
Some classic examples involve social relationships, theater, and sports -- especially those that require focused teamwork.
This begs the question: what can we do to get deaf people involved more fully, increasing our quality of life and lessening feelings of isolation?
Are the Deaf Well Represented In Today’s Media?
How often do we see deaf people in the media today?
Pretty seldom, isn’t it?
And when we do see deaf people represented in the media, does the media accurately display who the deaf individuals are and their views -- just like anyone else?
That is, without using patronizing terms like “overcoming” and “inspiring” or without negative terms such as “afflicted with” and “suffering from”, etc?
Population of Deaf People to Reach 1.2 Billion By 2050
The population of deaf people is predicted to reach 1.2 billion by 2050.
Creating Advertising Opportunities With Deaf People’s Help
Nearly 10% of the population has some degree of hearing loss. Many companies don’t realize they would gain access to an additional 10% of market share by getting deaf people involved somehow.
The reason is simple.
The deaf community will value a brand more over another when they deliver information and content in American Sign Language (ASL).
Captioned Movies
Getting Deaf Consumers the Same Information as Everyone Else
Strapped into my seat on a wide-body Boeing 777, I got bored with eleven hours left on my red-eye trans-Pacific flight.
Watching the plane cross the earth on a polar route on the airline computer screen — one pixel at a time — was about as interesting as watching paint dry.
I tried to sleep.
But I couldn’t quite doze off...
Why Most Deaf People Don’t Wear Hearing Aids
Did you know that only about 2% of people with hearing loss regularly wear hearing aids?
Beyond Tone would like to extend the perspective that being deaf is perfectly normal.
So why do we not like wearing hearing aids sometimes?
Is it the stigma?
Have We Really Achieved Equality?
What Equality Means to Deaf People
While equality means different things to different individuals, common themes appear among our opinions about the topic.
These include access, opportunities and discrimination:
Equality to a deaf person means being able to access the same opportunities available to their hearing peers without discrimination.
Needing a Hearing Aid Is Different From Needing a Pair of Eyeglasses
The perception that hearing aids fix deafness as glasses fix nearsightedness still lingers to this day in 2017. While fitting a pair of prescription glasses on a person with worse than 20/20 eyesight is relatively simple, this is not the case with hearing aids.
A person with impaired eyesight can simply get a prescription to correct vision impairments, whether by using glasses or contacts. Many people, both deaf and hearing, correct their vision in this way.
Deaf People Left Behind
How the Deaf Community Can Get the Same Opportunities as the Mainstream Population Afforded by Technological Advances and Innovation
In 2017, the mainstream audience has an abundance of technological options when it comes to user experience. Deaf people’s options are more limited, especially when the technology leans heavily towards audio-only input and output.
A few examples of audio-based technology include iPhone’s Siri, podcasts and new streaming video platforms that lack closed captioning.