Video Relay Service scam
on Nov 21, 2009 in Communication video relay A public service meant to help the hearing disabled has been exploited for “tens of millions of dollars,” according to the FCC. Arrests were made across the US this week and the FCC vowed to improve the service to better protect against f...

Abnormally Funny People
on Nov 6, 2009 in Art Disability access STTR theatre Abnormally Funny People’s monthly comedy show returns to Soho Theatre on Friday 13th November, and it will be palantyped – making live comedy accessible to deaf and hard of hearing people. More information about the show. This month’...

Cochlear implant update
on Nov 4, 2009 in Cochlear implant audiogram BKB lipreading Eeenie-meeenie-meinie-mo. Which way shall my hearing go? Left ear, right ear, brain in the middle. Pick one, stick one, let the surgeon fiddle. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I am *allowed* to be silly after 10pm, surely! Here’s an update on the CI roller co...

Sounds – imagined and real
on Oct 27, 2009 in Health noise tinnitus This story illustrates the nightmare of tinnitus and noise sensitivity known as The Hum. Article after the jump with some interesting comments. I find my best coping tactics with tinnitus have been a few painkillers and a nap, trying to be philosophi...

Benefits Green Paper
on Oct 22, 2009 in Deaf Concessions in the UK Disability access benefits DLA see hear The recent Government Green Paper on Care Services in the UK is still causing concern to many people who are worried that this will mean the end of their entitlement to Disability Living Allowance (DLA). There are only a few weeks left before the con...

Alleviate your tinnitus
on Oct 20, 2009 in Health tinnitus My tinnitus has been particularly bad for the last 2 years and it’s horrible. It’s as if I’m listening to a constant concert with a crap conductor. My audiologist has recommended I try a tinnitus retraining course and I’ve agr...

Get your YouTube videos captioned
on Sep 26, 2009 in Communication Disability access captions movies subtitles video youtube Speakuplibrarian got there before I did I spotted this cool site Captvids.com which captions YouTube videos at Speakuplibrarian has written about this site and posted a funny captioned video.

Telecoms and Convergent Media Event
on Sep 25, 2009 in Communication Disability access campaign Captel captioned telephony media phone telecoms video relay webcaptel The next in UCL Advances series of Technology Innovation Forum events will cover telecoms and convergent media and will take place on 12 November 2009 in central London. How will new telecommunications technologies develop? Where will the social, ec...

To spin or not to spin …
on Sep 24, 2009 in Communication Disability access phone sms Spinvox text voicemail Spinvox have developed a system which, among other products, offers a speech to text voicemail service which is ideal for deaf people who want to be able to use voicemail, such as business owners. I activated the service on my Blackberry and it works...

Emergency SMS 999
on Sep 16, 2009 in Disability access ambulance emergency fire police sms text I’ve always felt hard done by when thinking about my safety. Being unable to hear on the phone, I would hate to be put in a position where I needed to call the police quickly if I was being mugged or burgled, or the ambulance service if there w...