Ohio lawmakers heard testimony on a bill that would stop the sale of hearing aids online in the state unless the user first sees an audiologist. The bill is considered an effort at consumer protection by supporters. Republican Rex Damschroder of Fremont is sponsor of House Bill 109. The Ohio House Health and Aging Committee is hearing from medical professionals and consumers. Read more about the bill here.
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Related Blogs on Proposed Ohio law on hearing aids
A deaf man is arrested for what police thought were obscene gestures aimed at them, but the man says he was only trying to tell them he was deaf. Sounds pretty disturbing, right? The UK's Daily Mail has published the article in its online edition here. The problem is that this story from Sunderland, England happened more than a decade ago--a fact not mentioned in the article. In 2002, Shaun Phuprate was charged with being drunk and disorderly, along with his brother who tried to intervene. Local magistrates later threw the case out. The Daily Mail itself ran the article in 2002 which you can see here.
Last fall we told you about a judge who dismissed a Missouri woman's lawsuit against eBay for violating ADA law. Melissa Earll spend a couple of months trying to work something out with eBay, but was never allowed to register as a used book and memorabilia seller because she is deaf. The company requires a phone in order to verify their identities. Earll is asking the 9th Circuit to revive her case to revive her discrimination lawsuit against the online auction site. The California judge who dismissed the suit said ADA law applies to the physical space of companies, not online sites. But Earll's lawyer is arguing that while the 1990 statute was created before the Internet emerged, Congress intended it to apply to new technologies such as the Internet.
The Federal government will unveil how it plans to changes ADA law in July. The Department of Justice updates will then be made official in December. Observers say the new rules are likely to broaden the guidelines on Website accessibility, especially to online shopping sites. This would include captions and spoken descriptions of photos. There's more information here.
Phillip and Niki Smith were looking at photos of hard to place orphans online when they spotted Guan Ya. Find out how Google's translator helped bring them together here.
The Justice Dept. is expected to issue new regulations on website accessibility later this year that could take a broad view of the ADA's jurisdiction over websites. Read it in the Wall Street Journalhere.
Google is launching a sign language interpreter app and keyboard shortcuts tied to its video chat called Hangout. The Hangout Captions app, for example, enables live transcription services for the deaf and hard of hearing. It allows you to invite interpreters to speak and sign for you during a Hangout. You'll see your interpreter at the top right of the window and become the focus of the Hangout whenever their interpreter is speaking for you in sign language. Check it out here or you can directly install the app using this link.
Then there's something to make it easier for sign language speakers to do a Hangout together. Look at the new Take the Floorhere keyboard shortcuts. If can't or don't want to use a mouse during the video chat, you can use these shortcuts. To view the full list of keyboard shortcuts just type '?' while in a Hangout, or visit this page. Here's a video about Take the Floor which allows you to "take the floor" in a hangout with no mic.
A YouTube channel called Bad Lip Reading offers a look at how difficult it is to read lips. One of the channels videos, focused on NFL players and coaches, has gone viral with more than 1.5 million hits since it came out yesterday. See what you think.
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Google is launching a sign language interpreter app and keyboard shortcuts tied to its video chat called Hangout. The Hangout Captions app, for example, enables live transcription services for the deaf and hard of hearing. It allows you to invite interpreters to speak and sign for you during a Hangout. You'll see your interpreter at the top right of the window and become the focus of the Hangout whenever their interpreter is speaking for you in sign language. Check it out here or you can directly install the app using this link.
