(20 Sep 2010) HEADLINE: For deaf, wireless devices entry to hearing world
CAPTION: Life has profoundly changed for millions of deaf people during the last decade, thanks to technology that is now commonplace: texting. (Sept. 20)

IT IS A SILENT REVOLUTION … PLAYING OUT ON KEYPADS AND SCREENS OF HANDHELD DEVICES EVERYONE IS USING TO TALK.
FOR THE FIRST TIME, A GENERATION OF DEAF PEOPLE ARE COMMUNICATING WITH THE WORLD ON THEIR OWN TERMS … *TEXTING* IS MORE THAN JUST A CONVENIENCE. IT IS A LIFELINE AT A PLACE LIKE THE ALABAMA SCHOOL FOR THE DEAF.
SOT (voice of translator): The texting makes it much easier to communicate with hearing friends and my hearing neighbor as well as my family too
HERE … HANDHELD DEVICES THAT LET PEOPLE TEXT ARE COMMON. A NEARBY STORE SELLING PHONES … A POPULAR PLACE.
FACE-TO-FACE … DEAF PEOPLE SAY THEY STILL PREFER SIGNING … IT’S FASTER, MORE EXPRESSIVE THAN PECKING AT A KEYBOARD.
BUT FOR EVERYDAY TASKS … TEXTING USUALLY TRIUMPHS.
SOT: If there were communication problems, I would pull out a pen and paper, we would write back and forth that way so we could effectively communicate with each other. But now that we have texting and cell phones, it’s wonderful.
IT IS HARD TO SAY HOW MANY OF THE NATION’S DEAF USE TEXTING … THERE ARE 257 MILLION DEVICES IN THE U-S THAT CAN HANDLE DATA. NOW CONGRESS MAY REQUIRE THAT AN ARRAY OF COMMUNICATIONS SERVICES TO BE MORE ACCESSIBLE TO THE DEAF.
ALREADY … APPLE IS TOUTING A TWO-WAY VIDEO FEATURE ON ITS IPHONE … FOR SIGNING.
NEW PORTALS … INTO THE HEARING WORLD.

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