Is Closed Captioning disappearing?

G'day Everyone.


First of all, I'm shocked that an elderly Neo Nazi would dare to hope that he'd go out in a "blaze of Glory of GUNFIRE" while shooting people at the Holocaust Memorial Museum yesterday in Washington, DC. It hurts to know that he had hoped that he would bring about some bad public relations there. But the guard who returned fire at the elderly Neo Nazi is most definitely a hero for saving other lives despite dying. It is a bad public relations for all Neo Nazis . For further info on the news in DC : http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/06/10/museum.shooting/index.html (if it's not there, check the www.cnn.com for fresh news ).

Meanwhile: a new concern is going around about the closed captioning and some the movie retailers. As you know, most of the TV stations will begin broadcasting in Digital High Density (HD) format with in the next few days. The big question is: will closed captioning stay with the format or will it disappear? If it disappears, it will mean a whole new fight in our lives to get our closed captioning restored.

For info about the current controversy:

http://rsgeo007.blogspot.com/2009/06/more-info-from-hulu-on-captioning.html
http://deafness.about.com/b/2009/06/09/will-epix-have-captions.htm



I want to walk a little bit back to the past. It was in the mid 1980s when that oblong brown and sliver captioning device came out. For many of us, it was the greatest thing in the world to see. Sitting down and enjoying all the TV programs and watching the words flow across the screen.

It was just the same the ages ago that I brought a portable tty for the first time in my life.

But in the last 20 years, we've enjoyed the growing Internet that has replaced snail mail, tty, and other things. Today, we still have captions on our TV, but we have Videophones that have replaced the TTY, just as Instant Messengers have. We have changed a lot in Technology ways.

What about the future? I just hope closed captioning remains with us on our TV. Movies that are made into DVDs should be closed captioned, no matter what. It's not just about money, but about accessibility for the deaf community.

The fight of accessibility for the deaf community is a never ending job. There are many people out there who are doing that for us. We should, once in a while, send them a letter of support and tell them "stay strong! FIGHT ON! We must work as a team!".

Till next time..

Semper FI.