VIDEOCONFERENCING FOR DEAF CHILDREN BENEFITS AND STRATEGIES
IMPACT Newsletter Spring '99
In February of this year, top-rated TV show "ER" aired an episode where one of the characters, Dr. Benton, placed a videophone call to his young deaf son. This exhibition of the current technology was a breakthrough of sorts: mainstream entertainment was proving and promoting the concept that there is no better way to communicate with young deaf children than visually. I know this to be true from personal experience.
A long distance call from family or friends used to be a non-event for my deaf daughter, Miranda. It pained me greatly to see her left out whenever my hearing son got on the phone and chatted with his hearing grandparents or friends. I dearly wanted to give Miranda a visual so she could be involved in our extended family life.
I knew the standard text-telephone (a.k.a. TTY or TDD) was not a good solution for Miranda. TTYs are basically useless for Miranda and most deaf children, whose first language is ASL and who are under the age of eight or nine, for three elementary reasons:
1. The child hasn't yet learned to read or write fluently in English.
2. The child doesn't have the dexterity to type quickly and error free.
3. The child doesn't have the patience for this
stilted form of communicating.
It was apparent that in order for Miranda to be apart of these family calls we needed a videophone. The long-promised-but-yet-to-become-ubiquitous "pic-turephone" seems to many still a future product. I began to investigate videophones and videoconferencing tools when my wife and I moved our family to Fremont so Miranda could attend the California School for the Deaf (CSDF). Fremont is about 500 miles north of my hometown of San Diego and several thousand miles from my wife's family in Toronto. I was deeply concerned about how limited my daughter's access to her extended family would be.
I soon learned that videoconferencing with TV-quality images was indeed possible, but not feasible for most consumers. Using either satellite links or special phone lines, with high-end multi-thousand dollar videoconferencing equipment on both ends of a video call could get quality close to that of broadcast TV. That's fine for corporations, medical institutions and the like, but for me this was not an option. What I needed was an inexpensive appliance: plug it into a regular phone line and turn it on. Believe it or not, these types of videophones have been around for years. However, the history of "low-end" products had video quality so poor that few people got excited about, much less bought, these videophones. Several companies have taken up the challenge, including AT&T in the early '90's, but none had succeeded in getting the images to a quality that was acceptable to consumers.
In January, 1997, I had the good fortune to come upon a Silicon Valley company called 8x8, Inc. which had recently started manufacturing and marketing a videophone with significantly improved video quality. In addition, it cost only $400 per unit, as opposed to thousands. 8x8's ViaTV Videophone did not require a computer but rather worked with a television for the monitor. I went to the company's headquarters to try out their product. I found this a tool that could solve my problem of including Miranda in family phone calls. Though only providing about half TV-quality video, short signed phrases could be understood. If Miranda could only sign and see her loved ones signing "ILY (I love you)", that would have been enough to make it worth it to me. My enthusiasm led to my becoming an 8x8 marketing department employee.
From May, 1997 to April, 1999, my tenure at 8x8, I was able to supply my family, my in-laws, and a few friends with ViaTV Videophones using my employee discount. It was a great gift to Miranda, allowing her to communicate visually with her grandparents, uncles and aunts, and especially, her cousins—all who lived hundreds of miles away. Having virtual visits allows us to feel more in touch and there is no "making strange" when we have actual visits.
Here are some of our family highlights from the past year with a videophone. I hope you will agree that these experiences are not inconsequential and that you will want to provide your deaf child with the same opportunities:
1. Miranda sold Girl Scout cookies to her grandparents in San Diego
2. I played video hide and seek with her one day when she stayed home from school and I called from my office to check up on her.
3. Frustrated with trying to chat on a traditional TTY, Miranda and a friend who also had a videophone were able to switch to video and plan a get-together
4. Miranda enjoyed showing off "student of the month" certificates and artwork to extended family
5. Miranda corrected my father-in-law in Canada when he signed "I Love You" wrong.
6. At Halloween Miranda was able to display her costume and the pile of candy she got from Trick-or-Treating
7. When 8x8 ran a "Call Santa" promotion last year, Miranda was able to see and show Santa what she wanted for Christmas
8. On Christmas morning, Miranda was able to show off to cousins the life-size Barbie Doll she received
From these valuable interactions, I know that videophones have enriched Miranda's life immensely. I believe the following benefits would be true for any deaf child and their family, if they begin using a videophone/videoconferencing device: Videophones benefit deaf children by providing:
1. Access to extended family members
2. Access to deaf classmates (or deaf role models, if they are isolated in hearing only communities)
3. Access to parents at work or home (if the child is living in a school dorm)
4. Access to more information about the world, in general
Videophones benefit the parents of deaf children by providing:
1. Access to their child if they are at work or the child is away at a residential school
2. Access to an interpreter or deaf role model for immediate assistance in sign language or other deaf child issues
3. Satisfaction with themselves for bringing state-of-the-art technology into their children's life for their direct benefit
Videophones benefit extended family members of deaf children by providing:
1. Access to the deaf child's life
2. The ability to maintain a bond with the child
3. The ability to use visual communication with other members of the family as well
The challenge for me was to get videophones into the hands of all deaf kids, while 8x8's challenge was to get a critical mass of Americans to buy their videoconferencing technology. I regret to report neither I nor the company succeeded in reaching our lofty goals. The ViaTV Videophone product line was killed this past spring. However, I see it as only a temporary set-back. I know there are many of parents out there who will do anything to enrich their deaf child's life and they just need to become informed. There are other affordable videophone and videoconferencing products still available for consumers. Contact me directly and I can make recommendations, (richardmedugno@yahoo.com)
We parents need to get this technology into our homes and our children's schools, so that our visually-oriented children can benefit from it. So what can we do to facilitate the proliferation of video-enable telecommunication devices for our deaf kids and their families?
Here is my suggested plan of attack:
1. Lobby California's Deaf and Disabled Telecommunication Program (www.ddtp.org) which provides TTYs and other assistive devices to the deaf and disabled community. Every parent of a deaf child should phone, fax, email and/or address a message to the DDTP and DEMAND that videoconferencing products be added to their list of telecommunication devices to choose from. Some programs say they are mandated to loan out only tools that will provide "basic communication". Challenge both their assumptions and bureaucratic inertia—TTYs for young deaf children are a waste of taxpayers' money because they do not provide basic communication, whereas videophones do.
2. Lobby government, healthcare and educational institutions to incorporate "videoconferencing tools" into their settings and program services.
3. Contact videophone and videoconferencing manufacturers and encourage them to continue improving their products and meeting the needs of the deaf market in terms of special applications and meeting international standards so that all products are compatible.
4. Buy videoconferencing products for your extended family members, if they will not, and use them at every opportunity. Do not wait for an Internet solution or cable modem product that may provide cheaper or better video-calling. These solutions are only promises for the near future, and so much work remains to be done before they become a reality. It is likely several years down the road, at least; meanwhile, your child is in his or her formative years.
5. Join IMPACT ( www.deafkids.org ) and follow the above steps 1-4.
