Originally appeared in Silent News, February 2002.

Believe it or not, babies born in 1980 – now 22 years old – do not remember a life without captions. But for the rest of us old-timers, we certainly remember life without that funny-looking brown box on top of our TVs that we could buy for $299 (and eventually $99) at Sears. Dynasty still continues to be one of the major events in many deaf people’s lives when talking about favorite shows. It was probably the first show that everyone actually could talk about week after week – who didn’t love to discuss the outlandish outfits, big hair, and hilarious fights between Krystle and Alexis?

It was on March 16, 1980, that the American deaf population tuned in to watch some of the first staples of American television that were closed captioned by the National Captioning Institute (NCI), including The ABC Sunday Night Movie, The Wonderful World of Disney and Masterpiece Theatre. While there were previous attempts to caption shows such as  ABC News (which was a re-broadcast shown at 11:30 p.m. Eastern, or at 6:30 a.m the next day.) and The French Chef, which first captioned its shows in 1971 by TheCaption Center, 1980 stands out as the year the captioning took hold in television programming.

It’s been three decades since captioning became reality for television owners and we’ve made great strides. We have an almost a full prime-time captioned line-up, have captioned movies, captioned videotapes and captioned/subtitled DVDs; and captioned lectures. By golly, we’ve arrived!

Not so fast, say many captioning experts.

Hurdles and Obstacles
Jay Feinberg, of NCI in Vienna, Va., says that even though the amount of captioned programming is steadily increasing, there’s still not full access. “Unfortunately, there is no good source of information on exactly how much programming is captioned.” Almost all nationally syndicated programs are captioned, but among cable networks, Feinberg says, captioning levels vary considerably.

A major boost has been the Federal Communications Commission (www.fcc.gov). The Television Decoder Circuitry Act mandated built-in captioning decoders in all television sets 13 inches or larger manufactured after July 1993. Congress also passed a law in 1996 that requires video program distributors to phase in closed captioning of their television programs, although the new law does not require captioning of home videos or video games.

Based on the law passed in 1996, the FCC also requires, as of Jan. 1 this year, that at least 50% of all new network shows be captioned. But many feel the obstacle lies in the fact that there are many exceptions, including programs shown between 2 a.m. and 6 a.m., commercials under five minutes long, programs shown on new networks for the first four years of the network’s operations, and video programming providers with annual gross revenues under $3 million.

“I believe most broadcasters are trying to meet the newest requirements, but there are many exemptions,” says Gary Robson, author of two books on captioning and a developer of captioning software. “For all practical purposes, the laws mandate captioning only on broadcast television.”

Robson’s right. Perhaps the most powerful exemption is the one that exempts home videos. In the “old days” of captioning, deaf people would often check the covers of rental videos carefully to see if they were captioned or not. Nowadays, that’s a rare occurrence.

Even so, Bill Stark, project director of the Captioned Media Program, reminds us that there’s still a huge gap between full accessibility and where we are today. “You probably are accustomed to going to a video store and finding most current movies with closed captions. But if you were a teacher of deaf kids and looking for captioned videos, you’d find that under 20% have captions,” he says.

“If you were a parent of a deaf kid and looking for educational captioned CD-ROMs or educational captioned DVDs, or captioned anything, you’d be very frustrated.”

Kelby Brick, a deaf attorney in Laurel, Md., filed a complaint with the FCC against cable company provider Comcast and Court TV for not meeting the Jan. 1 , 2000, requirement of having 25% of its programming captioned. FCC ruled in Brick’s favor, noting that Court TV had voluntarily, as a result of Brick’s complaint, increased the hours of captioning on its network.

These aren’t the only obstacles preventing us from full access to our society. Joe Clark, the Ralph Nader of the captioning industry and considered by many one of the captioning industry’s pests, says that quality of captioning is a serious concern.

“No, quite obviously, we are not at ‘full access yet’,” Clark, an author and accessibility consultant based in Toronto, says. “We would need something approaching 90% captioning on all programming that could be captioned to achieve ‘full access.’ I say 90%, because, as in the Canadian regulations, if you’re captioning 90% you’re probably captioning 100%, and in any event some unavoidable technical problem will come up on a rare occasion.

“Unfortunately, though, quality of captioning, which was never great, has gone steadily downhill…Mom-and-pop captioning shops and postproduction houses who seem to think that captioning is ‘straightforward’ are a pox on the industry.”

He claims that a reason for this is the captioners’ salaries. “Salaries are crap… Moreover, it’s an insult. You’re supposed to be a university graduate with unmatched literacy, and temp secretaries earn more money than you do? Frankly, you might as well work as a phone-sex operator. It’ll earn you a lot more money than captioning.”

Although Clark’s view is a bit extreme, many real-time captioners also work at meetings needing computer-assisted real-time captioning (CART), or in court situations. The equipment basics are the same – and requirements, though for different needs, are basically the same. Many real-time captioners work on a free-lance basis, working for anyone who wants to use CART, with minimal training.

Even so, there are real-time captioning companies that genuinely do provide top-notch, quality services. One such company is Caption First, located in Chicago. Pat Graves, president, says that the company has 12 real-time captioners working for the company who are predominantly certified real-time reporters. The certification is awarded by the National Court Reporters Association (NCRA). Graves is also the chairperson of the NCRA CART Task Force, which “has written a manual and guidelines for professional practice pertaining to CART,” she says.

Brenda Breaux, a real-time captioner in New Orleans who attended college specializing in court reporting, says that she had to pass speed tests starting at 60 words per minute and going as high as 225 words per minute. “I had to pass three tests in three categories – literary, jury charge, and testimony – with 97 percent accuracy. ” She specializes in court reporting and classroom captioning for deaf and hard of hearing students (and also blind students, who have their transcripts transcribed into Braille by the colleges).

“Training for CART providers and TV news captioners requires familiarity and programming of words, or dictionaries, pertaining to each individual job, assignment or news program. The goal is to have 100 percent translation and accuracy, and that comes with an internship and training period,” Graves explains in an e-mail. “We do not allow CART providers and captioners to ‘practice’ on consumers!”

Even with these stringent training requirements, Clark still thinks it’s not enough. Clark has spent decades writing to captioning companies notifying them of captioning errors. Indeed, captioning bloopers are sometimes funny, but mostly they are confusing, especially in times of emergency live newscasts when new vocabulary (the September 11 attacks, for example) may be introduced for the first time to the viewing audience.

He says that often, when tapes are re-encoded (captions being redone to an original, pre-recorded tape) the error is supposedly fixed. “But in practice, even re-encoded tapes – like syndicated episodes of The Simpsons – contain the original errors.” So, Clark says, when a captioner is notified of an error, the captioner should eat the cost of re-encoding the program.

“Now, can you imagine how well that would go over? Captioners would suddenly become accountable, and their errors would suddenly begin to cost them. And I mean, we can’t have that! Not when we’re paying our caption ‘editors’ $20,000 a year!”

Robson thinks another obstacle in achieving full caption accessibility is education. “Despite the huge amount of information about captioning that’s been published, far too many people in the broadcast business don’t understand the fundamentals. Why are they captioning in the first place? What are the captions supposed to accomplish?”

NCI’s Feinberg adds, “The reasons for captioning are complex – a combination of doing the right thing, meeting mandates and technical sophistication. A major effort in the early days of captioning was to make network executives aware of how important it was to people who are deaf and hard of hearing to be able to have the same access to the wide range of entertainment and important news programming on television that hearing people had. Even as awareness increased, budgets were slow to follow.” He credits the U.S. Department of Education funding as being a major boost to the hours of captioned programming available.

The Next Decade
So, in the next decade, what should we expect? Feinberg says most of the changes to come will be invisible to the regular viewer. “Technically, the biggest change will be the conversion to digital television… the current plans for captioning digital television will give viewers control over the appearance of the captions on the screen, such as size, color, and font.” He also believes that continuing advances in computer technology will help captioners provide high-quality captions at lower costs.

Robson, whose wife is a real-time captioner, predicts that captioning will become commonplace. “Ten years from now, it will be difficult to find a person who doesn’t know what captioning is and how to [activate] it on their television set.”

Clark, however, is a bit more pessimistic. “[Captioning] will get worse. More widespread, but worse.”

Perhaps, as has been the case for many years now, most of us will simply continue to discover new captioned shows exactly how Gallaudet University President I. King Jordan did: by surprise.

In the early 1990s, Jordan attended a meeting of the Caption Center advisory board in Boston during the day and then flew home to hurry and attend a black- tie event in the evening in Washington, D.C.

“I can remember rushing into my bedroom to change into a tux and having the TV on while I was dressing. It was turned to the local NBC affiliate and the local news was on,” Jordan recalls. “I was standing there watching and following the news when all of a sudden it hit me. Hey, I can understand this! A local news program was captioned! Live!”

Prior to that, only the national news broadcasts were captioned in the District. Jordan continues, “I was blown away because they hadn’t made a big deal about it, it just appeared. It took years before all the local news was captioned, but now ABC, CBS, NBC and FOX are all captioned live. I think news and, more importantly, emergency coverage captioning is most important, and we have come a long way.”

Special thanks to David Pierce for his technical assistance.

Copyrighted material. This article can not be copied, reproduced, or redistributed without the written consent of the author.

Originally appeared in Silent News, February 2002.

I have a little secret to tell you.

I am a ballet failure.

But, ah, I quit ballet for a reason. You see, Sesame Street was on at 5 p.m. daily – the same time as my ballet lessons. So I was given the opportunity to pick one or the other.

My mother’s stern face looked at me with raised eyebrows as she asked me what I wanted to do, and I said happily, “OK! QUIT!” I saw the hope in her face crumbling away. Mom had grown up taking ballet lessons and had often shown me pictures of her dancing on toe in sequined leotards.

But me? In a tutu? Me, a tomboy that preferred to kick a soccer ball into the faces of boys who aimed for my knees during practice (I’ve got the scars on my legs to prove it)? Seeing Linda Bove on Sesame Street was the greatest highlight of my day when I came home from school. Especially since the show had started being captioned – I could now finally tell my friends who my favorite characters were. To this day it’s Telly and the monsters that communicate by honking their noses.

I remember my father trying to make my mom – who can speak well – lipread entire conversations on TV, getting annoyed with her when she would sign, “Hold on, hold on” with her eyes fixated on the people’s mouths. And I would watch diligently along with Dad, trying to learn what I could.

Captioning wasn’t without its drawbacks for my parents, though. One evening, I saw the sentence on the big 27-inch television: “JACK, I’M NOT A VIRGIN.” Mom was in another room, so I asked Dad, “What’s a virgin?” My dad stammered, and after a long pause, said a little too quickly, “Someone who’s never been kissed!”

Later that night, as Mom was giving me my bath, I proudly said that I was not a virgin. After picking up the bar of soap that suddenly slipped out of her hands, Mom asked me in shaky signs, “Trudy, what does virgin mean?” I gleefully announced that I had been kissed, and therefore not a virgin!

She immediately went to give my father a lesson in telling the truth after teaching me about the birds and bees.

These all are, of course, because of the advent of closed captioning early in my life. I grew up with access to television, though I definitely remember the days before captioning (and because I am a night person by nature, I often have to flip through channels repeatedly until I can find something captioned at three or four a.m., usually Law & Order reruns).

I was fortunate to have parents who were fluent in my language, so I always had communication access 24 hours a day, 7 days a week; I had this even with my hearing family members, who always had paper and pen ready to communicate with me if they didn’t know the signs. Even so, there’s nothing like a movie that the entire family can watch together.

At the public junior high school I attended along with 50 other deaf children, the deaf kids in my crowd and I would always bring the newspaper’s television guide to school. At lunchtime or during classes together, we would all agree to watch whatever movie of the week that night. The next day we would gather to discuss the movie, its characters and plot, and determine our opinions on the movie’s results.

An early movie club, I guess. And these ‘discussions’ were only made possible through the movies being captioned. I remember learning what domestic violence was when my mother and I watched Farrah Fawcett in The Burning Bed. It was the first time I understood the powerlessness of women in some relationships – and their choices – and it’s served me well throughout life. In high school, I was able to keep up with current events, thanks to closed captioning. My two-hour humanities course during my senior year required that we keep a log of television news broadcasts during the Gulf War. I wouldn’t have been able to do that if not for closed captioning.

I believe we’ve got a long way to go. I’m guilty of sometimes accepting too quickly that a show isn’t captioned, and wondering if it’s ever going to be (or suddenly stop being captioned, like many of the shows on The Learning Channel, such as Trading Spaces). All I have to do is write letters, and draw attention to the fact. It takes time and commitment, but if we all collectively write letters – polite, clear letters – we’d probably make more of an impact.

I would still choose Oscar the Grouch over a showing of The Nutcracker on television any day.

Copyrighted material. This article can not be copied, reproduced, or redistributed without the written consent of the author.

Originally appeared in Silent News, February 2002.

There’s been a lot of publicity surrounding deaf prisoners within the past few years, including Joseph Heard, who was wrongly jailed for 22 months in a Washington, D.C. jail. Often deaf inmates are forced to deal with officers and other prisoners who do not understand deafness, prison systems that do not provide interpreters or accommodations, and cultural differences between hearing and deaf inmates.

Katrina Miller, originally from Kansas and currently working at the University of Arkansas Rehabilitation Research and Training Center for Persons who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing in Little Rock, recently earned her doctorate in deaf studies/deaf education. What makes her doctorate unique is that Miller chose to focus specifically on deaf inmates in the Texas state prison system – which is remarkable, considering that research on deaf inmates is sparse. She studied 97 deaf offenders serving time at a Huntsville prison.

“I looked at three areas pertaining to deaf prisoners [in Texas prisons]. Demographics, offenses, and accommodations provided,” explains Miller, who has a deaf sister. However, before she could actually study the population, she had to first go through a long process of being approved by several review boards.

When studying demographics, Miller discovered that most were similar between hearing and deaf offenders – sex, race, age, and IQ – but educational achievements differed greatly. “The average educational achievement of deaf offenders was third grade, but it was seventh grade for the remaining population,” Miller says.

In Texas, which possibly has the largest population of deaf inmates in the country, deaf inmates are grouped together at a specific facility. Miller feels this is a good practice. “I think grouping is an excellent strategy. Deaf people from rural areas or with communication isolation can be socialized to some extent in prison.” Miller also adds that prisons may become more supportive of hiring interpreters if there are more deaf people together in one location, making interpreting services cost-effective.

“I think it is healthier for deaf prisoners to be with people they can talk to,” she says. “It’s also safer for them physically, because deaf prisoners would make easy prey for others who would take advantage of them.” The drawbacks are that due to cultural differences, deaf prisoners are more likely to freely share information, which may create problems and give them unfair reputations for being “snitches” among hearing inmates.

Miller’s research also included talking with prisoners and learning about their experiences, backgrounds, and communication styles. The population at Huntsville has a full-time interpreter on staff and replacement interpreters as necessary, in addition to one television with closed captioning, TTYs upon request, and vibrating alarms. However, each inmate also has an identification card that states that he is deaf so they will not be disciplined for ignoring officers or not responding to directives they didn’t hear.

“One man said that he had been put into a different facility because he used voice during his intake and [officials] would not believe he was deaf. It took him four months and his parents’ intervention to get over to the Physically Handicapped Offender Program environment,” Miller recounts.

Another area explored is the use of language. Miller chose to categorize the deaf inmates by oral, signing, and minimal language or language disorders. She learned that many of the inmates adapted their sign language to the prison environment. “For instance, a sign typically used for ILLEGAL was often used to describe CONTRABAND in the prison setting. It made perfect sense. There were also signs that I’d never seen, some of which were devised to describe the prison setting or were iconic gestures between hearing and deaf people that had become part of the language,” Miller says.

Other signs were simply old Texas School for the Deaf signs that are rarely seen today, such as the old sign for PUNISH that evolved to mean PRISON or HUNTSVILLE. This evolution of signs is common among deaf inmates, such as these at the Eastern Correctional Facility in Napanoch, N.Y., where the sign for INMATE is formed by pinching the inmate’s pants and shaking the cloth. Eastern has approximately 20 deaf inmates grouped together; Pennsylvania has 20 and Georgia 10, according to Miller, who was unable to get numbers for California.

Miller earned her bachelor’s degree from the University of Alaska, Anchorage, in sociology in 1993, and master’s degree in rehabilitation counseling with the deaf from Western Oregon University in 1996. She is one of Lamar’s star graduates, according to Jean Andrews, Regents’ Professor of Deaf Studies. “She is not only one of our most prolific doctoral students in terms of professional writing, she is also a pioneer in her area of forensic studies.”

Miller has turned her research into a book, Deaf Culture Behind Bars: Signs and Stories of a Texas Population, due to be published and released by AGO Publications this summer. The book also provides a history, signs that may be unique to correctional populations, and tips for communicating with deaf prisoners.

“It’s my hope that it will lead to more of what I like to call ‘access studies’ in the prisons, which are studies and recommendations advocating for the accommodation of deaf inmates,” Miller says.

While at the University of Arkansas, she will research the use of job coaching and job support for deaf people with minimal language skills and multiple disabilities, in addition to advocating for legal rights primarily by publishing in legal journals. She credits many people for her success, namely Lamar University advisor Dr. Tony Martin, and Dr. McCay Vernon, a renowned researcher and psychologist.

“In addition, the information from this study will be used to help professionals in the field of corrections to understand and develop sensitivity to the unique barriers and cultural issues that deaf inmates face in the prison environment. I think Texas can provide a leadership role in sharing about the program they have developed with other states.”

Copyrighted material. This article can not be copied, reproduced, or redistributed without the written consent of the author.

Originally appeared in Silent News, February 2002.

Council Bluffs, Iowa – Robert Patzner always dreamed of facing what seemed to be his biggest challenge: owning race horses and training them on his 10-acre hobby farm in the countryside of Council Bluffs, Iowa. Many of his friends warned him, saying that it wouldn’t be a good idea. He didn’t listen to them, and bought his first horse approximately 26 years ago.

Patzner, who grew up on a farm in Guttenburg, Iowa, and graduated from the Iowa School for the Deaf in 1951, says his love for horses began when his brother gave him a toy that looked similar to a horse track with a string of marbles that were in lanes between barriers. By pulling a rope, the marbles would take off. “This toy was my favorite, and obviously where my spark for horses began,” he says.

It wasn’t until the mid-1970s that he was introduced to racing, when friends took him to a racetrack in Omaha, Neb. There, he decided to pursue his dream of owning racehorses.

With the purchase of his first horse, Patzner learned how difficult the first years would be. “At first, it was a struggle for me to keep my business running by not earning winnings from my first few horses.” But in 1978, Patzner had his first taste of sweet victory when one of his racehorses, Tousty George, gave Patzner his first victory. The victory also helped boost his confidence and belief in his abilities in training his horses to become winners.

Owning racehorses isn’t a cheap hobby. Patzner, who worked for 42 years in production for the Serta Mattress Company, is not a rich man, nor is he close to becoming a millionaire. “I can’t recall ever having a hobby that did not cost a dime to actually maintain or be involved in,” he says. “So you see, there are a great deal of expenses to cover before one can say they truly have a hobby that, number one, you truly enjoy and number two, you can afford.”

Besides, he says, “Financially, for many years, we have been in the black. So if I can at least win from here on out, then my wife lets me keep the horses and even sleep inside the house and not in the barn with the horses.”

Racing horses isn’t the only sport that Patzner has been involved with. A standout athlete at the Iowa School for the Deaf in basketball, he once played against St. Louis Cardinal pitcher Bob Gibson – and even was involved in a fistfight with Gibson. Patzner later played basketball for local clubs, and continues to attend both local and national deaf basketball games as a fan cheering on his deaf sons.

He currently owns six horses, two of which are mares expecting foals this spring. “It’s one thing to own a thoroughbred and another whole ball game just to raise racehorses from a filly and/or foal to a full-fledged healthy racing thoroughbred,” he explains. “This is not a small task; it’s taken a long time, patience, and a lot of sorrows to get where I am in my life now. But this is what I love.”

Patzner’s countless racing victories, mostly held at Nebraska and Iowa racetracks, stretches over 26 years. “It is not possible for me to keep track of the number of victories I have had since 1978,” Patzner says.

One of his biggest career disappointments was losing one of his best racing horse, April Flyer, in an automobile accident as he was driving a truck with a horse trailer in 1996. “April Flyer was my most favorite horse with a great possible future after multiple racing victories before the accident.”

Patzner continues to challenge the loss of April Flyer by turning his other horses into winners. He hired a horse trainer, W.F. Conyers, to help take care of his racehorses, and his most recent victory happened in Prairie Meadows, Iowa on Oct. 1, 2001, with his current racehorse, Miss Shares.

“Sure, of course I dream of making it rich in the horse business some day so that I may retire and maybe one of my five children would like to take over my business. Then I could just sit back, relax, travel all over the world and maybe even watch the horses win the Kentucky Derby or something big like that,” Patzner says.

He quickly adds, “But…then again, it wouldn’t be my hobby anymore, would it?”

Copyrighted material. This article can not be copied, reproduced, or redistributed without the written consent of the author.

Originally appeared in Silent News, February 2002.

Auto shows allow people to check out the latest accessories, marvel at concept cars, and sigh over vehicles they’ll never be able to afford. There are often gimmicky performances and conversations with people about new innovative products, and fascinating details behind each car that are told by presenters or automotive industry workers. Deaf and hard of hearing people are now able to participate in what is considered one of the staples of the driving world, thanks to a program offered by General Motors’s Pontiac-GMC division.

Pontiac-GMC, for the fourth year, is providing interpreting services at each of its auto shows across the nation. American Sign Language (ASL) interpreters and product specialists conduct tours of the show for deaf/hard of hearing groups of sizes from anywhere to five people to 100 people, with tours lasting as long as six hours. Each group member is given a complimentary ticket, along with a souvenir.

“Last year alone, more than 1,500 deaf and hard of hearing students and community members experienced auto shows through the Pontiac-GMC program,” Christine Conti, public relations manager, said.

The program, which is paid for by Pontiac-GMC and through volunteer efforts, is the only one of its kind. The program, in addition to providing interpreters, also is exploring the possibility of having monitors and/or kiosks with closed captions during each tour.

“A typical auto show has displays by major automotive companies and related vendors, where speaking demonstrations about key vehicles and products are constantly taking place,” Conti said. “And the shows all provide plenty of written information about the products that can be taken home for more in-depth understanding.”

Many of the groups participating in Pontiac-GMC’s program are from schools, where students and teachers incorporate the program in their curricula.

“We are so glad that the experience so far has been a positive one,” Conti said, “and we are starting to make new friends for more group visits year after year.”

Shows are planned through April. For exact dates and locations, please e-mail carshowsfordeaf@aol.com.

Copyrighted material. This article can not be copied, reproduced, or redistributed without the written consent of the author.

Originally appeared in Silent News, February 2002.

At first glance, the concept seems ridiculously simple. Set up a tripod-like device in front of you with two mirrors attached, and you can see what’s being shown on the wall behind you in order to interpret effectively.

Interpreters often have to interpret blindly what is being presented on the walls or screens behind them as they sit facing deaf consumers. It’s either that, or arch their necks at unsightly and often physically painful angles while maintaining the positioning of their signing at acceptable levels for the consumers.

But nobody had ever thought to produce such a device to alleviate the physical strains – until the Interpreter Mirror, devised by Steve Frank, an interpreter from Baltimore, Md. An odd-looking device at first glance, the Interpreter Mirror has quickly become an instrument of necessity for many interpreters.

Frank became interested in sign language and interpreting when he was in Russia in 1983. He returned to America and enrolled in courses at Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C. and Catonsville Community College in Maryland, then worked as a dormitory counselor at the Maryland School for the Deaf in Columbia for two years. Eventually he earned his certifications in interpreting and transliteration (CI/CT) from the Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf.

“I found that most of my interpreting jobs involved visuals that I had to crane my neck to see. It was aggravating and later painful,” Frank said. “Finally, after a particularly grueling day of head-turning on Feb. 23, 1998 at two meetings, I went home to solve the problem. I figured that there must be a way to do it with mirrors.”

Frank took two mirrors and did some creative aligning of them to try and see a clock behind him. The crude yet effective experiment worked. With this concept in mind, Frank went through research and development, then applied for a patent that was granted on Sept. 25, 2001. Frank orders the parts from 15 companies then hand-assembles the kits out of Baltimore.

Today, he says he steadily provides the products to schools and universities, businesses, government agencies, churches, and interpreters. The product isn’t cheap, though, running at $350 for a full package. Even so, users of the device say it’s well worth the purchase. Steve C. Phan, CI/CT, Educational Liaison/Lead Interpreter at Houston Community College in Texas, said, “I have used it in two different college classes. One instructor made ample use of overhead transparencies; another instructor showed many videotapes during the semester. In both cases, my team interpreter and I felt the Interpreter Mirror helped save time and effort, physical and mental. I especially appreciate its portability and quick setup.”

Besides, Phan adds, the steep price serves well as a tax deduction. “Hopefully the price will go down as more people purchase it.”

Angel Carpenter, CI/CT, who works at the University of Central Florida in Orlando agrees with Phan. “The Interpreter Mirror has been invaluable to me, primarily when I interpret in university lecture halls. I am often unable to see visual information such as PowerPoint slides or transparencies that are behind me, but using the Interpreter Mirror allows me to catch that information and render my interpretation more accurately.”

The device, which consists of two joined mirrors and a tripod, is a bit difficult to set up at first. Users have to learn how to align the mirrors at the ‘just-right’ angle – but once that step is learned, it becomes easy to use. The product also comes with a carrying case, instructions, and other accessories.

“The basic argument for use of the mirror is that an interpreter can only accurately interpret that which s/he fully understands. Any message consists of both the verbal and visual parts. If the interpreter does not have convenient access to the visual part of the message, then something will suffer – either the interpreter’s neck or some of the message will be missed,” Frank says. “We believe that the mirror greatly increases the interpreter’s ability to fully understand the message and thus interpret it more accurately.”

For more information on the Interpreter Mirror, visit www.interpreter-mirror.com.

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