Jack.O'keeffe@f26.n129.z1.fidonet.org (Jack O'keeffe) (10/26/90)
Index Number: 11323
[This is from the Silent Talk Conference]
Editorial in Beaver County (PA) "Times" Sunday 10/21/90
WHAT A BOON FOR THE DEAF
Only President Bush's expected signature is needed to provide a
boon to the estimated 22 million Americans who are deaf or hard
of hearing.
The only question is, what took Congress so long to get around
to enacting legislation that will require most television sets
to come equipped with caption services?
The technology has been available; in fact all prime time pro-
gramming and a great deal of other programming has been closed
captioned for years, although the service has been limited to
a small fraction of those who have hearing problems because of
the cost of the necessary decoders.
Starting in July, 1993, all sets with screens larger than 13
inches will be required to come equipped with a computer chip
that will provide closed captioning at the flip of a switch.
The addition of the technology will mean an increase of anywhere
from $3 to $10 in the cost of a television set, but what a cheap
price to pay for such an advantage.
But the effectiveness of the legislation does not stop there.
The closed captioning will be a plus for the nation's literacy
programs and for those who are learning English as a second
language.
... Live, from Beaver County, it's . . . .
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