Shakespeare Captioned (All's Well that Ends Well)

Shakespeare - with captions.  That's just the way Shakespeare should be experienced -  seeing and savoring every word.  It seems that only people with hearing loss get to do this, however.  A little poetic justice, I guess.

We just saw "All's Well that End's Well" last week at the outdoor Delacorte Theater in Central Park, as part of the Shakespeare in the Park series of the Public Theater - a summer tradition.  The Theatre Development Fund's Theatre Access Program arranges the captioning, done by C2 Caption Coalition, including the distribution of tickets, ordered online (free of charge, so they "sell out" fast!)  The captioning LED screen is set up above the entrance staircase, providing good sight lines from a section of the open-air theater.  Speakers are strung above the audience, providing good sound coverage as well.

The setting is idyllic (unless it's raining or unbearably hot!)  And for last week's performance, the surroundings were perfect.  The captioned performances bring out a crowd of "regulars" with a varied assortment of hearing loss and equipment: some hearing aids, some cochlear implants (bilateral and singles) - senior citizens, sign language users - all there to soak up the Shakespearean experience with one HUGE advantage: we don't miss a single word!  One almost feels sorry for the hearing mortals. 

It makes one wonder why captioning isn't provided routinely for all audiences. "What fools these mortals be!"  (Opera companies do supertitles, even for English language operas.)  For now, it's the best kept secret.  For those of us with hearing loss, captioning ensures that no matter what the Shakespearean production, all's well that ends well.

LaRueList: Bilateral Cochlear Implant networking at its best

My book, LISTENING CLOSELY, was just featured in an article on LaRueList, a dynamic newsletter produced by a dynamic woman, Jeannine Larue.  Take a look at the article first - and then I'll tell you how my bilateral cochlear implants helped to make this happen.

http://myemail.constantcontact.com/News-from-LaRuelist.html?soid=1101316876346&aid=pXlcta-hCWU

A few weeks ago, I attended the NJ Governor's Conference for Women - a great place to network and learn - definitely an empowering experience. The first event was a Networking Reception, an opportunity to "meet and greet" some of the hundreds of women at the conference.  That was a pretty daunting challenge for someone with a hearing loss, but I went in there confident that my bilateral cochlear implants were up to the task of "working the room."  And they were!  It was there that I saw Jeannine, whom I knew from a previous conference.  I updated her about my bilateral CI's and my new book.  People are always interested in learning about this miracle that allows deaf people to hear. 

We both agreed that more people should know about cochlear implants - and my book.  And that's how an article about LISTENING CLOSELY ended up in LaRueList.  Social networking at its best - both live and online.

Cochlear Implant Book Review: "fascinating memoir"

I'm still a novice at this social networking explosion, but I'm having a wonderful time navigating its pathways nonetheless.  My book, Listening Closely, seems to be a welcoming ambassador, opening doors I didn't even know existed. That's how I met Melissa Amster, the Chick Lit Central blogger, who found my book listed on a book-lovers' website, and related to it because of her own family's connection to hearing loss and cochlear implants. She interviewed me on her blog (if I were really savvy, I'd put the link here - but for now, take my word for it!)  And now she's written this review of my book, with an enlightened, fresh perspective:

Chick Lit Book Review

We both know that people in the mainstream, who never usually give much thought to hearing loss or deafness, need to read this book to understand the sense that connects them, invisibly, to the world.

Sturbridge Convention - where it all began

The Northeast Cochlear Implant Convention 2011 is coming up next week, being held at the Sturbridge Host Hotel and Convention Center in Sturbridge, Massachusetts on July 8 - 10  http://www.neci2011.neciconvention.org/
This year, I am one of the presenters - doing a session on bilateral cochlear implants on Sunday, July 10 at 9 AM. 

The history of this convention runs deep for me - I was at the very first one, held  in June of 1997, researching my own cochlear implant options.   I wasn't alone, either - it was there that I met many of what became a close-knit group of "first generation" cochlear implant users.  We weren't exactly pioneers, but cochlear implants weren't exactly commonplace yet either. 

Those were the days when you had to have very little hearing left to qualify - about 20% using hearing aids.  I didn't have to worry, though - my hearing at that point was just 8% in my "better" ear.  I met people like myself, researching their options - and I also met people who had already gotten their CI's.  I didn't have to be sold, though - I was desperate - my long journey from normal to profound deafness had reached its ultimate destination.

I made a return visit to this convention in 2001, to sign copies of my first book, Hear Again - Back to Life with a Cochlear Implant.  And now, in 2011, I'm looking forward to talking about bilateral cochlear implants, and signing copies of my second book, Listening Closely: A Journey to Bilateral Hearing.  

I have to smile at the thought of returning to my "alma mater" this year, as a member of its original graduating class.  

TV Interview Now on YouTube!

It's finally here -  the LTV East Hampton television talk show program, ACCESS with Richard Rosenthal is now on YouTube!
 
Part 1 (Parts 2-6 below)



This interview is groundbreaking and unique because Richard Rosenthal has a hearing loss, so he zones in on the real issues and important perspectives about hearing loss.  I met Richard about 25 years ago at an event at the League for the Hard of Hearing (now called the Center for Hearing and Communication), and we had much to talk about, as both of us were interested and dedicated to advocacy for people with hearing loss.  Our paths diverged over the years, but we finally connected once again when Richard saw the promotional materials for my second book, Listening Closely.  He found me on Facebook, "friended" me (pretty impressive for an octogenarian!) - and invited me to appear on his program.  That was an offer I couldn't refuse, and we did a day trip out to East Hampton from New Jersey. 

A big thanks to Richard and LTV East Hampton for allowing the two half-hour programs to be uploaded to YouTube so that even those not in the LTV broadcast area can watch these programs.  Richard won the prestigious Alliance for Community Media award in 2010 for the quality of the work on his ACCESS program.

You'll notice that Richard uses headphones and a person FM system (transmitter w/microphone and headphones w/receiver) to communicate. That delivers the sound directly to his ears, and works well for him, as you see in the interview.

You'll also notice that these video segments are captioned.  Just click on the CC button to turn the captions on.  The captions should be showing when the CC button is red.  Getting these videos captioned is another interesting story. 

A few weeks ago, I was contacted by a lovely young woman, Nari French, from Australia, who had been searching for books for her mother, who is deaf and has bilateral cochlear implants.  She found Listening Closely on Amazon.com and read the author bio, where it mentions my advocacy for open captioning of live theater performances.  It turns out that Nari has her own captioning business, The Captioning Studio, and does open captioning for live theater performances in Australia!  At the same time, we both were connected to a new captioning advocacy group, CCAC -  http://www.ccacaptioning.org/ - whose members are both consumers and captioning providers. (For more info contact:  ccacaptioning@gmail.com )

I posted to the CCAC group that I needed to have these LTV videos captioned, and Nari was the first one to respond, offering to do them pro bono.  She made me an offer I couldn't refuse!   With the cooperation and collaboration of LTV and Richard Rosenthal, these videos are now making their captioned debut on YouTube!

Thanks Richard, everyone at LTV, Nari, CCAC - and everyone else making this happen.  It takes a village!


Arlene Romoff on Access with Richard Rosenthal on LTV
Aired June 2011
Part 1


Part 2


Part 3


Part 4


Part 5


Part 6

WICKED captioned at the Kennedy Center

I promised to talk more about the captioned live performance of WICKED at the Kennedy Center - one of the highlights of the HLAA convention held in Crystal City, just outside of Washington DC.  This was also an enormous challenge for the Kennedy Center, as it had to prepare for 600 convention attendees, eager to enjoy the show - with captions!

As I've mentioned, and is noted in my book, "Listening Closely", I've been involved with advocacy for live theater captioning since 1996 (prior to getting my cochlear implants), when we were successful in getting the first open captioned performance at Paper Mill Playhouse in New Jersey.  I've also been attending the LEAD arts access conferences, sponsored by the Kennedy Center. Here's the brochure from the 2010 conference - flip to Page 5 to see me using a neckloop and infrared receiver, while trying out a handheld device for museums -
 http://www.kennedy-center.org/accessibility/education/lead/LEAD-ConferenceBrochure.pdf

The captioned performance was a sight to behold - as the show's stage set and the theater itself are grand and impressive.  There were LED signs on either side of the stage, and 5 more hung from the balcony so that people in the rear orchestra could also read the captioning.  The theater was looped temporarily for this occasion (so people with t-coils on their hearing aids or cochlear implant processors just had to turn them on), in addition to having 600 receivers available for the infrared system.  It was all taken care of so professionally that no one suspected what grandiose preparations had taken place behind the scenes.
According to Betty Siegel, Director of Accessibility at the Kennedy Center, this was like planning for D-Day.  And for David Chu of C2 Caption Coalition, he had the daunting task of coordinating seven LED screens - some with two lines of text and some with three - aside from all the electronics involved.

Betty borrowed LED signs from everyone they knew - George Mason University, Gallaudet University, National Museum of the American Indian, C2, Inc and from as far away as VSA Arizona.  David Chu, C2, Inc. worked his way thru countless technical glitches, and then did an absolutely stellar job with the captioning itself, ensuring that the timing and scrolling was precise on all 7 signs (so good that two hardened stage hands were overheard to say it was "amazing" and the best they'd ever seen). And, of course, there were support staff collecting the signs, coordinating with the production office, dealing with tickets, and so much more.

So when the final curtain fell to a standing ovation, it all looked as though they do this kind of thing all the time.  Well, yes - they do open captioned performances all the time - but to pull this off without a glitch for 600 people - this is one for the Guinness Book of Records!  Memorable and wonderful!

Bravo to all who made this happen - allowing 600 people with hearing loss to attend an incredible show "with dignity."

HLAA Convention 2011

I just returned from the Hearing Loss Association of America - HLAA (www.hearingloss.org) convention, held right outside of Washington DC.  It's my annual rite of passage, having attended this event for over 15 years.  Prior to the advent of cochlear implants, these were very sad but necessary gatherings - since hearing aids were not sufficient remediation for the many attendees with severe to profound hearing loss.  It was a place to lean on each other, and to learn about emerging technologies, assistive equipment, and of course, to forge lasting friendships.  Now with cochlear implants and sophisticated telecommunications technologies, there's a party atmosphere there - "happy" is an understatement!

This year, I was there in two capacities - as New Jersey state association president, and also as author.  I'm pretty seasoned in the state association role, but this new "author" title continues to amaze me - as it is an odyssey in its own right!  It seemed that the hard "author" work - the writing, the editing, the publishing - was just the preliminary.  Now it's all about THE BOOK.

I was very touched that people, who had already purchased and read Listening Closely, brought their copies from home for me to sign.  And others who lined up to have a book signed were eager to tell me their stories.  I hadn't really given a lot of thought to this part of the book journey - but it's a fascinating process, and adventure.  And a whole lot of people asked me what my third book was going to be about.  Good question!

I have more to say about the convention - like the 600 people from the convention who attended the open captioned performance of WICKED at the Kennedy Center - but that will have to wait for the next blog entry.  Stay tuned!