Making Connections: Technology Adoption in The Deaf World

The Fractured Deaf World

Until the 1960s
The problem was largely geographic: Large numbers of the Deaf lived in rural America, in small communities
Cut off from any larger Deaf community
For decades, the Deaf had no access to telephone technology
Restricted to alternatives:
- Letters/mail
- In person (walk or drive to the person's house)
- Deaf Clubs

1964: Idea by deaf physicist Robert Weitbrecht, with James Marsters and Andrew Saks
Teletype machine + acoustic coupler + telephone = TTY
1973: the MCM (Manual Communications Module) - portable device which allowed two-way communication
- Premiered at the California Association of the Deaf convention.
- Within six months - more MCMs in use by the deaf than TTY machines.
Deaf typically refer to TTY, MCM as TTYs
“A Phone Of Our Own”, Harry G. Lang

DeafNet: Department of Health, Education and Welfare project to raise awareness of email among the Deaf
“Funded in 1978, the SRI project first built a demonstration system that was installed at Gallaudet University”
Used modified ARPANET email software
This makes the Deaf communities one of the first outside of government and academia to benefit from access to email.

VRS - Video Relay Service
First trials in Texas in 1995
Sorenson and D-Link create VP-100 videophone in 2000, free to deaf individuals
VRS Federally subsidized in 2002 as part of the ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act)

Instant Messaging: ICQ, AIM, MSN, Yahoo
Computer-to-computer
More likely to be used in the US than in other countries where SMS has been available longer and message rates are cheaper
Provides real-time conversation
"An online survey of 884 deaf and hard of hearing adults asked about their current and past use of communication technologies, notably TTY, telecommunications relay services, email, and instant messaging (IM). Results showed that respondents were using e-mail and IM far more than TTY and relay services." (2002)

Short Message Service (AKA text messaging) - feature of many mobile phones
Developed in 1987, in widespread use by late 1990’s
Everyone Here Speaks TXT, pub. 2004
Research paper "...examines the extent to which Short Message Service (SMS) messages are breaking down communication barriers among deaf people and between deaf and hearing people"
T-Mobile's Sidekick, Blackberry are favorites among Deaf users

“the true dawn of Deaf blogs arose during the recent Gallaudet Protest [Ed. 2006] when many spectators were thirsty for up-to-the-minute information.
“The Deaf Community was already tight-knit, but the blogs brought us closer together and built new relationships that didn’t exist before.“ (Jared Evans, deafread.com, in NADmag Jan 2007)

Deafread.com, DeafBlogs.net - aggregate Deaf blogs, video blogs
vLogs: Video blog posts in ASL
Rise of video due to availability of:
- cheap video cameras
- cheap consumer editing tools
- cheap broadband internet
- cheap video hosting (Google Video, YouTube, VideoEgg)
Allows Deaf bloggers to communicate in their native language

Teri Sentelle, terisentelle.com
Posting in ASL
"Hi, I am Teri. Welcome to Deaf Dish - Thru the Eyes and Hands! This is a personal journal and the positive space where I can talk about anything that interests me as an individual and mom..."