500 Days Left to Get HR 3101 to Pass!

We have just 500 days left. That's calendar days, not work days or holidays, so it is actually less than that!

Caption Action 2 is not alone in this battle to get HR 3101 passed, but we are the only ones solely devoted to it. All the other deaf and hard of hearing organizations that are involved in this battle have many other things on their plates and can not spend all of their time on just HR 3101. Even the organization that spearheaded this bill, the Coalition of Organizations for Accessible Technology, must spend some of its time on other disability access issues.

In addition, September could be a make or break month for HR 3101! Caption Action 2 looked at the history of the previous version of the bill to see when the 15 cosponsors of the previous bill came on board. We found that they all came on board in three months: June, July, and September. After September, no more cosponsors came on board and the bill died.

So we must accomplish several things in September, chief among them being keeping this bill alive so that we have a chance to gain more cosponsors beyond September. How can we do this? Deaf bloggers can help by blogging about the bill. Vloggers can help by doing captioned vlogs - the vlogs must be captioned so we can share the links with hearing people and nonsigning deaf and hard of hearing. We can keep writing and tweeting our Representatives. Contact your local newspapers to ask them to write about the bill. Get more people to join the Facebook cause Caption Action 2 - because in numbers there is strength! The bigger our membership, the more of an impression we can make on Congress!

Plus, the bigger our numbers, the more of an impression we can make on the media. Caption Action 2 has been busy trying to get some media attention for the bill. We have already contacted some local newspapers as well as certain national publications.

Parents and students can help by spreading the word at their schools. Deaf college students' help is especially needed. While it is easy to reach students at Gallaudet, CSUN, NTID, and SWCID, it is not as easy to reach deaf students at other colleges! We need for deaf college students to share this information with each other. Interpreters can help by spreading the word at their interpreting agencies and sharing info with their clients. Caption Action 2 can not do it all alone, we need help. We are just two people at the moment, although we hope to have a third person join us soon!

Join a group in mid-September for a return trip to Capitol Hill to visit Representatives' offices and drop off Caption Action 2 flyers. Contact Jamie Berke at deafness dot guide at about dot com or Robert Goodwin at rsg0910 at yahoo dot com.