People Are Writing and Sharing Letters!

Michael Hill posted his letter to his representative, Phil Gingrey (GA) on Facebook, and gave permission to Caption Action 2 to reprint it here on the blog:

Dear Mr. Phil Gingrey,

I want to share with you a message on behalf of the deaf community. The message stated below:

"I am deaf and the 21st Century Communications & Video Accessibility Act of 2009 (H.R. 3101) is important to me, because it will enable me to understand the streaming videos if they are captioned. May I ask if you will be willing to cosponsor HR3101 - 21st Century Communications Act bill for the benefit of the deaf and hard of hearing citizens?

Thank you very much."

I'm not a Democrat nor a Republican. I'm just an American who believes in the Laws that protect ALL Americans of all ages, race, religion, and all forms of disabilities. I am a voter and I vote a person that can and will do the job to serve me and my community. I am 39 years old and I have been deaf since I was 3 years old. I am also blessed to have a 'voice' by speaking well as a hearing person(like you). I have been blessed to have closed captioning in my country to watch the local news, the national news(CNN, FOX, etc), and the sporting events since Closed Captioning first came out in 1979. It helped me understand the current events and share my discussions with my family and friends whether or not it was in good terms or bad terms.

If you take a moment to understand my point of view with the quoted message above, turn off your speakers on the computer and watch a video from CNN and/or your own introduction video. Is there something wrong there? There's no subtitles or closed captioning. How can I be able to watch videos on the Internet that does not have closed captioning(or subtitles) as much as watching TV that does have the feature inserted since the Law(A.D.A.) was passed back in the early '90s?

Talk to your fellow Congressmen/women, regardless of what Party they are in, and pass this on to the Senate and to the President's desk. I am sure President Obama will sign this Bill into Law to provide the services for all Deaf/Hard-of-Hearing Americans.

A Patriot,
Michael Hill

Comment from Caption Action 2: At Gingrey.House.gov, there is a welcome video with a talking head (the introduction video mentioned by Hill). What deaf person can understand that flapping mouth without captions?