Meet Our 12,000th Member!

Recently, Chris became our 12,000th member on the Facebook cause Caption Action 2. We interviewed Chris about his membership:

Q: Why did you join Caption Action 2?

A: I joined because I want to show my support for HR 3101. I was reluctant at first because I dislike Facebook and use it rarely. However seeing the opportunity to be the 12,000th person to sign on made me look past the Facebook factor.

I think its important that we not only make our voices heard but show our numbers as well. In the hearing world people who are deaf are often viewed as "one of them", the kind of people you only see on TV. In my experience we're certainly treated like we don't exist.

I think it's wonderful that 12,000+ people are in support of Caption Action 2, consider how many more people are out there that don't use social networking, are unaware of HR 3101, or simply choose other channels to express their support.

Q: Are you deaf? (Many Caption Action 2 supporters are hearing people)

A: Yes, I'm deaf. My progressive hearing loss was first discovered about 16 years ago, I've been using the "deaf" label for about the last two years.

Q: What does HR 3101 mean to you?

A: HR 3101 will help keep movies and TV available to the hearing or sight impaired. Since the last time we've had legislation like this, laws and regulations have fallen terribly behind the technology. The industry has proven that it will not provide captions or descriptive audio unless forced.

Q: Have you written to your Representative yet?

A: No (Caption Action 2 provided Chris with the link to the Congress contact list, on the blogroll)

Q: Do you have any previous captioning advocacy experience?

A: No, aside from customer service complaints to Disney and Netflix et al. I have no previous activism experience.

Q: Anything else you would like to add?

A: The technology required for HR 3101 exists right now. In fact it has existed for years. Are you aware that movie pirates can see American movies with Romanian subtitles before I can see the same movie with English subtitles?

Join Caption Action 2!

Join Caption Action 2 on Facebook, http://www.facebook.com/groups/captionaction2!

Help Rescue HR 3101! Put These Buttons On Your Site!

Bloggers and webmasters in the deaf and hard of hearing community, here are two wonderful buttons designed by Tamara Davidson. Please help us get Rick Boucher to move the HR 3101 bill, and get John Kerry to introduce the Senate version, by putting these buttons on your blog or website. Right-click and save the buttons to your hard drive under any file name you want (we suggest boucher_button.jpg and kerry_button.jpg). Link the Boucher button to http://boucher.house.gov/, and the Kerry button to http://kerry.senate.gov/. Under each button, you could optionally link to the HR 3101 Fact sheet: either web or PDF.

Join Caption Action 2!

Join Caption Action 2 on Facebook, http://www.facebook.com/groups/captionaction2!

Caption Action 2 at 12,000!

Tonight Caption Action 2 reached a total of 12,000 members on Facebook, and we are still growing. However, the clock is really starting to tick now. Take a look at that number to the right; it is less than 400 now. We have just a few weeks before Congress breaks for the Christmas holiday, and they do not return to work until after the New Year. After that, we have only one year, minus weekends and holidays, to get HR 3101 passed. So the pressure is on, folks.

Now that we have reached 12,000 the Caption Action 2 flyer has been updated. Download it from the Blogroll on the right side of this page. Here's an idea; print the flyer and pass it around at the holiday parties you are going to this year. Not everyone is on Facebook, or Twitter, or reads blogs. We need YOUR help to reach those deaf and hard of hearing people and their families who are not aware of HR 3101.

Join Caption Action 2!

Join Caption Action 2 on Facebook, http://www.facebook.com/groups/captionaction2!