When I was a kid, I thought Sesame Street was the dumbest thing on earth. It was captioned, but uncaptioned She Ra and He-man were way cool in comparison. Rainbow Brite kicked some serious Elmo butt. The Smurfs, whom I’d sometimes, sometimes not, catch captioned, were also way up there on the cool scale.
It wasn’t until I became a mother that I started loving PBS again for its edutainment programs… except for Sesame Street. Fetch, Hacker, DragonTales — you name it, the kid and I watch together. Even the Teletubbies had the potential to start a vaccuuming rave in my living room. Whoo-hoo — partay with La-La and Po! They, with the exception of the Purple-Idiotdino-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, were all rock stars. Every single one of them.
Except for the friends on Sesame Street. I could never figure it out - they were neat. They were imaginative. They were educational. But still, I always thought they were just socially retarded. More so, even, than myself.
Then one day, when I watched after my shower and had my hearing aids in, I had my Eureka! moment.
The captions were seriously truncated versions of the actual on-screen dialogue. For example,
“Oh, no! The TV won’t work! How are we gonna watch it?”
when captioned, might become:
–The TV is broken!–
Line after line after line, the captioning on Sesame Street presented to me, a Deaf mom watching with her Deaf daughter, a watered-down, unentertaining, uninformative, and frustratingly exclusive program that the rest of the world went ga-ga over for its enrichment value.
It is enriching enough, sure — hearing kids benefit from hearing Cookie Monster say “Balloon! Ba. Loon! Balloon no start with F! Me eat Balloon cookie! Cookie mine! HAHAHA *sounds of ravenous gobbling*” The language play inherent in that dialogue is fun and sneakily educational.
But deaf kids like me when I was younger and my daughter now get dumbed down and robbed of the same language play by the boring-in-comparison –“Balloon” doesn’t start with F! I will eat the cookie–. Coming from a show that regularly features deaf kids, this was a huge disappointment. Furthermore, it was a symptom of differing perspectives on what constitutes “communication access,” equal or not.
And that is part of why I’m so honored to be one of the judges for the Equal Communication Access blogging/vlogging contest.
It’s one of the latest evolutions of a grassroots campaign started by Jeanette Johnson, aka DeafPundit to those who frequent the deaf blogosphere. The name of it, I think, is pretty self-explanatory. And the contest is being sprearheaded by Virginia L. Beach aka Osh or Ocean, owner of the Deaf Pagan Crossroads.
You can check out the description, rules, and *koff koff* judges’ bios here.
For a blogging example of what an entry might look like, check out Osh’s “What Equal Communication Access Means to Me.” A little preview:
My favorite pizza joint had me come in and explain relay services to its employees so they would understand how to take phone calls from Deaf customers. Now when I get a midnight craving for their EBA Special (Everything But Anchovies, hold the olives and add extra cheese!) all I have to do is dial VRS and place an order…Presto! Tummy growlings resolved!
That’s Equal Communication Access.
Vereee cool. There’s five categories in this contest (blog, vlog, international, hearing friend, and video), and the one I’m most excited about is the video category. Instead of inserting commentary into a blog or vlog, I’m hoping to see creative entries in this category, which could really be just about anything as long as it’s in a video.
So enter. Or just watch/read. And comment. And remember:
Support Equal Communication Access.
Or Cookie Monster will come eat you. BWAHAHA!
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Many thanks for your excellent post, Alli…and especially for your support of and promotion for the Equal Communication Access contest.
I’m excited about this contest, and I do hope that many individuals - deaf, hard of hearing, hearing - will enter. This is an issue that is too important to too many of us to just pass it up, ignore it, and hope someone else talks about it. We all need to talk about it, because it impacts all of us.
I’m looking forward to seeing what kind of entries we get. There are many great bloggers and vloggers out there, with some good things to say. We also have many creative individuals within the Deaf V/Blogosphere, and I feel confident that some of them will be able to put that creativity to work in producing some really top-notch videos for all of us to enjoy.
All I can do is repeat Alli’s message -
“So enter. Or just watch/read. And comment. And remember:
Support Equal Communication Access.”
Dunno about the Cookie Monster, but otherwise I might send my flying monkeys after you.
Hehe! Thanks for your support for the ECA campaign! It’s very nice to see many of us pull together for this cause. Hopefully we’ll be able to make a long-term, positive impact.
I bow to thee, the lovely Queen Alpo. Great post! :)
I am also looking forward to seeing the entries for the ECA contest!!
I don’t mean to hijack this thread. Technically, I should add that spell checkers doesn’t make for equal communication access (sarcasm) but I couldn’t resist!!!
Reviewing a newer BlackBerry in the heavily “grassroots”-catering DeafPagers.com, she (Alison Polk Kaftan) wrote “Changes in the Curve that impact deaf and hard of hearing users would include the new built-in spell checker”
GASP!!!
This is so Alison Polk Kaftan!
She should say, this change impacts the GENERAL POPULATION!
(What do you think? I truly feel bad for the Washingtonian deaf establishment)
When I think of the moniker, Alpo, I think of dog food. Ew. You need a better nick!
It took me a second to figure out what you were talking about. I’m guessing you’re referring to this review (which I did not write):
http://www.deafpagers.com/blog.....urve-8300/
But as it happens, you bring up an interesting point about the tensions of adaptations being “for” d/hoh people or being generally beneficial (aka universal design, no?).
I’m confused.
Why are you commenting on a whole different post from a whole different blog HERE?
And as Allison says…she didn’t write that post in the first place, so what’s the connection?
Would seem to me the common-sense thing to do would be to leave a comment at THAT blog, expressing your concerns.
As for your “sarcastic” statement regarding spell-checkers and Equal Communication Access…
if spell-checkers don’t make for such, then how about writing a blog expressing your own thoughts about what DOES make for Equal Communication Access?
Seems that would be a lot more productive than coming here and bitching about the wording of a particular sentence on a whole different blog.
And by the way… yes, you DID mean to hijack this thread. What I don’t understand is WHY.
Probably because he really doesn’t want to see ECA happen.
I so loathe abbreviated dialogue via captions! Subtitles are sometimes a lot better because of this reason, but then you lose the auditory cues that aren’t subtitled, but ARE captioned.
[Good post, BTW]
Sometimes “perceived (some of people do perceive the such) inabilities” of deaf and hard-of-hearing to take advantage of a spell check can compromise his/her vehicle to equal communication access. I have seen many deaf, hard-of-hearing, hearing people alike feel “handicapped” in that regard and their ability to be on equal footing. Yes, true even if the hearing already have their audio “hearing” is anything but compromised. You see, it is not only deaf or hard-of-hearing that should be singled out such as Alison wrote elsewhere–a slip intentional or not. Hell, I’ve seen some deaf and hard-of-hearing in need of a spell check in using two-way CART for the purpose of participating in a discussion. Trust me, if a hearing person is in this kind of situation (reverse-mainstreaming), many would want to use spell check. Same goes for deaf, hard-of-hearing pager interactions.
“it is not only deaf or hard-of-hearing that should be singled out such as Alison wrote elsewhere - a slip intentional or not.”
Could you clarify just what post you are referring to? It would be helpful if we could get a reference to the specific post and a link to it…it would help to better understand what you’re discussing here.
Thanks.
On a serious note–Advances in equal communication access will always be offset by concerns in language mastery. Bilingualism needs to catch up with technological advances or our future ASL/English-writing kids won’t be able to take advantage of.
Whoa! We must be of similar age! I loved He-Man and Smurfs rather than Sesame Street even if Lisa Bove is on it!
Seasme Street shows are captioned? I wonder if all our TVs are created equal? Every time I turn on Seasme Street, the show is never captioned.
What days/times do you watch it, Alison?
Sesame Street put aside, we have to attribute a large percentage of PBS’ success to Fred Rogers of Mr. Rogers Neighborhood fame. It’d be an understatement to say God bless his soul.
Delivered on the 1st of May, 1969. (sorry for the copy-pasta but it still brings a tear to me eyes every time I read it.)
Senator Pastore: Alright Rogers, you’ve got the floor.
Mr. Rogers: Senator Pastore, this is a philosophical statement and would take about ten minutes to read, so I’ll not do that. One of the first things that a child learns in a healthy family is trust, and I trust what you have said that you will read this. It’s very important to me. I care deeply about children.
Senator Pastore: Will it make you happy if you read it?
Mr. Rogers: I’d just like to talk about it, if it’s all right. My first children’s program was on WQED fifteen years ago, and its budget was $30. Now, with the help of the Sears-Roebuck Foundation and National Educational Television, as well as all of the affiliated stations–each station pays to show our program. It’s a unique kind of funding in educational television. With this help, now our program has a budget of $6000. It may sound like quite a difference, but $6000 pays for less than two minutes of cartoons. Two minutes of animated, what I sometimes say, bombardment. I’m very much concerned, as I know you are, about what’s being delivered to our children in this country. And I’ve worked in the field of child development for six years now, trying to understand the inner needs of children. We deal with such things as — as the inner drama of childhood. We don’t have to bop somebody over the head to…make drama on the screen. We deal with such things as getting a haircut, or the feelings about brothers and sisters, and the kind of anger that arises in simple family situations. And we speak to it constructively.
Senator Pastore: How long of a program is it?
Mr. Rogers: It’s a half hour every day. Most channels schedule it in the noontime as well as in the evening. WETA here has scheduled it in the late afternoon.
Senator Pastore: Could we get a copy of this so that we can see it? Maybe not today, but I’d like to see the program.
Mr. Rogers: I’d like very much for you to see it.
Senator Pastore: I’d like to see the program itself, or any one of them.
Mr. Rogers: We made a hundred programs for EEN, the Eastern Educational Network, and then when the money ran out, people in Boston and Pittsburgh and Chicago all came to the fore and said we’ve got to have more of this neighborhood expression of care. And this is what — This is what I give. I give an expression of care every day to each child, to help him realize that he is unique. I end the program by saying, “You’ve made this day a special day, by just your being you. There’s no person in the whole world like you, and I like you, just the way you are.” And I feel that if we in public television can only make it clear that feelings are mentionable and manageable, we will have done a great service for mental health. I think that it’s much more dramatic that two men could be working out their feelings of anger–much more dramatic than showing something of gunfire. I’m constantly concerned about what our children are seeing, and for 15 years I have tried in this country and Canada, to present what I feel is a meaningful expression of care.
Senator Pastore: Do you narrate it?
Mr. Rogers: I’m the host, yes. And I do all the puppets and I write all the music, and I write all the scripts –
Senator Pastore: Well, I’m supposed to be a pretty tough guy, and this is the first time I’ve had goose bumps for the last two days.
Mr. Rogers: Well, I’m grateful, not only for your goose bumps, but for your interest in — in our kind of communication. Could I tell you the words of one of the songs, which I feel is very important?
Senator Pastore: Yes.
Mr. Rogers: This has to do with that good feeling of control which I feel that children need to know is there. And it starts out, “What do you do with the mad that you feel?” And that first line came straight from a child. I work with children doing puppets in — in very personal communication with small groups:
“What do you do with the mad that you feel? When you feel so mad you could bite. When the whole wide world seems oh so wrong, and nothing you do seems very right. What do you do? Do you punch a bag? Do you pound some clay or some dough? Do you round up friends for a game of tag or see how fast you go? It’s great to be able to stop when you’ve planned the thing that’s wrong. And be able to do something else instead — and think this song –
‘I can stop when I want to. Can stop when I wish. Can stop, stop, stop anytime…. And what a good feeling to feel like this! And know that the feeling is really mine. Know that there’s something deep inside that helps us become what we can. For a girl can be someday a lady, and a boy can be someday a man.’”
Senator Pastore: I think it’s wonderful. I think it’s wonderful. Looks like you just earned the 20 million dollars.
Allison, did you actually think that including deaf kids regularly on Sesame Street meant that Sesame Street was committed to equal communication access?
Please. Those deaf kids do NOT have equal communication access on Sesame Street!
Look at Sesame Street again…NO hearing person on Sesame Street signs. No puppet signs.
Somehow these deaf kids are always magically understood, and somehow communication is achieved despite the obvious imbalance in communication between the deaf participants (kids, Linda Bove, etc) and hearing participants (actors, puppets, etc).
You need to re-evaluate what “equal communication access” means. It’s not just captions. You should also be looking at how PEOPLE and puppets communicate to each other on Sesame Street. What they are doing is an illusion of magically ‘equal’ communication that wouldn’t exist in real life.
actually, sometimes Bob signs (uncaptioned, unvoiced) conversations with Linda. I read that originally the show’s creators wanted their characters to get married on the show, but for some reason they didn’t. But their characters did date on the show.
Sesame Workshop says:
“If you think your favorite soap opera is packed with romantic drama, listen to this: Sesame Street’s writers once considered having Bob and Linda marry. They figured since Gordon and Susan and Maria and Luis had already walked down the aisle, why not? According to Bob McGrath the writers sprinkled in references to the pairing many times throughout the years. A famous scene had Barbara Walters asking Bob why he was in such a rush to meet Linda. His answer? To play checkers, of course! Ultimately, however, Bob decided that he liked being a bachelor.”
Obviously I’m not a faithful viewer of Sesame Street, but I’ve seen enough to know that Linda and the deaf kids don’t always talk to Bob exclusively all the time. They also hang around with other hearing actors and puppets and that’s where a large majority of conversation is clearly one-sided.
The other day I saw Shanny Mow on Sesame Street. I didn’t see the whole episode, but I caught the last 10 minutes of the show and in that 10 minutes, Shanny Mow and other actors taught a female Elmo-like pink puppet to sign “dance”, and she was talking during the lesson, but nobody was telling Shanny what she was saying. This is the kind of so-called “magical communication” I’m talking about here.
And now that I think more about it, “uncaptioned, unvoiced” conversations between Bob and Linda really show you how much Sesame Street thinks their conversations are worth.
Is that the message we really want Sesame Street (or any other show or elsewhere in our society for that matter) to send to our Deaf children? To hearing kids? To hearing adult audiences who may happen to watch Sesame Street?
Again, “uncaptioned, unvoiced” signed conversations don’t reflect “equal communication access.” It reflects Sesame Street’s (and the hearing society at large) attitude that anything signed is not worth listening to.
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