 It is amazing how time seems to move so much faster as you get older. For some, 2020 seemed to move at a snail’s pace as the global pandemic unfolded. Then as the world realized this was not going to be a short stint, the online collaboration space started to become “the” way to meet and captioning demand exploded! Here we are wrapping up 2021 and the same is still true. Online accessibility has become incredibly important to many organizations, companies, and institutions.
To that end, many captioning professionals will ask: What has the Global Alliance done for me? It may not be obvious to many, though we do hope you follow us on social media to see what we are doing.
In 2021:
- We held four educational webinars in the Global Alliance Webinar Series. These were on a variety of topics and are available for playback on-demand.
- We have presented our most popular presentation to multiple organizations: Which Method of Realtime Captioning is Appropriate? Our most recent presentation to the Hearing Loss Association of America had over 230 attendees. One attendee even commented: “Your presentation was a breath of fresh air because it seemed to be an objective look at all sides rather than an attempt to mislead.”
- Our board members have participated in many panel discussions to discuss hearing loss and their need for captions.
- We participated in multiple Walks4Hearing as a national alliance for the Hearing Loss Association of America. Every step helps to educate one more person about captioning.
- We held our first-ever CapCom (Captioning Community Coming Together) where we raised funds for the Global Alliance. We gave away $8,500 in prize money while celebrating our anniversary with Madeleine Slate and Meaghan Thomas. It was truly a party that we hope to repeat in 2022.
- We attended FCC Disability Advisory Committee meetings, albeit virtually. We have also reached out to the FCC to make connections regarding captioning quality.
- We attend quarterly meetings as a member of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Alliance. This group is made up of organizations such as AG Bell, the National Association of the Deaf, and the American Cochlear Implant Alliance, among others. During these meetings, we learn about bills in the U.S. Congress that may impact captioning consumers as well as captioning professionals.
- We launched the latest education series called Empower Hour. Our first one was held on Giving Tuesday with Meaghan Thomas, founder of The Heart of Hearing. We raised money for her organization as well as ours while educating others on Meaghan’s hearing loss journey.
- What no one has seen is the extraordinary amount of work that has gone into creating our certification and assessment program which will be rolled out in January 2022. I hope you will join us for our next Empower Hour on Friday, December 17. It will be focused on explaining the NER model, which is how the certification will be graded. Register today and bring your questions!
ALL of this work is done by a small group of volunteers. So if you’ve wondered where your dues go or what this association has done for you, this is a short list. Our board is made up of working professionals and consumers whose time is limited and, yet, we continue to advocate for better captioning and educating the public at-large about how the profession works.
I hope you will consider joining the Global Alliance today if you are not already a member. It will take each and every one of us to raise the bar for captioning quality.
I wish you all a very merry, safe, joyous, and peaceful holiday season. |
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Members, please add January 26, 2022 at 2:00 p.m U.S. Eastern time to your calendar for the annual general meeting. This meeting will begin at 2:00 p.m. or upon conclusion of the Board Meeting, whichever is later.
Register in advance if you would like to attend.
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Getting Involved is Easy!
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The Global Alliance is always looking for members to join our committees. You’ll be joining a dedicated group of your fellow members who are committed to the success of the Global Alliance.
Get involved and join a committee today! Email us at info@speechtotextcaptioning.org.
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Employer Assistance and Resource Network
on Disability Inclusion
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The Global Alliance partners with the Clear2Connect Coalition. Through this partnership, we learned the Employer Assistance and Resource Network on Disability Inclusion (EARN) has recently launched a completely redesigned website!
EARN is a robust resource that helps employers and HR professionals recruit, hire, retain and advance people with disabilities in the workplace. It offers easy access to resources, including workplace training and educational materials, to assist employers in building a disability-inclusive environment and meeting their workplace diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility goals.
You’ll find the Mental Health Toolkit and Inclusion@Work Framework, along with a suite of new online courses, easy-to-use checklists and in-depth policy guides, all housed in one place to help employers create more inclusive workplaces. There is also a wealth of information on key topics including COVID-19 and the ADA, accessible telework, and supporting neurodiverse employees in the workplace.
We hope you find these resources helpful!
We encourage you to visit AskEARN.org and hope you’ll share these resources widely among the Global Alliance network.
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Membership Drive
Refer a New Member and We Reward YOU!
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The Global Alliance needs more members, and we need your help to make that happen. For every new one-year member you refer, at or above your level of membership, when that new member joins you receive a one-month extension on your existing membership. There is no limit to the number of extensions you can receive.
https://speechtotextcaptioning.org/become-a-member
Simply email us and let us know who you’ve referred, and we’ll track the membership.
Refer a friend or colleague today! |
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Global Alliance Webinar Series Recordings Still Available
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Our Webinar Series may have concluded, but you still have access to all six webinars. Recordings are available to purchase and view on demand, with open captions.
- “Innovation and Software: Tools for Realtime and Post-Production Captioning”
- “Interlingual Subtitling, With and Without an Interpreter: A Respeaker’s Perspective”
- “Know Your Audience” (realtime captioning from a consumer’s perspective)
- “Captioning in a World with No Prep”
- “Sports Captioning”
- “Voice Captioning for Educators, Students & Professionals”
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Are You a Captioning Service Provider?
Are You Looking for Captioning Services?
If you’re a Global Alliance member, and you provide captioning services, be sure you’ve added your information to our captioning service provider tab. Sign in at our website, then click "My Profile" and choose yes to “Display my contact information in the public directory.”
Are you looking for captioning services? Click the link below and visit our website. Global Alliance members in this directory are ready to provide you the highest quality captioning services, both realtime and post-production.
If you have a talent for writing and editing, we need you! We’re looking for one or two Global Alliance members to take over preparing our newsletter, which is sent every two to four weeks. Your time commitment will be about four hours a month.
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