Hooray for Captions at the Airport!

There are many things to love about Hawaii. Amazing sunsets. Incredible snorkeling. The aloha spirit of its residents. And captions at the airport. Wait! I hadn’t expected that last one! I love Hawaii, so it is always with a heavy heart that I return to the airport for the long flight back to New York. Continue reading

Take the Hearing Loss Access Survey

My recent experiences with assistive technology at the movies and the theater have been disappointing. Unfortunately, I am not alone. Assistive technologies for people with hearing loss are often unavailable, and even when they are, many times they do not work as they should. Improvements are needed, but without data, venues are often resistant to Continue reading

Why is Hearing Loss Access so Hard?

Have you seen the Barbie movie yet? I went with some friends last week, and while we loved the movie, we missed a number of the jokes. Sadly, both of the theater’s closed captioning devices failed in the middle of the show. One of them died almost immediately so a friend who had already seen Continue reading

When Hearing Accessibility Fails

“Let me see your ticket,” the usher demanded at a popular Broadway theater. We (my husband and I and our two friends) were waiting in line so I could pick up an assistive listening device for the show. “This device won’t work at your seat. You’d be better off using your hearing aids” the cranky Continue reading

Is there a New Standard for Accessible Theater?

Theater is one of my passions, and despite my hearing loss, (and because I live in New York City) I manage to see a lot of it. Captions are a big help! Special open captioned (OC) performances through Theatre Development Fund (TDF)—where the captions are displayed on a screen to one side of the stage—are Continue reading