The Episode
Links
Wilmington’s Numbers
https://data.census.gov/cedsci/table?q=Wilmington%20MA&t=Disability%3AHealth
Out of 23,147 total residents, there are 1,399 self-reported Wilmington residents with hearing difficulty as of the 2020 census.
- Population under 18 years 0
- Population under 5 years 0
- Population 5 to 17 years 0
- Population 18 to 64 years 305
- Population 18 to 34 years 45
- Population 35 to 64 years 260
- Population 65 years and over 547
- Population 65 to 74 years 185
- Population 75 years and over 362
Links to things I use or found:
- The Closed Captions App that I use at times: https://www.ava.me/
- The Bluetooth streamer I use all the times: https://www.oticon.com/solutions/accessories/connectclip
- There’s a lawsuit: https://www.nad.org/2021/12/14/lawsuit-challenges-inaccessibility-of-major-podcast-platforms/
Knowledge Base from the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Facebook Group:
Some helpful documents from Deaf Inc:
- https://www.mass.gov/doc/modern-guide-to-hearing-loss/download
- https://www.nationaldeafcenter.org/topics/assistive-technology#:~:text=Such%20technologies%20for%20deaf%20individuals,alert%20systems%2C%20and%20much%20more.
- https://www.ncdhhs.gov/divisions/services-deaf-and-hard-hearing/assistive-technology-deaf-and-hard-hearing
Food for Thought
It’s widely accepted that Neil Papworth sent the first text on December 1992 (It said Merry Christmas) but I’d argue that it happen decades earlier.
In 1964, James Marsters and Robert Weitbrecht adapted teletypewriter equipment, and Weitbrecht made the first successful teletypewriter phone call from one deaf person to another. It took several tries, until Weitbrecht’s words appeared clearly: “Are you printing now? Let’s quit for now and gloat over the success.”
