A friend and I both enjoyed this story about a teacher in Vietnam who loses the ability to talk. After losing her speech capabilities, she becomes depressed; eventually she begins to work again (but not as a teacher). Several years later, she decides to try to learn sign language. Not only does she learn sign language, she winds up becoming a teacher again - this time of deaf people.

Sophia1970 on the forum has run into what must be a common dilemma for hearing people:

"I have just met a very attractive man who is wearing hearing aids and visibly feels a bit uncomfortable about it. I had not noticed, could not really care less but I am not comfortable either pointing the finger nor pretending they are not there..."

Read the rest and reply to Sophia1970 on the forum.

I wonder, are there similar dilemmas when sighted people meet blind people? Are blind people ever self-conscious about their canes?  After all, when you see someone with a "blind cane," you immediately know the person is blind.

What do you think about the recent indictments of 26 people for stealing millions of dollars from the telecommunications relay services funds? There has been a lot of emotions expressed over this; share your thoughts on the forum. Incidentally, someone asked if I had any relationship to two of the men arrested, because my last name is the same as their last name. I would like to publicly state that I have no relationship to them. I look forward to seeing your thoughts on the forum.

You could literally FEEL the joy today in the deaf community when Google announced it was introducing automatic captioning on Google-owned YouTube! As explained by deaf Google Software Engineer Ken Harrenstien, it works this way:

Google has a technology called automatic speech recognition (ASR). ASR borrows the capabilities of Google Voice, a voice recognition technology. At the same time, YouTube already has a closed caption display feature. All Google had to do was marry them, and voila! Automatic Captions.

Plus, Google is also introducing an automatic caption timing technology that will make it VERY easy for anyone to caption a YouTube video. All the YouTube video creator has to do is upload the text of the words spoken in the video, and Google's technology will "listen" to when the words are spoken and create captions!

According to the Official Google Blog, automatic caption timing capability will be available systemwide, but because bugs still need to be ironed out in automatic captions, initial availability will be limited to a few channels on YouTube. The list is on the Official Google Blog.

The importance of Google's accomplishment can not be overstated. The HR 3101 bill's internet captioning requirements do not apply to user-generated content such as that on YouTube. Google has solved that problem for us! The National Association of the Deaf echoed my thoughts when they said:

"Yes, we still need HR 3101! Google's technology is an awesome first step. We look forward to seeing the same initiative from other companies. HR 3101 does not cover user-generated content so Google is a boon to that glaring need. The goal for NAD is 100% access where we are not an afterthought and this is precisely why we need legislation such as HR 3101 to spur on such commitment, quality, and innovation."

The deaf blog community (to say nothing of Twitter) was overjoyed when the news was announced. (Google is posting the captioned video of today's introduction event on its public policy blog). See below who has blogged thus far on Google's newest innovation:

• AbledBody
• Grumpy Old Deafies - from the UK, which shows the international importance of Google's announcement
• Bionic Ear