Celebrate Communication, the premier event for Virginia’s deaf and hard-of-hearing community, is coming to George Mason University on Saturday, May 12. This event is free to the public.
Now in its 10th year, Celebrate Communication promotes excellence in communication for people of all ages who are deaf and hard of hearing. Exhibitors will be present to demonstrate the newest communications technologies, provide information about available assistive services, represent community and government associations, and provide vision and hearing screenings. Guests will also be able to network with others in the community, meet local artists and crafters, and enjoy children’s games and activities.
Celebrate Communication 2012 is brought to you by: the Northern Virginia Resource Center for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Persons (NVRC), the Helen A. Kellar Institute for Human disAbilities (KIHD), Lions International and George Mason University.
For more information, visit www.nvrc.org; call 703-352-9055 (V)/703-352-9056 (TTY); or email info@nvrc.org.
Celebrate Communication 2012
Saturday, May 12, 2012
10am – 3pm
George Mason University Center for the Arts
4400 University Drive
Fairfax, VA 22030
www.nvrc.org
Creating opportunities for higher education is a priority for Virginia Relay and our CapTel service provider, Hamilton Relay. The Hamilton Relay Scholarship was established to support students who are deaf, hard of hearing, deaf-blind or have difficulty speaking, in their post-secondary education. One $500 scholarship will be awarded to a graduating high school student in each state where Hamilton is a contracted service provider.
If you know a deserving Virginia high school senior who is deaf, hard of hearing, deaf-blind or has difficulty speaking, applications for this year’s scholarship are now being accepted. All candidates are required to submit an application, write an essay on the topic of communication technology and provide a letter of recommendation in order to qualify. Applications are available online here.
The deadline to apply is Friday, March 30, and all applications must be postmarked by that date. The scholarship winner will be announced on or before April 30. Any questions about the Hamilton Relay Scholarship Program can be directed to Marta Cagle, the Virginia Relay CapTel Outreach Coordinator.
Virginia Relay’s contracted CapTel service provider, Hamilton Relay, is currently accepting nominations for the 2012 Better Hearing and Speech Month Recognition Award. The award will recognize one individual who is hard of hearing, late deafened or has difficulty speaking and who has been a positive influence in Virginia, demonstrating commitment to advocacy, leadership and enhancing the lives of those around them. The winner will be announced in May, in honor of Better Hearing and Speech Month.
To submit a nomination, please complete the questionnaire to provide information about your candidate, including a brief description of why you feel he or she is deserving of the 2012 Better Hearing and Speech Month Recognition Award. Click here to download the questionnaire.
Send your completed questionnaire to Marta Cagle, Virginia Relay’s CapTel Outreach Coordinator. All nominations must be submitted by Monday, March 12.
The Virginia Relay Technology Assistance Program (TAP) is now offering its first wireless device. The Jitterbug is an easy-to-use cell phone with a loud speaker and earpiece shaped to work with hearing aids. The phone is extremely popular with seniors who do not want the programming and complicated features often associated with today’s Smartphones and wireless communication devices.
The Jitterbug will be available through the TAP L2O (Loan-to-Own) program beginning in December. Exclusive to the program, qualified applicants will receive a no-cost phone and free activation, a waived five-minute Operator service fee, no contract and no cancellation fees, a free car charger and case, and free LiveNurse application with all rate plans.
While the Jitterbug cell phone will be provided by TAP L2O, recipients will be responsible for the costs of the monthly service plan. Plans will start at $14.99 for 50 minutes and include nationwide coverage. VDDHH also plans to add a captioning cell phone and smart phone to the TAP L2O equipment program in 2012.
To find out if you qualify for a Jitterbug cell phone, contact the VDDHH outreach office nearest you. For a list of office locations visit http://www.vddhh.org/orproviders.aspx or call 1-800-552-7917 (voice/text).
Virginia Relay would like to remind you that you can enjoy the convenience of CapTel wherever you happen to be with Hamilton Mobile CapTel for smartphones. Mobile CapTel allows you to read captions of what’s being said to you during conversations, providing word-for-word transcriptions displayed on your mobile device, similar to captions on a television. Mobile CapTel is free to use, available 24/7 and only requires two simple things:
1) A compatible smartphone with a speaker phone or a hands-free headset that works with hearing aids/cochlear implants
2) An account with Hamilton Web CapTel – requires a simple, one-time registration at www.hamiltonwebcaptel.com.
With a wide variety of Android, Blackberry, and iPhone smartphones available on the market, Hamilton now provides a convenient Smartphone Selector to determine if your phone is compatible with Mobile CapTel. Just visit http://www.hamiltoncaptel.com/mobile_captel/smartphone_selector/, select your wireless network provider and your phone, and you will find all the information you need to get started with Mobile CapTel.
The newest offering from Mobile CapTel is an app that is optimized for Android Tablets, allowing you to use your Android Tablet to read captions of your conversation while you listen and talk over the phone. To use the app, you will need to use your Android Tablet to download the Hamilton Mobile CapTel app from the Android Market and make sure you have registered for a Hamilton Web CapTel account. Once installed, you will be able to use Mobile CapTel to place and receive calls with your Android Tablet and any telephone (i.e. landline, office, cell phone or smartphone).
To learn more about Mobile CapTel, the Smartphone Selector, or Mobile CapTel for Android Tablets, please visit www.hamiltonmobilecaptel.com.
David Blanchard and Anne Girard from Hamilton CapTel recently appeared on “The Balancing Act” on Lifetime to share a heartwarming story of how captioned telephone changed the life of a little boy and his grandpa. Click here to watch the clip.
To find out how CapTel could help you or your loved one, visit www.hamiltoncaptel.com.
This year, the Virginia Relay Center celebrates its 20th anniversary. Last month, a special supplement appeared in The Coalfield Progress to honor the Relay Center and the people who work there. This is one of the articles that appeared in the paper:
AT&T and the Virginia Relay Center: 20 Years Together
Since the Virginia Relay Center opened in 1991, AT&T has been the sole provider of Virginia’s Relay services. As product manager of AT&T Relay services, Gail Sanchez has witnessed both Relay technology and the Relay Center evolve over the years, and was recently asked to reflect on AT&T and the Relay Center’s 20-year partnership.
“Twenty years ago, Relay centers were just starting to appear across the country, and Virginia was just the fifth state Relay call center opened by AT&T,” she said. “Virginia was a high-demand area for Relay services and we had a very high volume of calls coming in from the beginning.”
Even though the technologies then were limited and a bit awkward to use compared to the options of today, they were groundbreaking at the time, and the Relay Center opened a whole new world of opportunity to Virginia’s deaf and hard-of-hearing communities to communicate and connect with other people. “When we first began receiving calls at the Relay Center, you could actually hear the excitement in people’s voices when they were finally able to communicate with someone they hadn’t spoken to in a while,” said Sanchez.
“From the day the Relay Center opened, Virginia has always been a state that was determined to be very flexible for its Relay users,” said Sanchez. “The Virginia Relay Center was one of the first centers to offer roaming calls, so that users didn’t necessarily have to be in Virginia to call the Relay Center, and they were also one of the first states to use 711 before it became federally mandated in 2001 so that users didn’t have to commit the Relay Center’s 1-800 number to memory. A lot of Relay technologies and services that are now available everywhere were first introduced in the Virginia Relay Center.”
In the early 2000s, AT&T and the Virginia Relay Center again were on the forefront of technology as more automation capabilities were added to Relay Services, which included enabling a Relay user to dial the number of the person they wanted to call, rather than having to relay it to the CA. User profiles were also created to store a user’s preferred technology, so they no longer had to establish what kind of Relay call they wanted to make at the beginning of every phone call. This meant faster connections for Relay callers, with fewer steps between dialing the Relay Center and speaking to the person they wished to call.
“Some states still don’t offer automation with their Relay services, but Virginia has always been committed to providing its Relay users with the best possible experience,” said Sanchez.
As Virginia Relay and AT&T both celebrate their 20th anniversary of providing Relay services throughout the Commonwealth, Relay users have more options than ever before when it comes to telecommunications technology. However, Sanchez says that innovative technology is only one aspect of why the Virginia Relay Center is special.
“Virginia has the reputation for being the most experienced Relay Call Center in the industry. All of the CAs are well trained, and due to very little employee turnover at the center, most have years of experience,” she said. “The Speech-to-Speech staff is so skilled at what they do that AT&T manages all of its Speech-to-Speech services for the entire country through the Virginia Relay Center.”
In addition to their professional expertise, Sanchez says the Virginia Relay Center staff is also known for their hearts.
“The CAs of the Virginia Relay Center are known for being very dedicated to what they do, being committed to being the best at what they do, and for the outreach they do in their community.”
In August 2011, Virginia Relay and AT&T announced that a new contract had been signed to keep AT&T as Virginia’s Relay service provider through at least 2014, continuing a tradition that is now 20 years old.
“AT&T and the Virginia Relay Center have always had a wonderful working relationship, and AT&T is thrilled to have worked with the Center these past 20 years. Virginia has always had a sincere interest in providing the best Relay services for its residents, and we will continue to work together to give our users the best features and the best quality services.”
Virginia Relay and the Virginia Relay Advisory Council would like to give a fond goodbye and thank you to three recently retired members: Rosemarie Savage (formerly Rosemarie Riggs), Betti Thompson and Cheryl Deavers.
Rosemarie retired in May after working as the AT&T Relay Center Manager representing the AT&T Virginia Relay Center in Norton. Rosemarie recently got married and moved to Tennessee with her family. She worked with Virginia Relay for 20 years.
Betti is retiring from the Virginia Relay Advisory Council after representing video relay users for nine years. “I found the most rewarding part of being on VRAC to be working with the team and learning from my fellow members,” Betti said. “I would like to give special thanks to all of the VRAC members for their wealth of knowledge and let them know I’ll miss working with them.”
Cheryl is also retiring from the Virginia Relay Advisory Council after representing CapTel users.
We would like to thank these wonderful women for their hard work and dedication to Virginia Relay and the Virginia Relay Advisory Council.
The Virginia Department of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing (VDDHH) and Virginia Relay, the federally-mandated public service that enables people who are deaf, hard of hearing, DeafBlind and speech disabled to place and receive calls via a standard telephone line, announced today that it has again selected AT&T* as its contracted service provider of traditional relay services. The new contract will take effect August 1, 2011, will remain in effect for three years, and includes options for four one-year extensions beyond 2014. In addition, the contract maintains the current employment level at AT&T’s Norton Virginia relay call center.
The new contract with AT&T preserves Virginia Relay’s current level of service quality as it continues to provide the most up-to-date technologies enabling people who are deaf, hard of hearing, deaf-blind and speech disabled to communicate via a standard telephone. In 2011, Virginia Relay is celebrating its 20th anniversary of providing high-quality telecommunications to state residents from the Norton site.
“We are very happy to announce that this new contract with AT&T will maintain our current workforce in Norton, and we know the Relay Center staff is thrilled and relieved as well,” said Ronald Lanier, Director, VDDHH. “AT&T and Virginia Relay have a long-standing relationship that has provided Virginia’s deaf and hard-of-hearing communities with high-quality technology and services for over 20 years, and we look forward to continuing to work together in the future.”
“AT&T is very pleased to continue our relationship with the Commonwealth of Virginia,” said Gregory Smith, Director-Market Development, AT&T Customer Information Services. “We feel every individual should be able to communicate with others as easily as possible. Working together with VDDHH and Virginia Relay, we remain committed to providing premiere services to Virginia’s hearing and speech loss communities.”
For more information about Virginia Relay and its services, please visit www.varelay.org or call 1-800-552-7917.
*AT&T products and services are provided or offered by subsidiaries and affiliates of AT&T Inc. under the AT&T brand and not by AT&T Inc.
About Virginia Relay
Virginia Relay and the Virginia Department for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing (VDDHH) provide the most up-to-date technologies and assistive devices to enable people who are deaf, hard of hearing, DeafBlind and speech impaired to communicate via a standard telephone network. Virginia Relay services are easily accessible to anyone by dialing 7-1-1. For more information on Virginia Relay and its calling features, please visit www.varelay.org, or call VDDHH at 804-662-9502 v/tty.
About AT&T
AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) is a premier communications holding company. Its subsidiaries and affiliates – AT&T operating companies – are the providers of AT&T services in the United States and around the world. With a powerful array of network resources that includes the nation’s fastest mobile broadband network, AT&T is a leading provider of wireless, Wi-Fi, high speed Internet, voice and cloud-based services. A leader in mobile broadband and emerging 4G capabilities, AT&T also offers the best wireless coverage worldwide of any U.S. carrier, offering the most wireless phones that work in the most countries. It also offers advanced TV services under the AT&T U-verseR and AT&T │DIRECTV brands. The company’s suite of IP-based business communications services is one of the most advanced in the world. In domestic markets, AT&T Advertising Solutions and AT&T Interactive are known for their leadership in local search and advertising.
Additional information about AT&T Inc. and the products and services provided by AT&T subsidiaries and affiliates is available at http://www.att.com. This AT&T news release and other announcements are available at http://www.att.com/newsroom and as part of an RSS feed at www.att.com/rss. Or follow our news on Twitter at @ATT.
Virginia Relay would like to welcome Marta Cagle as Virginia’s new CapTel® Outreach Specialist on behalf of the Virginia Department for Deaf and Hard of Hearing (VDDHH). Originally from Christiansburg, Va., Marta provides outreach support and education services for the entire commonwealth of Virginia.
A specialized technology developed by Ultratec®, CapTel allows people who are hard of hearing to read a captioned version of their conversations on the text screen of their phones and listen to the voice of the person they are calling at the same time. CapTel is ideal for late-deafened adults, people who are deaf and can speak clearly, Voice Carry-Over (VCO) and amplified phone users and people with cochlear implants. There is no fee to access the captioning service.
As CapTel Outreach Specialist, Marta hopes that she will be able to reach sectors of the community that don’t know about the services offered. “I hope I can change people’s lives by educating caregivers and medical professionals because they see people that may not have ties or access to resources to learn about CapTel services,” said Marta.
Marta has worked in the healthcare field with medical equipment and high-end rehab for over 10 years. The most rewarding part of the new position for Marta is “helping someone keep or regain their independence with our services, and also explaining that this service is here to help and is free of charge.”
Marta attended Radford University and is currently working on her business degree in human resources management. In her spare time, Marta enjoys hanging out with family and friends, reading, and visiting the beach. She is also a board member for the Virginia SIDS Alliance.