Video Relay Lawsuit Settled

A Florida hospital has settled a lawsuit over VRI. Bethesda Health has agreed to ask patients about whether they are willing to use video relay or want a live interpreter. A financial agreement between the West Palm Beac-area hospital and the Florida Association of the Deaf, who filed the suit, is not being made public. Read more in MyPalmBeach here.

IRS Warns of Video Relay Scam Targeting Deaf and Hard of Hearing

Every day scammers come up with new ways to steal taxpayers’ identities and personal information. Some scammers pretend to be from the IRS with one goal in mind: to steal money. Be aware that con artists will use video relay services (VRS) to try to scam deaf and hard of hearing individuals. Don’t become a victim. Deaf and hard of hearing taxpayers should avoid giving out personal and financial information to anyone they do not know. Always confirm that the person requesting personal information is who they say they are.

Deaf patients struggle to get interpreters in medical emergencies

A investigative reporting website that focuses on health issues says a "review of hospital inspection reports and court records found dozens of instances around the country when deaf patients said they were not provided adequate interpreter services." Particularly of concern is hospital dependence on Video Relay Interpreters instead of in-person ASL interpreters. STAT reports:

Many deaf patients have taken to social media to complain about the use of video interpreting services in emergency rooms. Numerous patients tell stories about a blurry video feed and describe having to set up the video interpreting service themselves when nurses don’t know how to operate the equipment, or being unable to focus on a small screen in a crowded room.

Read the full story here.

FCC: Video platform for ASL coming soon

The FCC is launching a video program that will make it easier to communicate with government agencies using sign language. It's called Accessible Communications for Everyone or ACE. how it will work: an ASL-user will select who they want to chat with and they will be taken to a relay service. There will likely be some creative developments over time because the code is open source. ACE is not supposed to replace the systems already in place, just provide video relay to more people in more ways. The FCC already has an ASL support line last year-something you can expect from the EEOC and the Census Bureau soon. The ACE effort is a collaboration between Gallaudet University, the Rochester Institute of Technology's National Technology Institute of the Deaf, and TCS Associates. A beta version will be rolled out later this year and a final version expected by spring. Read more about it from the FCC here and there is a recent White House press release here. Below is a video introduction to VATRP which stands for Video Access Technology Reference Platform (VATRP). You can read more about VATRP here.

Samsung's Hearing Hands Ad

Samsung is promoting its new video relay call center in Turkey with a creative ad that gives a young deaf man a unique morning. The ad is called "Hearing Hands."

Purple closes IP Relay

Purple Communications has closed its IP Relay service, leaving Sprint as the only service in operation. Last year Sorenson discontinued its service. A Purple spokesperson said in a video blog post, the move comes in response to the FCC's decision to curtain reimbursements. Earlier this year, the FCC said it was fining Purple millions of dollars for improper billing--a claim Purple has denied. You can read more here. IP relay is a way for the deaf to connect through computers or a smart phone. In the video below, Purple's senior director of operations Diana Herron explains more.

Charges filed in national scam of deaf

An Ohio deaf woman in her 70s is facing charges of ripping off other elderly deaf people across the country through a lottery scam. More than 1000 people fell for the scam, which she contacted through video relay using interpreters. Read the full story in the Columbus Dispatch here.

Hamilton Honor

Hamilton is honoring Kathy Miller as its Iowa 2013 Deaf Community Leader. She earned the award for her work at the Iowa School for the Deaf and involvement in groups like the Deaf Services Commission of Iowa and the Council Bluffs Deaf Club. She serves as president of the Iowa Association of the Deaf. Born deaf, Miller was taught the oral method as a child and mainstreamed. When she got a chance to attend the Iowa School for the Deaf, her world opened up, learning sign and meeting her husband. Find out more here.

Layoffs at Call Center

A deaf call relay service in South Dakota is preparing for layoffs. Communications Services for the Deaf in Sioux Falls will lay off more than 40 employees at the end of June. These workers are involved in the company's TTY area. This phone service is being phased out in favor of video relay services.

VRI in Colorado

A Colorado Springs hospital is making use of VRI. KOAA-TV has a video report posted below on DeafNewsToday.com. No captions but you can read the story here.

Canadian VRS

The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission is asking the public for comment on establishing a video relay service. Public hearings will be held this fall, starting in Gatineau. Canadians who are deaf have access to TTY and Internet Protocol relay. Initial comments can be submitted to the CRTC by regular mail at Secretary General, CRTC, Ottawa, Ontario, K1A 0N2. There is more info in the video posted below:

Canada's VRS

Here's a video in sign about Canada's Video Relay Services from Deaf Youth Canada.

Police in Canada decide to use U.S. VRI

Police in Windsor, Ontario is using a US language bank to provide it with video relay interpreters. A year ago, a 30 day trial run with Language Services Associates went well, according to officials, so now police will use the Pennsylvania-based service on a regular basis.

Florida State Contract

Florida's Public Service Commission is dumping Sprint and giving a 3-year contract to provide telephone service for nearly 3 million deaf and hard of hearing to AT&T. The new contract starts June 1 and will pay about $5.5 million each year. Both Sprint and Hamilton bid against AT&T.

Looking Back: GoAmerica Changes Color

Two years ago, GoAmerica changed its name to Purple Communications. Even the company's stock ticker went from GOAM to PRPL. Besides providing text and video relay, the company combined its interpreting services under the banner Purple Language Services. That includes Sign Language Associates (or SLA), Hands On Services and Visual Language Interpreting (VLI). Hands On first used purple in its logos, leading some to refer to it as the 'purple company'.

VRS Deadline

The FCC has announced the deadline for submitting comments related to its plan to overhaul the Video Relay Service. According to the Federal Register, comments are due by March 2. You may submit comments, which should be identified as relating to CG Docket Nos. 10–51 and 03–123 through email by accessing the Commission’s Electronic Comment Filing System. To go there, click here.

VRS Fraud

There are reports on social media that a federal grand jury has indicted the former owners of a Maryland video relay business. Bridget and Jerry Bonheyo are accused of allegedly having employees at Bonheyo & Bonheyo make false calls, so they could get reimbursed by the government and destroying evidence after the business closed. The Bonheyo’s shut down the company after John Yeh, who ran the video relay company Viable, was arrested on similar charges. Yeh was recently given a nine year sentence and ordered to pay restitution of $20 million. The Bonheyos case will be heard in New Jersey district court and that's where they will next appear on January 10th.

New Call Centers Opening

Purple Communication is opening call centers in Seattle and Long Beach, California. The video relay provider says it also plans to hire more than 50 video interpreters as well as new professional, support and management positions. The Sacramento-area-based company has more than 800 deaf, hard-of-hearing and hearing employees. Company executives expect to Purple to make more than $100 million in revenue this year.

Video Phone at Tulsa Airport

The Tulsa airport now has a public access video phone installed by Communication Services for the Deaf. Money to pay for the device came from a federal grant as part of an effort to install video phones in public areas called Project Endeavor. The airpot already provided TTY phones. If you are in the Oklahoma airport, you'll find the free phone at the information desk near the Security Checkpoint.

French Award Finalist

An organization working to improve the lives of deaf people is one of the 5 finalist for an award given out by the city of Paris. DEAFI has been around since 2009 (the name is a combination of the English word “deaf” and the French word “défi” which means "challenge"), providing video relay services along with business training and career tools. The 19 member company is in the running for Paris’ Grand Prix de l’Innovation award given out for entrepreneurship and innovation thanks to advances in its DEAFTAG program, where an icon on text-based webpages indicates there is a French sign language video available to interpret the French text. DEAFI will receive a prize of 15,000 euros if it wins.