Every now and then, I try to list all the settings I have captioned in. Some assignments have been rather bizarre, and all of them are fascinating to me -- as they would be to any person who loves working in ever-changing settings.
I provide real-time captioning in many settings for clients who are Deaf
or Hard of Hearing. If I were to list a few sample service placements,
the list would include the following: Captioning for--
* Classrooms, labs, presentations -- in person and remotely in
under-grad, post-grad, and professional level educational settings,
* Law School,
* Live and recorded performances and events (Including live plays,
mystery dinners, movie/video viewings, audio files, scripts, legal
proceedings, transcripts, music performances, team projects),
* Church services,
* Medical appointments,
* Remote assignments coordinated with a live class and seven remote locations at once (in
particular, post-graduate LIS work), and
* Real-time captioning for student teachers at local schools.
My most unique assignments have been captioning:
- For a graduate art client while also being part of the
client's live performance art piece--wrapped in string from head to toe,
and tied up with about 50 other people,
- In the dark for a guest at a murder mystery dinner as all attendees attempted to solve a fake crime, and
- For a photographer as we moved between darkrooms, labs, galleries, and classrooms--
where my equipment had to be changed in an instant between black/red lighting
only and regular settings.
- For a graduate art client in a plaster lab where I had to wear old clothes, plaster particulate gas masks, and plastic coveralls, wrap everything in plastic (seating, equipment, personal belongings), and go through haz-mat procedures to remove all plaster dust whenever I left the room.
- Outdoors on the ground under a laptop hood so the client could watch a live performance art piece at the same time,
- Rolling captioning -- while moving through a walking tour of an art gallery with my equipment on a cart being pushed by a helper while I captioned,
- And the list grows...
Every assignment is new and exciting. The strange methods we sometimes have to use and the funny situations we can find ourselves in while providing captioning just make it really fun and memorable.
What can I say? I love what I do!
