Survival on campus.

 8/22/11

Today was the first day of classes on our main campus.

I was "loaded for bear"-- with bottled water and protein bars to get me through the hot day.  I left my house two hours ahead of time to be certain to beat the heavy traffic on the first day at school. I arrived an hour early, but hey, I wasn't late!  I was definitely there and set up well before class was to begin.  :-)

It was hot outside all day, but no more than the usual heat I experience gardening in the summer down south.  Nothing prepared me for the scorching temperatures inside my car when I had a break at high noon.  The inside temperature was 110, and my steering wheel was so scalding hot that I couldn't touch it with my bare hands.  Yikes!   Be safe out there in this heat.

I thought some of you might be interested in the types of courses being captioned during one semester.  Here is a general list of some lectures and labs that will be captioned --  many Law courses, Anthropology, Biology, Latin, Art, English, Kinesiology, English, History, Chemistry, Communication Studies, Math, Physics, Petroleum Engineering, Plant Pathology, Psychology, and, and and...  whew!  It's a long list, but it offers an idea of what we do for our students.  We serve where we are needed, in the subjects and settings needed, and we do our best to render the message truthfully so that our students succeed.

What kinds of students do we caption for?  Many different students with many different accommodation needs at many levels of education from Freshmen to graduate school to law school and beyond.  Captioning is not just for students who are deaf or hard of hearing anymore.  There are visual, mental, emotional, language, social, physical, etc. challenges (temporary, intermittent, or permanent) for which captioning is a great accommodation.

Captionists provide services for students on the main campus and anywhere their courses require us to be. As I mentioned before, we have provided services for students in every subject area and at every grade level from Freshman through graduate level at varied locations.  We caption in person as well as remotely.

Captionists are in so many different settings with students.  We follow clients through classes and labs, but also caption for appointments, meetings, tours, events, presentations, group project meetings, plays, mystery dinners, photo dark rooms, plaster labs, art studios, student teaching assignments, and more.

Let me think about it a second and name some assignments I have captioned just to give you an idea of the possibilities: 

• In darkrooms and photo labs (in absolute darkness with my computer screen and smart phone set to red fonts and black backgrounds only).
• In a plaster lab wearing old clothes, safety googles and respirator mask, and with myself, my desk, my bags, and all my equipment wrapped in plastic.
• As part of a live art exhibit, being wrapped in a cocoon of colored strings from head to toe while I captioned.
• At a Mystery Murder Dinner dressed as a background character in a sequined gown while my client was a participant.
• At live plays sitting in the back center with my screen brightness dimmed low so that it wasn't so distracting.
• At one library captioning a lecture, but with my client in another city-- whom I could see on a screen overhead.
• Remotely with seven locations connected on a screen panel viewed in front of the room.
• At meetings with captioning projected on a screen for a room filled with people.
• At law school during oral arguments, with one laptop receiving the captioning on the podium facing the student.  (Now we have C-Print® Mobile where students can receive live captioning on a discrete smart phone or device).
• In an art studio during group critiques of photography, with an entire room interacting with my student, sharing questions ,comments, and back and forth discussion about the art.
• For student teachers--with captioning projected on the back wall-- so that the student teacher could face his/her class while lecturing and read what the class was saying to him/her on the wall behind them.
• In work groups where I taught Deaf culture to the participants so they could interact with my client effectively.
• Sitting on the ground outside for an art demonstration with a glare screen and screen hood so my screen could be viewed in the sunny environment.
• At a walking tour in a gallery in town (captioning with my laptop on a rolling cart).
• In a basement in total darkness for an art class creating projects with black lights.
• In a chemical lab while students completed experiments.
• On a stage.
• In small seminar groups.
• ...and in many more situations than I can describe here.

I feel like I am a character in a Dr. Seuss book describing captioning-- I will caption in a house with a mouse and in a box with a, with a...well, with all that rhyming stuff.  :-)

As for devotion, this line of work requires a definite devotion to duty.  Captionists are like postal workers in that we are there in class waiting no matter what.  ALL students have the right to sleep in and miss a class when they are sick, or just on a nasty, cold, rainy day, or just to skip class, or even to skip for no reason at all.  Our students are no different from others when it comes to the right to such freedoms.

However, when my alarm goes off, I get up and go.  Being present and waiting is one of the best things captionists offer besides access to information.  Reliability is a part of our job description.  If a student decides to tough it out at the last minute and attend, sick, in all kinds of ugly weather, to make it to class through bad weather, arriving soaking wet, they will find their captionist waiting for them in class.  Students have to be able to count on the fact that their services will be there.  I may have galoshes on and squeak with every step I take down the hall all day, but I will be there ready to caption.

It doesn't matter if you are hearing, deaf, or challenged in many other ways..  All students have the same rights to real access, or to choose to stay home.  Yes, we captionists go to class, just in case the student is coming, but we don't caption if the student doesn't arrive.  We don't wait forever.  At some institutions, if a student hasn't arrived within ten minutes after the lecture begins, captionists leave to provide services elsewhere.  We do follow rules that vary depending upon where we work, but above all, we are reliable.  We have to be reliable so that our clients have the best chance of success.

I wish all of you continued success in your studies and careers.  I hope you benefit from having a C-Print® captionist by your side.  Tomorrow, I will get myself and my computer equipment in and out of my hot car, all over campus, all day.  I'll be there..hot, but ready to caption.  It's what we do.  If my student is going to be there, the least I can do is be there too, ready to caption.  :-)

~See Print Moderator