Abled Body Where can-do is done different

Now that the thrust of the holiday movie season is upon us, let’s talk about something not so cheerful: Going to a film and not being able to hear it. Thousands of people who are deaf or hard-of-hearing miss out because they can’t follow dialogue on the big screen. Big chains like AMC Entertainment and Regal Entertainment, having been sued countless times for not having captioning systems, have agreed to settle lawsuits by installing some caption systems, in some cities. As a result, some U.S. movie theaters have this technology in place. The bigger nut to crack is finding a particular film, when you want it, where you want it. It’s almost fanciful, like trying to catch Santa in your chimney on Christmas Eve. Movie chains say they don’t want to disrupt their hearing audience, so they tend to run captions on just one or two new films — of ... keep reading »

Congrats to Stephen Yang (@syangman) and Luis Perez (@lfp72) for their speedy retweets, which won them a signed version of my new book, The Illustrated Guide to Assistive Technology. If you’re interested, Disaboom.com wrote a lovely review of the book — thanks, Disaboom (@disaboom)! Also, a big shout-out to all those that helped promote the book, including Michael Janger (@MichaelJanger), who has a new blog on hearing accessibility issues; the National Center on Technology Innovation (@NCTI); Web Axe (@webaxe), which has a podcast on accessibility; the Center for Implementing Technology in Education (@TechnologyInEd), among others. In February 2010, we’re (me and the book publishers) are planning a book signing and press event at the New York City Public Library. Specifically, it is set to be held at the Andrew Heiskell Braille and Talking Book Library, and will be made available in alternative formats, including braille and audio, by ReadHowYouWant.com (@readhowyouwant). Hope ... keep reading »

Today marks the formal release of my first title, The Illustrated Guide to Assistive Technology & Devices (Demos Medical Publishing, December 2009, 232 pages). To celebrate, I’ll do a Twitter giveaway for an autographed copy of the book to two readers who help promote my book via Twitter. Here’s what you have to do to enter: 1. Follow me on Twitter @suzrobitaille 2. Retweet this message: Win a signed copy of @suzrobitaille new assistive tech book! http://bit.ly/7bTARP (For those unfamiliar with re-tweeting: Cut and paste this message: RT @suzrobitaille: Win a signed copy of @suzrobitaille new assistive tech book! http://bit.ly/7bTARP into the “what are you doing” box on the homepage of your twitter account. Winners will be notified by 12 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 17, 2009. If you don’t have a Twitter account, sign up here. My book is an illustrated guide to assistive technologies and devices used by individuals with disabilities to perform functions that ... keep reading »