On June 23, NCRA member Darlene Parker, RPR, the director of steno captioning and realtime relations at the National Captioning Institute in Chantilly, Va., and Adam Finkel, former NCRA director of government relations, presented at the Hearing Loss Association of America (HLAA) convention in Washington, D.C.
The presentation focused on captioning quality, and Parker and Finkel discussed a brief history of captioning, captioners’ qualifications, how live captioning works, and both NCRA’s and the Federal Communication Commission’s best practices for captioning. They also talked about how the best practices have been implemented, results so far, and how captioning users can help captions improve.
“The audience was in awe of the skills it takes to be a captioner and all that is involved in the process. I mentioned that the way technology has developed by leaps and bounds, the captioner now needs to be the pilot and the air traffic controller – and that captioning is the easy part,” said Parker. “The audience asked some good questions, and after the conclusion of the seminar, we continued to answer questions in the hallway for another 45 minutes.”
NCRA also had a booth at the HLAA conference, held June 23 to 25, where staff talked to attendees who are captioning consumers as well as representatives from state organizations that help inform consumers of what captioning resources are available so the consumers can access their rights. Many of these discussions revolved around finding captioners, and NCRA staff encouraged using the NCRA Sourcebook.
“There is incredible synergy at the HLAA conference. HLAA holds captioners in such high esteem, and the way captioning has been integrated into the event has enhanced the overall experience for everyone,” said Michael Nelson, CAE, NCRA Executive Director & CEO. “It is truly inspiring to see how long some of these captioners have been serving the deaf and hard-of-hearing community.”
NCRA has worked with HLAA for many years through a strategic alliance in the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Alliance.
