SENATE MEMORIAL 15
    43rd legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first session, 1997
                           INTRODUCED BY
                          Shannon Robinson
    
                                  
    
    
    
                             A MEMORIAL
    ENCOURAGING THE USE OF REAL-TIME CAPTIONING AS A MEANS TOWARD
    GREATER ACCESS FOR THE HARD OF HEARING.
    
         WHEREAS, in New Mexico alone there are over one hundred
    sixteen thousand persons categorized with the degree of hearing
    loss that makes them unable to hear or understand the spoken
    word, and nearly fifty thousand New Mexicans experience a
    moderate to profound degree of deafness; and
         WHEREAS, most employees, co-workers and people in general
    are unaware of how to communicate effectively with fellow human
    beings who are deaf or hard of hearing; and
         WHEREAS, the lack of access to hearing assistance
    experienced by the hearing impaired is appalling; and
         WHEREAS, in the past several years measures have been
    taken at the federal level to help alleviate the difficulty
    that the hearing impaired experience in their everyday lives;
    and
         WHEREAS, what is termed "closed-captioning" benefits
    individuals with hearing disabilities by displaying the audio
    portion of a television signal as printed words on the
    television screen; and
         WHEREAS, the Telecommunications Act of 1996 mandates that
    the federal communications commission require video providers
    to supply "closed-captioning" in programming by August 1997;
    and
         WHEREAS, captioning services provide a means of removing
    communication barriers as well as giving equal access to the
    hearing impaired; and
         WHEREAS, real-time captioning is a technology that enables
    simultaneous, word-for-word transcription of a speaker's words
    at conferences and committee meetings as well as in the
    classroom, translating the spoken word either to a laptop
    computer held by the user or to a monitor for viewing by many;
    and
         WHEREAS, real-time captioning technology requires the
    skills of a court reporter who has been trained to use
    specially developed software and stenographic keyboards and
    computers to create captions; and
         WHEREAS, without captioning those who are hearing impaired
    depend on communication avenues such as amplification, adaptive
    behavior, such as facing the listener and carefully
    enunciating, and the written word, the last of which is the
    most reliable; 
         NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE SENATE OF THE STATE
    OF NEW MEXICO that the problems faced by the hearing impaired
    regarding equal access to communication and services be
    addressed; and
         BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the issue of finding an
    appropriate place in state law to make real-time captioning a
    form of interpreting at public meetings, conferences and in the
    classroom be studied; and
         BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this memorial be
    transmitted to the chairman of the interim legislative health
    and human services committee.