This YouTube video (uploaded July 13, 2015) records SBA leaders and community speakers announcing a new ASL customer support line that uses video phone technology to connect deaf and hard-of-hearing entrepreneurs with SBA staff fluent in American Sign Language. Speakers emphasize that the service is effective immediately, increases access to SBA resources, and represents a technological and accessibility advance for deaf entrepreneurs.
Questions this video answers
An ASL customer support line using video phone technology to connect callers with SBA staff fluent in American Sign Language.
Chapters
One of the great things about America is you can hire yourself entrepreneurs. And entrepreneurship allows you to become your own boss, to join the middle class and to provide a better life for your family, for your children and theirs. The SBA is committed to making sure our full suite of services is available to those who are either deaf or hard of hearing. Effective today. If you have a question about how to start or grow your business, you can now connect with SBA employees who are fluent in American Sign Language and the language business.
The effort by the SBA to increase access to services is a step in the right direction toward helping deaf people and hard of hearing people establish their own businesses. We applaud those efforts and look forward to continuing to work with the SBA on promoting in expanding opportunities for deaf and hard of hearing entrepreneurs.
Americans who are deaf and hard of hearing are actually great listeners, but they listen by watching. In this era of Skype FaceTime, video calls have never been more commonplace. The business world. Today, SBA debuts a new ASL customer support line that uses video phone technology to connect callers with SBA staff who are deaf and fluent in asl. Today, we take a step forward to give more people access to SBA services, to the field of entrepreneurship, and to the independence it offers.
The administrator and her leadership have set an example as to what federal agencies can do to say, hey, let's make technology work for all Americans.
What I'm interested in doing is creating jobs in America. And that means putting everybody to work. And as I said in my remarks, if you can't find a job in America, you can create your own.
We've come a long, long way. Historically, we've had difficulty getting information. In those days, there were no websites. We had to place phone calls to people who may or may not understand how to give us information access. At the time, there was no email. Back in the day, we were using tdds and people did not have the patience to follow through on phone calls. We were hung up on. And so, looking at this announcement today, with the opportunity to be able to video live point to point with a deaf person in ASL is amazing. To have a signer there on the other side to be able to explain those issues in depth, to help us understand how to grow, grow our visions and to understand how the SBA can find the best deal for the person who is inquiring is a huge leap in technology, a huge leap in access. And after this meeting today, I leave feeling really good that we've moved in the right direction.
I am incredibly proud to see that the SBA has really come a long way themselves. They are more sensitive to people with disabilities, especially in the deaf and hard of hearing community. They've opened up doors and opportunities for deaf and hard of hearing future entrepreneurs and they're providing services to accessibility for communication access.
Gallaudet would like to partner with the SBA in order to help to provide educational opportunities for our students so that by the time they graduate they have more in depth information on how to establish their own businesses. I'm delighted, thrilled to see the deaf people are going to have this opportunity and I hope to see other federal agencies he's follow suit as well.
