In this issue:

Newly Accessible Helen Keller Archival Footage

Helen Keller uses the technique that Anne Sullivan taught her to read the lips of Grace Coolidge during her visit to the White House in January 1926.

The DCMP is pleased to present two new clips featuring the iconic Helen Keller and her teacher, Anne Sullivan! For the first time (and on the heels of the unveiling of the Helen Keller statue in Washington, D.C.), this historic footage is accessible to viewers who are deaf, hard of hearing, blind, visually impaired, or deaf-blind through the addition of captions and description.

In the first clip, Helen Keller & Anne Sullivan, Anne Sullivan (the footage references her married surname, Macy) describes the technique she and Helen developed to enable Helen to understand speech by placing her hand over the speaker’s face. She goes on to demonstrate with Helen how Helen learned to turn this input into audible speech.

The second clip, Helen Keller Meeting President Coolidge and the First Lady, offers viewers a glimpse at Helen’s first visit to Washington, D.C. to meet with then-First Lady Grace Coolidge in 1926 (every President from then on invited Helen to the White House). This silent clip also demonstrates Helen’s astounding communicative abilities and serves as an important reminder about the legacy that Helen created through her advocacy and endless resolve in the face of adversity.

Both clips are available on the DCMP YouTube channel (as well as from the DCMP free-loan collection for registered members—don’t forget that we also added The Miracle Worker to the collection earlier this year). Please consider sharing them with anyone who wants to learn more about the remarkable woman who continues to inspire Americans to reach new heights. Thanks to the University of South Carolina Newsfilm Library for helping to bring this important historic material to the world!

Thanksgiving: More Than Just A Meal

Our new “Thankful for Diversity” flyer [PDF], highlighting Molly’s Pilgrim.

The pronounced chill in the air is but one of the indicators that the Holiday season is approaching. One of many Americans’ favorite days of the year is the beloved holiday that occurs on the last Thursday in November—Thanksgiving.

So much of what goes into Thanksgiving celebrations—the family traditions, the cultural reflection, the history—is distinctly educational, and the DCMP has a wealth of media resources to help you kick off a holiday filled with learning!

We have developed flyers to make finding appropriate titles for your students that much easier. If you’re strictly looking for captioned titles about Thanksgiving in its “traditional” sense (read: a feast of epic proportions), check out our captioned media for Thanksgiving [PDF] flyer.

However, there are many things to be thankful for, and we haven’t forgotten to highlight some of them with our thankful for health [PDF] and thankful for diversity [PDF] flyers, the latter of which features the classic film, Molly’s Pilgrim, newly available to DCMP members with captioning and, for the first time ever, description. (Check our YouTube channel for an accessible Molly’s Pilgrim preview.)

Better yet, why not explore our vast collection of accessible media and make your students’ Thanksgiving learning experience unique and wholly satisfying.

Great News from California, Missouri, and Other States: Caption It!

When we at the DCMP conducted a survey of the top educational media producers [PDF] last year, we were quite shocked that out of thousands of products, only about 25% was captioned and less than 5% was described. That meant that at least 75% of media items weren’t accessible to students who were deaf or blind!

Then we heard about laws that were being passed in different states, starting with California and then Missouri—and then others—that indicated anything used in schools that involved audio needed to be captioned.

California’s education code, for example, reads as follows: “Video products designed for pupils in kindergarten and grades 1 to 12, inclusive, shall be closed-captioned, as defined by the Federal Communications Commission… ” And the Missouri act is summarized as follows: “[T]his act requires each publisher or manufacturer of electronic video instructional materials to provide closed or open captioning on such materials designed for use in educational institutions.” Finally, Minnesota also has a statute that mandates that all videos purchased by schools must be captioned.

Is this a trend? It seems that way. Other states have similar mandates either in effect or awaiting enactment. Presently, the state of Oregon “strongly recommends that the State Board of Education, local school district, and education service district boards specify a preference for captioned media when ordering new educational materials.” And recently in Hawaii, as we told you back in our May newsletter, resolutions in both the House and the Senate were passed that encouraged turning on closed captions whenever children are watching television.

So keep up the good work, everyone, and tell everyone you know that you want equal access for your students!

National Media Market Wrap-Up

Market Mania at the NMM. (Photo by Flickr user Tombrarian.)

The 31^st National Media Market (NMM) occurred the first week in October, and the DCMP was there to experience it all: the wrestling, the light show, and especially the petting zoo!

Ok, so maybe there wasn’t wresting, a light show, or cute fuzzy animals, but that didn’t stop the attendees at the NMM from putting on a great event and having an even greater time.

Media producers and distributors, buyers, and other users of educational media attended. The DCMP was there to have its annual advisory board meeting, present on the accessibility options of description and captioning, and check out the new items media producers have to offer that may fit well in our free-loan library collection. We were advocating for equal access while networking with some really great people in the industry—all to bring the best of the best to you, our users. What a week!

If you’re a media specialist, librarian, teacher, or just interested in purchasing educational media from some of the producers DCMP partners with, feel free to view all of the exhibitors’ information in the NMM program guide. The guide contains some new releases, some best-sellers, some classics, all the exhibitors’ contact information, and whether each producer has titles available with captioning and description.

Don’t forget, you can also search the DCMP’s database of accessible educational media available for purchase. Remember: Producers won’t know you need their educational media accessible to all of your students unless you make it known!

LISTENING IS LEARNING WEBSITE

Listening is Learning (LIL)—our joint initiative with the American Council of the Blind—now has its own website to go along with the new poster [PDF] and brochure [PDF] (both of which can be ordered from the printed materials order form).

Visit the LIL website to learn more about why listening to description can benefit students with visual impairments as well as those without visual impairments.

DCMP POSTERS

Since we mentioned them in the last newsletter, hundreds of DCMP members and other supporters have ordered one or more of our new promotional posters.

If you haven’t ordered yours yet, please consider doing so today! They make a great addition to any classroom, library, or resource room, and are available at no charge.

UNIVERSAL JOINS SONY IN WGBH PARTNERSHIP

As we mentioned last month, the Media Access Group at WGBH has been actively lobbying major U.S. film studios to take a cue from common sense by including description tracks on the DVD/Blu-Ray release of films for which description was produced for theatrical use.

Following last month’s great news about Sony’s commitment, Universal Pictures has also agreed to include description tracks on the DVD/Blu-Ray release of any film for which description was available in its theatrical release! Learn more about the available releases at the Media Access Group website!

DEAF-BLIND 101

DCMP collaborator, the American Association of the Deaf-Blind, has launched its Deaf-Blind 101 campaign.

Deaf-Blind 101 is intended to educate the public about people who are deaf-blind as well as the many issues facing them that need to be addressed on the national level.

BIG DEAL FOR TEACHERS

Looking for reliable information about technology funding opportunities, tech products and services, and resources to support STEM initiatives? The DCMP has found something that should help.

The bi-weekly Big Deal Book of Technology newsletter is directed toward tech-savvy teachers, librarians, and media specialists.

The Described and Captioned Media Program is funded by the U.S. Department of Education and administered by the National Association of the Deaf.

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