Something interesting about Minnesotans

I was perusing Minnesota covid newscasts by governor Tim Walz when I found an article about the sign language interpreter seen near his podium. The woman is extremely expressive and I wanted to find out more about her, so I googled Nic Zapko and got a lot of information about her expressive signing. But what really got my attention was the (reported) fact that one in five Minnesotans have hearing impairments.

To that end, I wear hearing aids. And now that I’m self conscious about it, I look for the hearing aid tubes worn by others. The numbers I’m seeing strongly suggest the 1 in 5 is probably accurate.

Back to the expressive signer for Tim Walz, it’s refreshing to see something other than closed captioning. The deaf people I know really like the expressiveness of Ms Zapko. Her presence reminds me that Minnesota may be unique in it’s high taxes, but it’s also unique in the services provided for state residents.

That's a chick? Thought that was a guy trying to become one.

Our state has a very expressive signer too that is there for all the COVID briefings.... minus the high taxes.

Huh !! I never thought there was anything interesting about Minnesotans. Ya learn something every day !! Maybe "all the kids are above average".

They also throw cheese curds at Packer fans at the stadium during viking games.....
Have great high school hockey.....
Have 0 super bowl wins.

Yup, she’s definitely a chick. I don’t care about her choices in life—just interested in how she helps get pandemic information to the hearing impaired. I don’t go to ball games at the stadium. I like the local games better. Sounds like a colossal waste of cheese curds to throw at people wearing cheesy hats.

You mean kung flu information or Chinese flu information. Let's say it right. Bahaha. No more news. Done being bamboozled.

Is a signer less costly than closed captioning? Is the signer a make work position or does it provide something not provided by captioning?
Are you a democrat trapper, Teach?

What a dumb (This word is unacceptable on Trapperman) question.
Tom

It is a dumb question. Someone that's been on here as long as martentrapper should know the Teacher is most definitely a liberal.

Yes I think he has said that

Teacher seems to be very much like a lawyer.

Great information!

I'm pretty sure every man that gets married develops a hearing impairment.

When our Gov. was doing daily press briefings, there was also a lady signing next to her at every one. She really drew your attention. Local news did a story on her because everyone wanted to know who she was, etc.

X2 Dirt

HUH ?

Mud ducks? That's where we send all our degenerates from Wisconsin

Close captioning works too...

HE SAID, ....LOL.

And brainwashed by the system.

There are 3 questions in my post, Bog. Since you use "question" singular, which question was dumb?
Thanks in advance.

Why would it matter if he's a Democrat? That's the problem with some of the people on this forum is they like to bring politics into things when it's not needed... like this post by teacher for example.

This is hardly unique to Minn.

It's hard to find a presser by a governor that doesn't have a signer beside.

Close Caption Channel 7 News




VIRTUAL BARRIERS: Why ASL interpreters matter, even when there's closed captioning
When the pandemic began, government officials began holding daily press briefings to update the public on television and online.

Some of those officials, including our local ones in D.C., Maryland, and Virginia, have American Sign Language interpreters present. (In fact, on National ASL Day, Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan took a moment to recognize the interpreter at his press conferences, Jimmy Beldon.)

But The National Association of the Deaf says they have come across many issues with these conferences. Sometimes, the interpreters aren't qualified. Other times, the interpreter can't be seen on the live stream because the camera shot is tight on the officials who are speaking.

"We have received many complaints from deaf and hard of hearing people unable to understand from the briefings what they are supposed to do or avoid to stay safe and healthy," according to NAD.

"There is now a tendency to cut costs and use automated captioning technology (often referred to as Automated Speech Recognition 'ASR'), which is getting better but is still not quite accurate for most situations," said Howard A. Rosenblum, Chief Executive Officer & Director of Legal Services at NAD.

An interpreter explained to 7 On Your Side that American Sign Language (ASL), is the first language of many deaf, hard of hearing individuals and that English is completely different.

ASL is a language completely separate and distinct from English," according to the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders. "It contains all the fundamental features of language, with its own rules for pronunciation, word formation, and word order. While every language has ways of signaling different functions, such as asking a question rather than making a statement, languages differ in how this is done. For example, English speakers may ask a question by raising the pitch of their voices and by adjusting word order; ASL users ask a question by raising their eyebrows, widening their eyes, and tilting their bodies forward.
Therefore, NAD explains, "it is not enough to share emergency communications in English. The same information must be shared in ASL."



The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have uploaded a YouTube channel specifically using ASL covering a wide-range of COVID-19 topics.

You should see the one for Ohio....

Garry-