The Power of CART

by Karen Yates, CRR

I am writing to let you know about the impact that CART reporting has had on my life and the lives of those I've been fortunate to help. After 25 years of traditional court reporting, I felt I needed another challenge, but didn't want to walk away from my skills and my profession. I learned of court reporters across the country who were using their ability to write steno that is instantaneously translated to English on their laptop computer screens, enabling deaf and hard-of-hearing people to access the spoken word in a variety of settings. For three years now, I've joined in that effort and I will never go back.

In one of my first experiences, I helped another reporter to CART a California welfare hearing for a deaf foster mother. This woman's child had been severely abused and needed special schooling and constant counseling and medical care. The state was proposing to cut certain of the child's benefits and limit others. The woman did not know sign language and was unable to understand the proceedings without our help. In past hearings, she had relied on the summaries of participants after the hearings were over and done. She was confused and afraid and frustrated that she could not play a role in saving these benefits for her son. With CART reporters at her side during this hearing, she was able to understand every word and respond passionately in her child's defense. She persuaded the welfare department to maintain her son's benefits at the same level, and she told us with tears in her eyes that it was because of our help.

Not long after this incident, my CART company was called to help a science teacher participate in a three-day symposium in Reno. The teacher works at a school for the deaf in Pennsylvania and does not use sign language; he is a very adept lip-reader. But with a schedule of 15 seminar sessions full of other teachers, he was fearful that he would not be able to understand everything happening around him. He had never used CART services and was skeptical of their value. But we sat next to him and wrote everything spoken by the seminar speakers, as well as all the audience discussions.

He was just plain amazed at all the information that was available to him using this service. While at first he was stiff and formal with me, he soon warmed up and asked many questions. One memorable moment came when, during a demonstration of glow-in-the dark classroom teaching tools, the lights were turned out and the seminar room was in complete darkness. For a lip-reader, this would have been the end of all access to the seminar. But as I kept writing the spoken words, I could see by the of my laptop screen a big grin spread across his face. By the end of that session, he was positively beaming. When the third day of the convention concluded, the young man sat and talked to me about the applicability of CART services outside of the educational setting. He had discerned that he could use CART in theaters and meetings, at doctors' office visits and in social settings. His wedding was planned for later in the year, and he was excited at the prospect of having CART available so that all of his deaf and hard-of hearing friends and family could understand every word of the ceremony. We both shed tears as I took his address and arranged to refer him to CART providers in his area.

Reno is a favorite site for conventions of every sort. As word about CART services spreads through the deaf community, I find I'm increasingly requested to help at seminar sessions and banquets. Two recent conferences underscored the value of CART even when the consumer does know sign language. I was asked to help at a meeting of hearing-aid engineers. The participants and speakers were from all over the world, talking about a subject that is agonizingly complex. I was working for a post-doctoral student from Stanford University. Though she uses sign language in her everyday life, she relies on CART to keep up with difficult classroom subjects. The job actually referred to us by local American Sign Language interpreters who conceded that they would not be able to keep up with the speakers. My CART partner and I were able to study in advance to prepare ourselves for the rigors of these seminars, and our consumer was delighted with the result. Without our help, she said, she would have understood only a fraction of what had transpired during those four days.

Just weeks later, the ASL interpreters again referred a deaf conference attendee to us. This time it was a Canadian veterinarian, in Reno for a three-day conference. She chose seminars that were focused on treatment of unusual diseases in dogs and cats, and would include many discussions of pharmaceutical therapy. She knew she could not get the necessary detail from sign language and was relieved that CART reporters were available to help her. The work was difficult for my partners and me, but the rewards were many as we watched the doctor interact with other participants using information she had received from our computer screens. She told us later that if it weren't for our CART service, she might as well have stayed home.

The deaf and hard-of-hearing are playing a increasingly active role in our communities. The University of Nevada is currently funding our CART services for two of its students. One is a sophomore who does not use sign language. She used note-takers and lip-reading through high school, but recognized that she would need more access to what was said in the classroom in her upper level education. She is confident and gregarious and delighted to be receiving a college education. The other student is a doctoral student in psychology and sociology. She uses sign language, but needs CART for her more difficult subjects. My partners and I cover six hours of lectures with her every week. She says that she could not do as well as her fellow students in these classes, especially the statistics classes, without CART, and she is grateful that the school makes this service available to her.

I have given you just a glimpse of how CART has impacted the lives of people working and studying in our community. I am very proud of my ability to help these bright and industrious folks. It is my hope that the funding will remain available as the demand for this valuable service increases. If you have any further questions, please feel free to contact me at any time.