Here's a general interest article dealing with disability and close
captioning on the internet.  I wonder what  kind of services will be
available on the net, let's say, in fifteen years or so.  Things are
changing fast.

Steve

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
JULY 22, 1998

FOR  INFORMATION CONTACT:
Tari Susan Hartman  310/578-5955

"ON A ROLL Radio & RAPIDTEXT Launch Technology Breakthrough  - 28
Million Deaf/Hard-of-Hearing can SEE Radio for the First Time on the
Web"

ON A ROLL (America's only live, weekly, nationally syndicated,
commercial radio talk show on disability issues) joins forces with
RAPIDTEXT (the nation's leading-edge corporation specializing in
voice-to-text applications) to create a Broadcast milestone for
America's 28 million Deaf and Hard-of- Hearing citizens.  For the
first time in history the deaf community will be able to "listen" to
radio on the Internet.  RAPIDTEXT Website, WWW.RAPIDTEXT.COM, will
simulcast the August 2, 1998 show in its entirety via Realtime
Captioning, to create this technology breakthrough.

ON A ROLL host and creator Greg Smith and Glory Johnson, owner of
RAPIDTEXT will unveil plans to launch this historic event during the
broadcast on Sunday, July 26, 1998 (7 P.M. - EDT) to coincide with the
8th Anniversary of the signing of the Americans with Disabilities Act
(ADA) - a sweeping mandate to end discrimination on the basis of
disability in employment, public accommodations, transportation,
telecommunications and state and local governments.  This week's
broadcast will feature an interview with Justin Dart, co-founder of
JUSTICE FOR ALL, and a segment with Jennifer Sheehy, National
Organization on Disability who will give an overview of the newly
released results from a Louis Harris Survey on disability.

According to Libby Pollard, newly elected President of the National
Association of the Deaf (NAD), "The National Association of the Deaf
is working to make all media accessible to deaf and hard of hearing
people, and this realtime captioning on the Web is certainly a very
positive step." NAD represents the nation's 28 million deaf and hard
of hearing citizens, and has state chapters throughout the U.S.

At the helm of ON A ROLL is Greg Smith, a 20 year broadcast veteran
and leading disability rights advocate who knows what makes the
disability community tick. Under his leadership, ON A ROLL was first
syndicated in February 1997, and has emerged from a fledging local
Phoenix show to a network of 18 radio stations across the nation with
the capacity to broadcast live on the Internet to computer users.  - m
o r e - ON A ROLL mission is to empower people with disabilities to
live as independently as possible in mainstream community life and to
promote benefits of integration of people with disabilities to
non-disabled talk radio listeners.  Their web site,
WWW.ONAROLLRADIO.COM, hosts hundreds of hits per week from the
grass-roots of the disability community, to the board rooms of
Corporate America and is linked to hundreds of other
disability-related web sites, thus providing corporate sponsors
maximum penetration into the heart of this untapped consumer market.

Recent ON A ROLL guests include Christopher Reeve; Senator Bob Dole,
reflecting upon the late Paul Hearne, President of The Dole Foundation
and the American Association of People with Disabilities; Jim
Williams, CEO of National Easter Seal Society;  Jeff Taylor, Sr. Area
Business Manager, General Mills;  Sandy Spoonemore, Director of
Corporate Resources for the Disabled, NationsBank. ON A ROLL features
a weekly three minute segment by Tony Coelho, Chair, President's
Committee on Employment of People with Disabilities & Co- Chair,
Presidential Task Force on Employment of Adults with Disabilities.

Rapidtext, Inc., founded in 1988, is the technology services group of
US Legal Support, Inc., a national legal services company.  RAPIDTEXT
provides high- tech voice-to-text services including realtime & closed
captioning for broadcast TV & public events, legal and medical
transcription, language translation & software development.  Rapidtext
is the nation's largest provider of classroom captioning for Deaf and
Hard-of-Hearing people in educational classrooms. Rapidtext's latest
technological service is RAPID Textcasting, the broadcast of realtime
text from a radio or TV show, or public event onto the Internet, with
text available worldwide, meeting all accessibility requirements.
Complete text is available to download at the end of the event.

ON A ROLL markets include: Atlanta; Phoenix; Sacramento; Dallas; El
Paso; Kansas City; Birmingham; Dayton; Topeka; Hays, KS; Tallahassee;
Marathon/Key West; Melbourne, FL; Huntsville, AL; Abbeville, SC;
Hickory, NC; Jamestown, NY;  Martinsburg, WV;  Markets and stations
grow every week.  If it is happening in the disability community,
you'll hear - and now see - it first on ON A ROLL.  The reliable
source of news & information for America's 54 million citizens with
disabilities.

For information about the exciting ON A ROLL & RAPIDTEXT partnership,
contact Tari Susan Hartman, EIN SOF Communications; 6380 Wilshire
Blvd, Suite # 125; Los Angeles, CA  90048; 310/578-5955 (phone);
fax/578-6065 or EINSOFTSH @aol.com # # #

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