City of Salem, MA - January 15, 2013

January 15, 2013


	The Salem Commission on Disabilities January 15, 2013 Welcome statement The Salem Commission on Disability is committed to making Salem a better place to work and live for people with disabilities. Also, as one of the finest tourist cities in the world, the Commission strives to make Salem a more accessible place to visit for people living with all kinds of disabilities. Our mission is to raise awareness, educate, and provide informational resources about various disability issues. Two of the ways we do so are by providing educational information in the monthly meetings broadcasted on the local cable network, SATV, and providing a daily audible column to help maximize the pedestrian commuter’s safety. The Commission supports a strong relationship with their city government, their constituents and the Salem business community, including the museums and other tourist attractions. Introductions The Salem Commission on Disabilities met on January 15^th, 2013 at 4 PM at SATV. Present were Debra Lobsitz, David Martel, Jim Nowlan, Andy LaPointe, Lisa Cammaratta, David Moisan and Bill Legault, commission liaison Guest: Jeff Dougan, Mass Office on Disability. Topic: Demo of FM systems for communication access (Debra Lobsitz) Debra Lobsitz: I’ve brought some FM assistive listening systems to demonstrate. We’re considering buying several of these systems for Council meetings or any city business. The City Council system has existing mics. We can piggyback an FM system on to this existing system. Or we can have a standalone FM system. The key to a good FM system is not volume—it’s speech intelligibility! More volume does not help. Background noise hurts intelligibility. The FM system creates a direct link between the speaker and the listener. The speaker wears a small device, about the size of a deck of cards. It can clip on your belt or anywhere else, and the microphone clips to my lapel. It will pick up anything I say, but you need another device to bring the sound to you. This device has a headset. It has ear covers so people don’t share germs with their headset. I’m miked, and you have control over the volume. The system I’m showing you today is a portable system that can be used by any group of people anywhere in a room or an office. In City Hall, you have a device that piggybacks onto the existing sound system and sends you audio. For people who wear hearing aids, you don’t want to put headsets on—they will feedback and make whistles. There is also a device made for hearing-aid users. If you have a hearing aid with a telecoil—not all do—you can use this system. It transmits directly to the hearing aid through an induction loop. The loop around the receiver isn’t only to hold the device around your neck—it transmits the signal to the aid. David Moisan: My hearing aid has a telecoil. I really need to test the device with it. Debra: Instead of transmitting the sound through the headset, it is going right through the coil and to the hearing aid. David Moisan: The receiver works! I’m hearing it fine through my aid. Debra: The great advantage of getting the sound directly to the aid is that that hearing aid has been specially matched for the individual. That’s the system we prefer to see people use. David Moisan: I’ve wished for these things at meetings for a very long time. I’ve really needed this. Debra: This is the better system—the transmitters and receivers are separate. Some systems are combined. The systems I brought today are old, they’re workhorses and they just work. We found it’s easier to just pop in a regular battery. A Pocket Talker is around $120. It’s a useful interim solution for people who aren’t quite ready for a hearing aid. The Pocket Talker is a very individual choice. Many people are happy with theirs. It does add background noise, but even so, people like the system. Andy: How does a hearing assist system work with 11 councilors? Debra: You would not use this setup. When the room already has a setup in place, you put a device that piggybacks the existing setup. It’s a transmitter that hooks onto the audio equipment. Lisa: The Council anteroom is where all the electronics are. Debra: The transmitter goes there. The signal is transmitted to a user in the room with a receiver. Now, that’s for City Council. In a meeting like ours today, we would have a portable system like we’re using today that is self-contained. Debra: The city will have to determine where the equipment will be kept and who maintains it. And there needs to be signage so that people know it’s available. Debra: A few more devices: There are these things called “sillouettes” that fit over the ears. They can be used with hearing aids and telecoils; some people prefer them to induction loops. They go behind the ear. Andy: How durable are they? Debra: These poor things have been around for a long time and are still working. But they do break. Debra: I brought the catalog with some things circled—the local vendor is www.hearitbetter.com but you can search online for other systems. Amazon.com even has systems. Lisa: We should form a subcommittee—two or three of us to focus this. We have money in the budget we need to allocate and this would be a great idea for purchase. Of course, we need to go through the same purchasing process that the city does. David Moisan: There’s also this: When the state, or the MBTA, does meetings at the Carlton School, the people running the meeting often turn off the sound system. Usually MassDOT, or the T, will bring the system but don’t use it. Debra: There’s one last device that is useful in very specific situations: This is the device I recommend to activities directors. It’s a microphone and a portable PA system that you wear around your neck. It broadcasts amplified sound. David Moisan: I’ve seen tours use it. Like the Red Sox. I was in a private conference at Fenway, and went on a tour through the Monster Seats and the tour guides used the system. I met the late Johnny Pesky during that tour. Debra: When it’s working, it provides a lot of volume. But it doesn’t create a link between the speaker and the listener. But it’s very useful in specific situations. It’s $100. This is the “Chatterbox” brand. It is also useful for people with soft, limited or impaired voices. People tell me this is a very intelligible and understandable system. Debra: You may hear about loop systems and an organization called “Loop America”. They advocate putting induction loops around a whole room, permanently. The loop transmits to the receivers. A lot of places in Europe use this. Logan Airport used a loop system at one point, until it was renovated, but they are looking at putting one in again. Not every hearing aid user has or uses a telecoil, so you have to keep that in mind. Jeff Dougan: Certain structures like auditoriums and town halls are required to have loops. Debra: There are some drawbacks: The closer to the center of the room you get, the less volume as you move away from the loop. And there can be dead spots, it’s a signal that weakens as you travel, like any other signal. Updates Margin St. Curb Cut David Martel: There was a curb cut with a tactile strip on Margin St. Instead of bringing the curb cut up against the plotline, they left it unlevel. Andy LaPointe: What can we do? Who is responsible? Jeff Dougan: I’m having a hard time visualizing this. But, the regulations for sidewalks cover from one point to another point, which many contractors won’t cover when they rebuild them. If they have to build up at one point, they have to level off at another point. But, to answer your question, they could have put the curb cut flush, but that may have affected accessibility. David Martel: It’s on the corner of Prescott & Margin. I don’t know if it is our (city’s) work, or a contractor’s. Andy: What about Charter and Hawthorne? Councillor O’Keefe brought that to our attention. We need pictures. Jeff Dougan: Please send us a copy of any pictures you take. We can always offer to perform refresher training at no cost, here. It’s a half day, and it includes a field trip to measure curb cuts. Andy: Excellent idea. We get a lot of people here. Lisa: A lot of curb cut work is done “in house”. A refresher course would be a very good idea as we have new workers all the time. Update Plans for Joint Conference of regional Disabilities Commissions Review list for expenditures of funds in HC parking violation fines (in Appendix) Tedesco Andy: I do have an update on Tedesco; they’re in Marblehead but the complainant is in Salem. John Kinner, the manager, met with Tom Hopkins of the MAAB last week. I didn’t get the outcome in time for the meeting but I am going to call and find out next week. Peabody-Essex Museum Jim Nowlan: I spoke with Bob Monk. He was going to get back to me at the end of January. It’s a difficult problem to fix since the doors are very large and they enclosed climate-controlled areas. Monk wants to do all the gallery doors—12 of them. Andy: Get in touch with Claudia Chuber if you have trouble. I’ll call, if it drags on too long, Disability Indicator Form Andy: I’ve sent promotional copy to Talking Information Center and Salem Now. Lisa: I am working with the Housing Authority. Tax Credits for Accessibility Andy: I want to encourage local businesses to get tax credits for making their business accessible. Debra: It can cover the cost of Braille menus, and interpreters. Jeff Dougan: I put up a one-page information sheet to give to the building inspector. Announcements The Carroll Center for the Blind has an Information Day the first Wednesday of every month for consumers, families, professionals, and students. Visitors see the campus, learn from the rehabilitation instructors, and talk to graduates about their experience in the adult and senior rehabilitation and technology programs. The Hearing Aid Law for Children, Chapter 233 of the Acts of 2012, went into effect in Massachusetts on January 1, 2013. The law applies to all health plans that are delivered, issued or renewed on or after January 1, 2013. This means that coverage becomes effective as policies are renewed throughout 2013. More information: http://masshafcc.blogspot.com/ The Massachusetts Hearing Aids for Children Coalition Safe-Link and Assurance Wireless offers cell phones and service to people on public assistance, such as disability, Medicaid or food stamps. Appendix: Budget List This list is modified from the original one that David Tracht shared with us. 1. Audible bulletin board~(in progress) 2. SATV captioning, partnering with SATV, City Council, School committee 3. Safety strips on City Hall stairs 4. Scholarships for qualified high school seniors 5. PT police ticketing for HP violations 6. Braille/large print material at visitors center (partnering) 7. Equipment at playgrounds for disabled children (partnering) 8. Interpreters~when needed 9. Inspirational speakers such as Travis Roy at schools 10. SCOD brochure about accessibility in Salem 11. Pocket talkers for City departments when needed 12. Software (large print/jaws for city departments (computer access)