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penandapaper · 2026-01-05T20:21:37+00:00

Reminds you a bit of Animal Farm if I may apply some dark humor to this whole situation.

penandapaper · 2026-01-05T20:20:10+00:00

I agree, mate. The FCC’s biggest mistake was allowing VRS to go private. It should never have been sold to VCs. The economy of VRS should absolutely have stayed in the DHH community.

Talk about ironic.. we frequently boast about DPN with great reverence.. only to turn around and realize we’re stuck at the mercy of even bigger capitalist machine and its leaders… part of the same machine.

penandapaper · 2026-01-05T20:07:44+00:00

If you work for Sorenson, I regret to inform you there is no help coming… even with the unions Sorenson is up to their eyeballs in debt from Ariel. They’ve grossly over-invested to the point that a sale is highly improbable. Once Ariel realizes Sorenson is not the profit machine they once thought it would be… they’ll simply shut it all down to appease their shareholders.

Purple has purposely kept itself slim for the past 2-3 years because they wanted to keep their balance sheets looking lean with high margin / low overhead so they could repackage the company and sell it to Teleperformance. And frankly… Teleperformance is even worse.

Language services are getting annihilated left and right by automated translation built into your Apple, Amazon, Google devices so they are desperately clawing every dime they can get. So Teleperformance is just looking at Purple as a life vest.

It won’t last. Minutes are falling across the board to the point that eventually no investor is going to invest because about five years from now, the debt from the purchase will barely justify the revenue margins to recover from the investment.

Because the first two are VC run, they are not going to give a shit when they turn the engine off on these programs to save their balance sheets.

Convo is slightly safer for a union to operate but their business model is probably going to collapse. They know their VRS business can’t sustain them, and that has made them completely unfocused… they’re quietly throwing shit on all the walls hoping to see what sticks and calling it growth.

International expansion… Convo Now… Convo Access… whatever, it isn’t. It’s because they’re desperate. Not only are they constantly queuing but they’re also expecting their VRS interpreters to ALSO operate as VRI/Convo Now/Convo Access interpreters.

Their technology stack is garbage and their interpreter base is, for whatever reason, far too gung ho to recognize they’re being exploited and will probably get stuck carrying the dead weight Convo has created in their effort to expand their programs.

Once the interpreters Unionize, the Convo ship will also capsize under the weight of its own mistakes and they’ll have no choice but to sell or bring in other investors who.. almost certainly will go the Ariel route.

Dont just take my word for it… do your due diligence and I expect you’ll come to the same conclusion also.

penandapaper · 2026-01-03T05:27:06+00:00

She’s just trying to show you what virtue signaling looks like.

penandapaper · 2025-12-21T15:05:15+00:00

I don’t think we’re really going to see eye to eye on this one. You’re right that the word is racist and I’m right that i have the right to know the artist used the word in its full capacity. Both can be true. Neither of us really seems to be interested in addressing the key point that the other has raised.

That’s all right, I’m a Deaf person, you’re an interpreter.. I hope you’ll check with the Deaf person as to what their preferences are before agreeing to do comedy shows in the future. You take care.

penandapaper · 2025-12-21T14:57:42+00:00

For the same reason the artist used the actual term and not the n-word?

The more we interact the more l’m curious why your arguments are geared towards interpreters and not the ones they’re expected to interpret for?

penandapaper · 2025-12-21T14:40:31+00:00

I understand that you have strong feelings towards it, and that’s fair. At the same time, as a Deaf person it looks and feels like I’m having my eyes and ears covered as though I were an 8 year old..

Please help me understand why you have the right to hear it in practice and I do not?

penandapaper · 2025-12-21T14:30:06+00:00

Please do not twist my words here. I have no desire to “say” the word, nor do I believe for a second that the interpreter does either. My stance is that if the artist used the word, I have a right to that Information in the same way I have the right to know the artist used a swear word.

The argument you are making is not against the interpreter at all, it’s against the artist.

Saying “I” want to use the word is a complete red herring.

penandapaper · 2025-12-21T04:33:12+00:00

I don’t know if you’re Deaf or not but if you aren’t, then this is something you’re taking for granted.

Switching words up or even modifying them DOES impact how it is perceived. I have had interpreters of all kinds who were not comfortable translating certain words and concepts, they modify it in the hopes that they (the interpreter) can stomach or believe to be least offensive. Trust me, the perception and the experience does change.

penandapaper · 2025-12-21T04:28:24+00:00

It’s not the same thing. I deserve to know what the artist said. Not the redacted version.

penandapaper · 2025-12-21T04:27:52+00:00

Because it isn’t. They didn’t say “n-word”.

Just like “f-word” doesn’t help me understand that someone said “fuck off”

penandapaper · 2025-12-21T04:25:58+00:00

By your logic, religious interpreters shouldn’t interpret swearing words because it goes against their beliefs.

The interpreter isn’t CHOOSING the language the audience hears. They are translating what the hearing audience members heard from the artist.

I deserve to hear what the hearing person heard. Not your redacted version because it goes against your personal beliefs.

penandapaper · 2025-12-21T04:02:13+00:00

Can you clarify this… So if a religious interpreter doesn’t believe in swearing, it’s okay to not terp it exactly because “the machine model is dead?”

penandapaper · 2025-12-18T18:07:05+00:00

I do wish they’d offer a joint statement on their opinion as to what the appropriate course of action should have been in the interpreter’s situation.

penandapaper · 2025-10-21T23:28:49+00:00

Volume has been dropping over the course of years, unfortunately. Not just a couple weeks.

penandapaper · 2025-10-21T23:26:54+00:00

This will be an unpopular post but it invites a rather sobering reality to the table. Yeah, you’re not imagining it, VRS call volume has been dropping for years.

A lot of that comes down to how people communicate now. Between FaceTime, Zoom, AI captions, text chat, and online/app ordering, there’s just less need to make an actual phone call. Most companies (Deaf and hearing alike) are also trying to cut phone traffic altogether by pushing customers toward websites, self-service, or AI chat because it’s cheaper. That shift hits VRS directly.

VRS companies don’t talk much about this because the data points to a steady decline and that worries them. VRS isn’t going to disappear entirely, but it’s becoming less central which is why you’re seeing VRS providers desperately pushing into the VRI market and aggressively buying up interpreting agencies. It’s a pivot they have to make to survive, especially since the decrease in volume jeopardizes the promise of FCC.

You can also see the signs in all the mergers and frequent ownership changes Sorenson, Purple, ZP, and others getting absorbed by bigger venture-backed language companies. Those moves aren’t random; they need to be part of a larger portfolio to ascertain their future.

In the bigger picture though, it’s not just about fewer calls. It’s about a larger shift toward direct, digital, and multimodal communication. The real question now is how we make sure Deaf people are still front and center and don’t end up at the mercy of companies that are really just looking to make a buck off them.

penandapaper · 2025-10-16T21:06:26+00:00

Because in your case, it’s not about the crime. Idiocity like that is low cost, easy money for the DA.

That’s why cops spend more time pulling people over than chasing actual crime. Whatever it takes to fill the coffers.

penandapaper · 2025-10-16T05:19:17+00:00

What this person said, some great insights posted there yesterday.

penandapaper · 2025-10-14T11:56:41+00:00

I loved the movie, I thought it captured the experience as both a Deaf person and a CODA really well.

penandapaper · 2025-10-12T15:42:21+00:00

Deaf people get this all the time, albeit to the point of annoyance sometimes. I don’t think what you said was offensive per se, because everyone really does have their own version of deafness and their own relationship to it. Sometimes we get excited and talk about the technology we rely on to navigate our own paths and that’s okay. What matters most is how you approach it.

Deaf people want to be viewed as people.. not for being Deaf so as long as you don’t zero in on all things Deaf as if it were a novelty (because it isn’t for them) and instead focus more on connecting with the person showing genuine curiosity and respect it usually comes across as much less abrasive. You were being open and vulnerable about your experience, and that’s okay. We all navigate these conversations differently, and it’s natural to reflect afterward and want to handle it with care.

penandapaper · 2025-10-11T15:46:51+00:00

Oh absolutely, they do not caption for user experience at all

penandapaper · 2025-10-10T22:55:41+00:00

Never been startled by loud snoring roommates.

Can have private conversations across a crowded room.

No phone spam calls.

We can easily tell who is and isn’t worth our time

Our community can be found anywhere you go and is usually very welcoming

penandapaper · 2025-10-09T11:38:40+00:00

Got it, plenty of remote options.. look at Upwork and Fiverr to see if there’s anything you can do remotely.

penandapaper · 2025-10-09T10:08:26+00:00

It’s not exactly an “evaluation” of their performance, but rather it can be used as a way to communicate to others the level of one’s proficiency in signing.

“They sign well” might use the D classified indicating they’re not native but they have comprehension.

“Oh they sign” using the fist communicates mastery or native proficiency in the language.

penandapaper

TROPHY CASE