My OJO Back!!!
23 05 2008Produced and Edited by David Brody. Performed by Jack Barr, Jack’s Eyes. Don’t miss the first one.
(26 votes, average: 2.81 out of 5)
Loading ... (26 votes, average: 2.81 out of 5) Loading ...Actions
Informations
2 responses to “My OJO Back!!!”
Leave a comment
Please be nice and respect each other. No slander or cussing allowed.
(note: This was the correspondence posted on Jack’s Eyes website when the video was posted there)
April 3rd, 2008 at 3:38 pm
Jack –
I enjoy satire as much as anyone else and appreciate your help imagining what my hair used to look like back in my college days. However, each Ojo costs three hundred dollars to make available to deaf people, not including shipping or installation fees. That is a significant investment for a small and young company like Snap!VRS to make for the deaf community. Yes, we distribute the Ojos to help us gain revenue when people use it to call Snap!VRS, but consider that right now, deaf peoples choices of video phones are extremely limited. Many VRS providers do not want to buy video phones for deaf people because they are too expensive. Companies don’t have much incentive to make video phones because the deaf market is too limited.
My comment is about the message that your video sends out to people about the reckless handling of video phones. It may be seen as funny, but also that deaf folks may not value video phones because they are free. VRS providers who perceive a message in this way may think twice about whether its worth trying to provide deaf people with more and better video phone options.
I know about your long time advocacy for deaf people Jack, especially in Wisconsin, and believe that you are always fighting for better opportunities for deaf people, including equal access to telecommunications. I look forward to seeing your future videos make your advocacy points more effectively, even by using humor.
Jeff Rosen
Snap!VRS
April 3rd, 2008 at 6:57 pm
10admin Says:
Jeff
We have lot of respect for you as an advocate for deaf rights especially your involvement with the Gallaudet protests. However, it is never our intention to mislead the public on how to abuse their videophones since we believe that we all are responsible deaf adults that values our videophones for communication purposes. We can’t imagine how we can use VRS without any videophones.
We are not sure if you are sending a clear message because there are several companies such as HOVRS, Sorenson and others who are willing to continue to provide us videophone especially the new wireless ones that is coming out soon. They all know that they need to make an investment one way or another in order to earn their revenues.
Would it be possible for you to ask SnapVRS to invest more of their profits toward to deaf community or organizations of/by/for deaf? In this way, deaf people would get better services such as advocacy, employment etc. That is something that they would need these kind of services badly.
Our OJO is still alive and kicking so many thanks for SnapVRS to provide them to us.
ABC and have a brew on us!
Jack’s Eyes Team
April 3rd, 2008 at 7:46 pm
11Jeff Rosen Says:
Thanks for your response Jack, good to know that your Ojo is alive and kicking.
I share the desire to create as many video phone options as possible for deaf, including wireless. We should have as many choices available to us as hearing people do; we want to see Best Buy carrying a whole line of different video phones for deaf folks to buy. Getting to that point requires a significant capital investment that is much greater than just providing VRS, for example, under Snap!VRS’ recently completed agreement with WorldGate, it will cost 5 million dollars to build a new Ojo data center under Snap’s control so there will be no future outage like we had recently, and we plan to purchase 1.5 million dollars worth of video phones in the future. It is safe to say that Snap!VRS will not make a profit for a while in making that investment for Ojo video phones for deaf people. This is why although we have at least a dozen VRS providers, not many of them are willing to make the investment to make the equipment available for consumers. Its much easier just to provide VRS and not worry about the cost of video phones.
I completely agree with you about the need for VRS providers to become better business partners with the deaf community. We need to push for both more deaf employees, executives and board members in VRS companies and VRS companies should publicly show how they are operating with deaf owned business people. Its not enough for deaf to be beneficiaries of VRS services, we need to have equal financial and management stake in the VRS industry. This way, deaf people are not only better off, but the VRS industry will become better citizens in understanding how to exist in the deaf community.
Your advocacy is very much part of our focus in growing the VRS industry right. I look forward to working with all of you on this, please feel free to contact me directly at jrosen@snapvrs.com.
Thanks for the opportunity to comment on your forum.
-Jeff Rosen
I want to tell you that I love my OJO but I hate this video. It give others the idea that all deaf people are disorganized, unkept, smoking fools, possibly with other filthy habits.