As a member of the Deaf community himself, Deaf-Hearing Communication Centre (DHCC) Executive Director Neil McDevitt leads his Swarthmore-based organization in finding ways for Deaf individuals to better participate in their communities through work, fellowship and community activism. It also offers American Sign Language classes and ASL interpreting services.

Coronavirus has drastically affected the way DHCC team members, which include both Deaf and hearing people, communicate with each other as they mange programs, budgets and other obligations remotely. Before COVID-19, McDevitt said, conversations were usually pretty easy even if folks didn’t know or weren’t totally comfortable using ASL. Technology has helped them stay in touch during the pandemic — but it doesn’t come without its challenges.

Technical.ly spoke to McDevitt about the perils of automatic captioning, things hearing people should understand about how Deaf people communicate, and more. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

READ FULL ARTICLE HERE