March 19, 2003 TV2 announces that closed captioning broadcasts of TV2 News are now available for the territory's hearing impaired residents and visitors. This is the first time the closed captioning option has been made available in the Virgin Islands.
"The deaf community is very excited," according to Gwendolyn Powell, the executive director of Work-Able Inc. "They've been missing out on the news, especially the local news," she said.
Powell estimated that there are about 50 people with the disability on St. Thomas and St. John. Another 50 live on St. Croix, she said. And though the closed captioning is geared toward the deaf community, Powell said it is also a valuable tool for teaching people to read.
Work-Able and Caption Reporters Inc., the Maryland-based company providing the service, are setting up an advisory board to ensure that the needs of the territory's hearing impaired are being met.
News 2 is broadcast each weeknight at 7 and 10 p.m. on TV2. News in Review is broadcast Saturdays and Sundays at 7 p.m. For more information, call News Director Tina Patel at 774-2200 ext. 224.
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