For the second year we joined in the fun of April Fools’ Day. Last Sunday we posted this video (captioned) on YouTube, Facebook and Twitter:

With over 5,000 views in just two days, here’s what some of you had to say!

This just might be a tradition with us, although we’re never matching Google’s zeal for April Fool jokes. Last year we announced that we were dropping ASL for international signs:

But this year’s announcement had roots that you may not expect: We had wanted to do it for real. For months we thought of working with a small town in either Oklahoma or Maine and renaming it to Deaf, OK or Deaf, ME.

However, we figured it wasn’t going to happen by our doing. But we need to recognize that this idea has had a long history in the Deaf Community’s discourse, which often begins with the Massachusetts island of Martha’s Vineyard, where in the 1700’s nearly everyone signed.

Deaf Life - April 2002 issue

However, our video announcement is probably closer to Deaf Smith County, where we don’t know of a “deaf” presence other than its name. This Texan county was named for Civil War hero Erastus “Deaf” Smith, and there’s even a brand of peanut butter named after it.

The example of Martha’s Vineyard has often been the basis of our vision of a deaf-friendly town, where all citizens are equal and sign language is the key that unlocks civic participation. Another is annexation; this concept appeared in Islay, a now out-of-print 1986 novel by deaf author Douglas Bullard.

Most recently, Marvin Miller has talked about founding a signing town named Laurent (amazingly, Google Maps shows it). You can watch his 2010 presentation at the aptly named TEDxIslay:

We hope to see a signing town someday, and you can bet we’d open an office there! We’re glad many of you enjoyed our April Fool video. Deaf, thumbs up! :)

We’ve added a status checker to our website. This handy feature allows you to know whether or not service is running normally.

Right now the status is Green. This means service is running smoothly. You will see this 99.9% of the time.

We’re practically like a traffic light stuck on green. Anytime, just check our website and click on the status to see a log of our updates.

As always, feel free to get in touch with us via Facebook or Twitter.

Three years ago, on March 9, 2009, Convo was born. :)

See below for a message from our CEO Robin Horwitz:

Our customers and employees choose us because of who and what Convo stands for. You all are cake and icing and today we celebrate you.

It is our honor to have served you for three years and we look forward to many more anniversaries! :)

We would like to thank everyone for sharing their opinion on our recent comic (which has been removed). We never intended disrespect toward anyone and sincerely apologize for any offense.

We take everyone’s feedback seriously and are looking into ways to ensure that our monthly comic — which is intended to spotlight diverse artists within our community — achieves its purpose. If this is the first comic from Convo that you have seen, please check out past ones at this blog.

We asked Maureen “Moe” Klusza, the cartoonist, to explain her interpretation and her source of inspiration. Here goes, as posted by Maureen on Facebook:

this is what i had in mind and i wanted to present the story in a deaf culture way. being racist or homophobic was never my intention. if you want me to fix it, i’d be happy to take suggestions. meanwhile, convo is taking down the post.”

The Convo comic is Maureen’s “deaf” interpretation of the original Smurfs cartoon seen here:

We take full responsibility for posting the comic. We took it down along with its blog post. Convo is opposed against racism, sexism, homophobia, violence and any form of oppression.

We need to point out that not only is Maureen an incredibly talented artist, she is also a wonderful human being who would never disrespect anyone of any color, orientation or belief. It is our humble request that every one of you do not hasten to judge her character and continue to support Maureen in her artistic endeavors.

We are currently contacting potential consultants and exploring several courses of action so that this does not happen again. This is a teachable moment for us and we look forward to creating positive changes within the company.

Once again, we take full responsibility for posting it. We thank everyone for understanding that we make mistakes and for giving us this opportunity to apologize.

The FCC wants to reform VRS… what should you do?! And what has Convo done about it?

Recently the FCC posted a Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (FNPRM), which is a standard part of any change to any government program.

The purpose of this FNPRM is to give you an opportunity to tell the FCC what you think about the possible changes. Good? Bad? Agree? Disagree?

However, this FNPRM is 109 pages long. To help everyone, the FCC created ASL videos. This way we easily get the “big picture” by getting general information on the FNPRM.

SO, WHAT IS CONVO DOING ABOUT THIS?

Because some of the proposed changes would greatly impact your VRS experience, we did a vlog to help spread awareness:

In our vlog, our CEO Robin Horwitz, who is deaf, discussed three proposed changes that Convo feels all VRS users should be aware of:

1. A program may be established that would make high-speed Internet access free or more affordable for deaf people who need it
2. All video hardware & software may be required to be able to connect to each other
3. All VRS users may be required to sign a contract with just one VRS company

We also hosted two video chats in Google+ using its Hangout feature. The first one was on Thursday, February 16 with Robin:

The second one was on Friday, February 17 with David Bahar, who is deaf and our VP of regulatory affairs:

We’ve also been answering questions from many of you on Facebook and Twitter.

Lastly, we will submit Convo’s response to the FNPRM before the March 2, 2012 deadline. When the FCC receives and posts it, we will link to it from here.

WHAT CAN YOU DO NOW?

There are several things you can do… and we’re here anytime you need help.

• Learn as much as you can. Read the FNPRM, watch the FCC’s ASL videos, watch our vlog, whatever works best for you.
• Tell others about it. Not everyone has Internet access. Not everyone subscribes to email updates from Convo. The FCC wants their comments too!
• Submit your comments. It doesn’t matter who you are… deaf or hard of hearing; tech whiz or not, white collar, blue collar or retired; VRS is for all of us.

Go here and type in 10-51 for Proceeding Number

Remember, the deadline is March 2, 2012.

VRS was established so we could have a life of civic and economic participation. By sharing your thoughts with the FCC, we all become their partners in defining the future of VRS.

On Friday, January 20, we were recently profiled in the San Francisco Business Times, which exclusively focuses on business news, including health care, banking, insurance, real estate, green business and technology.

We received a full page! Click on below for a close-up of the print edition:

The photo is of (L-to-R) VP of Creative Marketing Wayne Betts, Jr. and CEO Robin Horwitz, both of whom have been with Convo since its founding.

The article is also available online but only paid subscribers can read the full article.

Of course we’re excited about this. Not only did they give Convo some exposure in the backyard of giants such as Apple, Facebook and Google, they did a pretty good summary of our recent history:

– Our Board chair Ed Bosson is recognized as the Father of VRS

– Our popular Facebook album of Deaf business owners and nonprofit leaders is mentioned

– Our recent expansion to Indiana is mentioned

If you’ve been following us all along, you’re no longer the only ones who know all this. :)

We believe that there are many more stories of deaf people in business that deserve to be told, and we only hope this adds to the readers’ interest. More people need to be aware of stories like ours that are out there.