The Jacksonville City Council took one step into making the city one of the most deaf and hard-of-hearing friendly cities in the state last night. The council unanimously passed a resolution of full support for the Jacksonville Community Center for the Deaf’s mission to have closed captioning on permanently at all businesses within the city.
Ray Higuet of the JCCD along with Lisa Musch of the Jacksonville Chamber of Commerce and Mayor Andy Ezard have been in talks for over a year to help make the community more deaf-friendly. Higuet originally came up with the closed captioning idea and was on hand with several other members of the JCCD last night.
Mayor Ezard said that Jacksonville is trying to do its best to support the nearly 400 citizens of Jacksonville who are a part of the deaf community.
The JCCD has sent out over 400 letters to local businesses urging them to turn on closed captioning permanently to make Jacksonville more inclusive. The closed captioning also brings the city into more compliance with the Americans With Disabilities Act.