Beyond the Rules: Captioning and Your Viewers

In a time when audience demographics lead to more viewers with disabilities, outreach and understanding for all viewers is a competitive imperative.  Learn from Josh Pila, Meredith’s General Counsel and NAB Disability Advisory Committee rep and Steve Hamerdinger, Director of the Alabama Office of Deaf Services, on the how, what, when, where and why for interacting viewers with Captioning issues or concerns.

Steve Hamerdinger has been the Director of the Office of Deaf Services at the Alabama Department of Mental Health since 2003. Before that, he was the Director of the Office of Deaf and Linguistic Support Services at the Missouri Department of Mental Health for 10 years.

Steve has a degree in counseling from Gallaudet University and has been in the field of mental health and deafness since the early 1980’s.  He provides consultation and training on mental health and deafness nationally and internationally.

In 2009, Steve was appointed by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration under the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.  as one of the two U.S. representatives to the International Initiative for Mental Health Leadership (IIMHL) Network on Mental Health and Deaf Individuals. He is a Past-President of the American Deafness and Rehabilitation Association (ADARA) served more than 14 years on the board.

Steve is also a Past President of the New Mexico Association of the Deaf and was the first chairperson of the New Mexico Commission for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing. Steve served as chair of the National Association of the Deaf (NAD) Mental Health Subcommittee for 2 years and was presented with the Knights of the Flying Fingers award from the NAD in 2016, and was elected to the Board of Directors of NAD in 2018.