Deaf Friendly Cities in the U.S.

Austin, TX (Continued)
There are numerous deaf-owned or “sign language-friendly” businesses. The large business sector includes financial services, banking, dentist, graphic design, landscaping, handyman, real estate, T-shirt design, log cabin retreat, and catering. Paul Rutowski, a deaf Austin resident, reports that many different city, state, and federal government jobs are open to deaf people. Many deaf people work for the State of Texas, IRS, Post Office and other agencies like Travis County Services for the Deaf, and Vocational Rehabilitation. Larry Evans, a deaf Austin resident says, “The city wants deaf people in the interactive mainstream of everyday living/community activities.” One not-so-small example is a huge plasma jumbotron TV 134 feet wide that shows captions in the football stadium at the University of Texas.
The Austin Visitor Center makes available the GPS Ranger, a 4” video screen that guides you to over 25 sightseeing places with audio information on each place. The company has added American Sign Language versions so deaf people can use the GPS Ranger to get equal access to information. “Deaf accessibility in Austin at the airport is champ with all visual paging, TTYs and visual stands,” says Ladonna Snyder , another deaf Austin resident. “On highway, there are call boxes and some signals flashing to inform deaf drivers ahead of time what happened in other areas. Videophones will be installed at the airport this spring.”