Interview with the Best ASL Comedian: Keith Wann and callVRS

Keith Wann, true to his words... He does care for the Deaf community. He took the time to send me a long and thorough email.  Here's the summary.

1) Is callVRS Deaf-owned (meaning is the CEO, founder, or owner Deaf)?
(No. I am a CODA) "Our goal is to be stand alone and certified and we are in the process to make that happen, we plan on being around for a long time, offering a choice to the deaf community from a true small vrs provider.  We don't want to be the biggest, we just want to be the best!"

2) How many Deaf employees are working for the company and what percentage do they make up of your workforce?
"As we start we are a very small company and owned by me and my wife, both working interpreters who still process calls.  The rest of our team are ICs who are also all interpreters.  We have many Deaf ICs also that we work with for marketing, advisory guidance, and even interpreting."

3) Anything you would like to mention?
"(We are not in this for money). We pride ourselves in answering to the deaf community, and giving back with projects like the ASL story, the Signing Santa, even social events like the ASL Comedy tour.  We do not have an official board  because we have not reached that level yet, we are all working stiffs (big smile)."

Additionally,  one of our email correspondences suggests that we should try to find out which VRS providers are certified. For those who aren't, who are they partnered with? Like President Obama said, "Transparency and the rule of law will be the touchstones of this presidency." That means no one should cover up the truth or hide information. Let us share our information with each other. That will promote unity and peace.

Thank you, Keith Wann and Emilia Lorenti-Wann. Keep doing the great work with the Deaf communities.

For your entertainment. "Deaf Driver"

Who is Calling with callVRS?

When we think of Keith Wann, we think of MANY things. Coda, Comedian, Entrepreneur, Author, Performer, Presenter, Consultant, Interpreter, and much more. I met him at one of his ASLComedyTour shows. He is a nice guy who cares about the Deaf communities across the USA. Meanwhile, his most recent project is callVRS.info (note the info... It's not .tv)

According to their website, callVRS.org, they do not offer IP-Relay, Captel, or VCO. However, they offer VRS and VRI. They are partnered with CSDVRS, but they are in the process of getting certified by FCC. Additionally, they offer several more options that are unique.

Dial "dbvrs.info" to connect with one of our Deaf-Blind friendly interpreters.

Dial "trivrs.info" to access trilingual interpreters serving the Deaf-Latino community.

Dial "ASLstory.info" to see the latest ASL story for children. Updated every month. This month's story is "Papa do you love me?" done by Keith Wann"

Hearing people may  call at 877-241-1411

I decided to give up my Friday night for the greater good and went ahead to test their TriVRS.info. However, there wasn't any answer. I waited for 15 minutes. I wonder if it was past their hours of operations. And don't worry, that 15 minutes weren't wasted. I took 10 minutes of that to make a delicious sandwich. Then I tried out their DBVRS.info. I got an interpreter who looked like a skinny Mr. Clean. It did make me chuckle for a second. Anyway, the interpreter was up close to the screen and made sure his hands were within the "head-to-shoulders" frame. He did above average job translating my ASL. He might be tired.

That's my story for tonight. When you have time, you should go to the website and watch their video (on the left column). It is funny and entertaining. I wonder what's that guy's name is?

By the way,  the friend that I called tonight gave the interpreter just an average rating. The interpreter was not very smooth and stumbled over words often.  There were pauses in the conversation.  He didn't seem as efficient as my friend is used to hearing on the VRS calls.

Next VRS Provider: ConvoRelay