Fetterman equipped with closed captioning tech as he continues to struggle with ... trends now
Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman is using assistive technology in the U.S. Senate as he continues to struggle with auditory processing issues after suffering a stroke in May.
On Wednesday, Time magazine reported on how the Senate accommodated the Democrat, who was sworn-in last month and participated in his first Congressional hearing that day.
Fetterman needs the assistance of closed captioning, so the Senate Sergeant at Arms installed a monitor on Fetterman's desk in the Senate chamber that provides live captioning, and armed him with a wireless tablet for committee hearings.
How the captioning is provided to Fetterman depends on where he is.
In the chamber, he relies on captions from the Senate Office of Captioning Services’ stenotype machines, caption encoding hardware and Senate staff, Time said.
A wireless tablet that provides closed captioning is seen on Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman's desk at a committee hearing Wednesday as he continues to use assistive technology to deal with lingering auditory processing issues from the stroke he suffered
Fetterman (left), seen walking alongside Pennsylvania's other Democratic Sen. Bob Casey (right) also had a monitor installed on his antique Senate desk that provides captioning services and can be adjusted for height
His desk monitor can be raised or lowered depending on whether the 6-foot-8 senator is seated or standing up to speak.
A similar monitor with a desk stand is also available to Fetterman to be used on the dais, when he presides over the upper chamber.
Neither monitor needs to be connected to the internet to work.
And the SAA hopes to improve upon his set-up with a monitor that more easily blends into Fetterman's antique desk.
During committee hearings, captions will be provided by professional broadcast
