Captioning on the Home Front
From the Journal of Court Reporting, Nov 1998

I began captioning our local (Fremont, California) City Council meetings in November of 1992, onsite. I was approached several months later by some friends (Kevin & Mary Daniel) who were captioning baseball for a local TV station, and were pursuing captioning that station's local news. They asked if I'd be interested in captioning news with them, from my home. I had done a small amount of emergency captioning for this station already, and figured "why not?!" I can't count how many times that answer has gotten me into the most challenging and rewarding situations of my career.

Captioning from a home office with two children (and numerous pets) is indeed a unique challenge. First, I love captioning -- it gives me an incredible sense of satisfaction to know I'm enriching someone's life, whether captioning the news that could seriously affect them, or captioning sports, which is something hearing people take for granted as a part of their leisure activities. But being able to have this satisfying job, and be able to do it in fuzzy pink bunny slippers, a sweatsuit, whatever, and still be available for my children is simply amazing.

I often tell people the best and worst parts of working from home are just that -- you're always home and always at work; there's no getting away from either. The benefits of always being home are obvious: being comfortable, not having to dress up, not having to commute, being with family more. But the main drawback may not be so obvious: you're never away from work. Not only are you surrounded by things that need done around your home, but depending on your personality, being home 24 hours a day can leave you feeling very isolated from the world.

I've found you have to be able to turn off both areas of your life at certain times: When I'm working, I have to ignore the dishes, the dirty house, and the barking dogs; the kids are a little harder to ignore. But on my days off, I have found I have to physically close the door to my office, sometimes going as far as turning off my computer so that I'm not tempted to sit at my desk "just for a minute."

When I began captioning from home, my daughter was six and my son was one. How could I possibly concentrate with children so young around? I was able to arrange my work schedule so that I was working when the children were at the sitter, asleep (late night, early morning) or when my husband was home. I was lucky enough to work with two people who were very flexible and accommodating of my family schedule, and also having a husband who has been extremely supportive of my sometimes-wacky schedule. You do need to develop a signal with your family to show when you're "on the air." My children learned early that when Mommy has the headphones on, they better look at the TV before they speak, and wait for a commercial. Now to get the dogs and cats to recognize the "headphones" signal.

Phone calls and workmen are another challenge of working from home and being on a rigid news schedule. People calling don't always understand, "I'm checking my news scripts and getting ready to go on the air in five minutes," just as the phone company doesn't understand, "you can't shut off my phone service, because my modem is connected to the TV station!" It's really hard to concentrate (much less hear) when there's a leaf blower or chainsaw being used right outside your window. And try to maintain a work schedule when you're selling your house, with people walking in at all times. (Yes, these have all happened to me!)

Looking ba ck, it's a good thing I was as naïve as I was about the challenges of captioning from home, because if I'd known what it really entailed, I don't know if I would have had the courage to do it. But on the other hand, I've never done anything that is so enjoyable and fulfilling, and when I look outside at the trees and the hills, and listen to the birds singing and my children playing, I can't imagine working anyplace else.