Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) is using adaptive technology while serving in the Senate.
Fetterman’s health was a topic of debate during the Pennsylvania Senate race last year. He had a stroke in May.
The Pennsylvania Democrat has since often confused words and appeared disoriented in public speeches and debates. Fetterman’s campaign staff has turned to new technology, such as live closed captioning, to help him in his stroke recovery.
Time magazine revealed on Thursday that Fetterman now uses special technology provided by the government to help him conduct business in the Senate.
The Office of Congressional Accessibility Services began discussions with Fetterman’s team shortly after his victory. The accessibility office then conferred with the sergeant-at-arms, the Office of the Secretary of the Senate, the Senate Rules Committee, and Senate leadership to produce and install the technology to help Fetterman legislate.
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“I am proud of the work our team has done to support Sen. Fetterman and am grateful to the many Sergeant at Arms professionals who worked quickly to develop and implement these innovative solutions,” Senate Sergeant-at-Arms Karen Gibson told Time in a statement.
The primary technology installed was a live caption display monitor at Fetterman’s desk. It can be adjusted for if he is sitting or standing.
While away from his desk, Fetterman uses a wireless tablet that serves the same purpose. The captioning is provided by the Senate Office of Captioning Services’ stenotype machines, which are caption encoding hardware, and Capitol staff.
Professionals provide the captioning in real time, rather than artificial intelligence, in order to ensure accuracy. The captioning does not require Wi-Fi.
While the use of the technology brings scrutiny of Fetterman’s abilities to the eyes of critics, disability advocates hail the move as an important step in improving the representation of the disabled.
“I do think that John Fetterman — his example personally, and the example the Senate is setting — will be really helpful to a lot of people,” Maria Town, president and CEO of the American Association of People with Disabilities, told Time.
“It’s going to take many, many people, both people with disabilities and nondisabled people, actually saying, ‘OK, we can make this happen in our workplace, in our church, in our community centers,’” she said.
Despite the accommodations, Fetterman can still encounter problems when interacting with people.
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“[Lawmakers] were coming up to talk to him and, in a room where there’s a lot of other competing voices and noise, I just think people didn’t realize,” Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA) said.
“What I made sure that I did one day at a caucus meeting is to stand up and explain that to people so that when they next saw John, they would be more aware that he has an accommodation,” he added. “But it may not work in every instance.”
