Fetterman’s staff has implemented several measures to support him during his tenure as a Senator, including live closed captioning, but now that the government has gone even further in providing technology specifically designed to aid him in his role – it is raising serious concerns over his ability to perform the job given.
Fetterman had a stroke last year and has since appeared disoriented in public speeches and debates. There are those who think that this kind of adaptive technology may put him at a disadvantage when it comes to protecting important national interests and make his presence amongst other legislators pose a risk.
Washington Examiner reports, Senator John Fetterman (D-PA) uses adaptive technology in the Senate. During the Pennsylvania Senate race last year, Fetterman’s health was a hot topic. In May, he suffered a stroke.
During public speeches and debates, the Pennsylvania Democrat often appears disoriented and confused.
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During Fetterman’s recovery from stroke, his campaign staff has used new technology, such as live closed captioning.
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It was revealed on Thursday that Fetterman now uses special technology provided by the government to help him conduct business in the Senate.
Soon after Fetterman’s victory, the Office of Congressional Accessibility Services began discussions with his team. Afterward, the accessibility office worked with the sergeant-at-arms, the Senate Rules Committee, and Senate leadership to produce and install the technology Fetterman needed to do his job.
The Senate Sergeant-at-arms Karen Gibson stated ““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,”
A live caption display monitor was installed at Fetterman’s desk as the primary technology. The height can be adjusted based on whether he is sitting or standing.
When Fetterman is away from his desk, he uses a wireless tablet to accomplish the same task. Senate Office of Captioning Services’ stenotype machines, which encode captions, and Capitol staff provide the captioning.
To ensure accuracy, captions are provided by professionals rather than artificial intelligence. Wi-Fi is not required for captioning.
Disabilities advocates hail Fetterman’s use of the technology as an important step in improving the representation of the disabled despite critics scrutinizing Fetterman’s abilities.
Fetterman clearly cannot keep up with the complexities of the job in which he was elected for. That much was startlingly clear before he was elected, and is showing more and more as each day passes. How does the translator keep up with all of the side bar conversations that happen on the Senate floor, as well as when there are open sessions that have multiple people talking at the same time. Further if he were to make a mistake during one of his speeches, that would anger one of our allies, or be misinterpreted by one of our enemies. In global politics every word that one of our Senators speaks is analyzed, and has massive implications for international relations, as well as economic implications. Clearly Fetterman was never up to this job, to say otherwise is a disservice to our nation.
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