What can I say? From the court reporting angle we are a very high percentage white, though I don’t know how well those demographics statistics have been updated. It doesn’t always feel that way in New York City because there’s a healthy blend of culture and personalities.
The big question for me was, is that intentional? And to be honest, I don’t think so. I’ve discussed it with others. It probably has more to do with the affordability of mainstream steno. The built-in genius of the corporates was that lowering the cost of entry would dilute the workforce while making them money off the training. I doubt race was ever a factor, except perhaps with regard to hiring practices, where at least at one time it was rumored that Black women were being paid less at Diamond. Of course, I was never able to confirm that because we’re so damn decentralized and the one entity that wants to bring us together doesn’t want to talk about these things openly. I get that it was something you didn’t do historically, but I saw people getting paid a lot less for the same work. And isn’t it supposed to be different? We have laws on this, however imperfect.
But sometimes I wonder what you want me to do, Anonymous. Here I am with my crazy little typing machine trying to give a voice to anybody willing to speak up with me, and most of them just don’t have the time. Most of them work hard. You shot your shot with that lawsuit and the cards fell where they did. How can we change the system together?
Isn’t that the point of documenting all this stuff? So eventually someone with real reach might find it worth talking about? I mean, not for nothing, but the blog was cited in the lawsuit against NCRA. How long until the whole digital training thing explodes into a deluge of people upset with the outcome of their education? Could be now or never. We can’t really know. It depends on the will of those who were deceived by the whole Ed 2 Go / BlueLedge structure. I intend to do my part by maintaining this website.
Who knows? Maybe one day we’ll have funding for the accent and dialect training components I’ve written about in the past. Or maybe we’ll be systematically eliminated. Or maybe some weird blend where the big companies strike a deal with someone like Taylor Jones to create a course to make even more money.
How you contribute to it and interact may yet change our course.
How lucky we are to be the literate half of America.