There seems to be a bit of a diversity "hiccup" making rounds in the blogosphere lately. As for me, diversity is about simply accepting people with hearing loss for who they are regardless of their communication preferences. Accepting diversity is also about understanding their limits and communication preferences.
We should be conscious of that at all times.
Yet I've noticed lately a particular conundrum from people exclaiming from their perches about how they accept diversity but their actions speak otherwise. Simply put. A person should not discriminate against people's communication limitation by being selfish. One good example of the hypocrisy abound is not to include captions/subtitles or at the very least provide a transcript of video made by a person with a hearing loss.
This lecturing of "diversity" really goes down the drain (even laughable to watch) should you gaze your eyes upon a deaf/hh person's YouTube channel and notice that none or very few of the videos are NOT captioned/subtitled. Not even a transcript at the very least.
That alone should cause you to pause and wonder.
Does a person really accept the diversity of people with hearing loss if he or she refused to include captions/subtitles or transcripts for a video he or she just made?
I can already hear the choruses of excuses from deaf and hard of hearing people the reasons for not providing captions or transcripts.
*with a whiny voice*
"It's takes tooo longggg to do it!"
*stamps feet*
or
"I can't do it...it's tooooooo hardddd to translate!"
*throws a pencil across the floor*
or
"I simply don't have enough time!"
*whines*
"I want to keep it pure so it will be less confusing."
Whatever.
I'm sure they'll find a way to come up with their own patented excuses. Kind of like coming up with another "My dog ate my homework" kind of shtick excuse.
It wasn't long ago when I realized my own hypocrisy for not captioning my own videos about three years ago in a blog I wrote and discussed about. It was then when I realized that I have the tools, the software, the means, the resources, the time and the power to include everybody, deaf or hearing, so that peole can understand what I'm saying whether it's by voice or thru signing. The majority of my videos (both signing and by voice) are captioned and only a very few, regretably so, are not captioned (signing videos only).
Accept diversity in a population of people with hearing loss means you understand their limitations and communication needs as well. Hypocrisy stinks to high heaven whenever you see deaf/hh people demand captioning on videos but when it comes to their own vlogs they don't even lift a finger. How convenient if not selfish knowing for a fact that more than 99.5% of the U.S. population out of 310 million people do not know sign language. Never mind the rest of the global population, the results would still the same.
*Checks out the many vlog channels on YouTube to see if some deaf and hard of hearing people included captioning or transcripts.*
Nope.
No captions there.
No transcript either.
*Looks around*.
Nope.
Nope.
Nope.
Hmmm....
*Checks another vlog channel*
Nope.
Nope.
Yes.
Yes.
Even a transcript!
Nope.
Nope.
Nope.
Hmmm...
Rather a curious observation on hypocrisy, I'd say.
By now you're probably thinking, "Ah ha! Yeah, well, Mike doesn't accept diversity of deaf kids and not expose them to sign language."
On the contrary. Sign language is for everybody. And when it comes to parents, they are the ones who decide and make informed decisions (hopefully so) regarding their deaf/hh child.
So, let's not go off topic shall we?
If you wanted hypocrisy from me I could've easily vlogged with my voice and not provide captioning. And hear wailings from deaf/hh people for not captioning my video blogs. But never fear, I do include captions not only to meet the communication access needs of those viewers but about reaching out to a much potentially larger audience out there.
A no brainier.
But I'm sure you're getting the gist of where I'm going with this. If you're going to tout this whole "diversity" thing on your soapbox then you better back it up with your own actions whenever you vlog. Otherwise, your own words, spoken or signed, will literally fall on deaf ears.
Pun intended.
8 comments:
I don't see spanish speaking folks translating their language either. ASL IS accessible ... except for people who are blind (at least on youtube). All one have to do is learn the language.
A cop out excuse on the right to exercise laziness. Be honest about it now. Also, it's a hypocrisy in action when people demand CC: but doing their own video they would refuse to include captioning.
Secondly, why would anyone want to refuse to reach out to a potentially larger audience? A potential English speaking audience that's 300 to 400 times larger than the culturally deaf population.
It's a missed opportunity just so you can practice selfishness and hypocrisy.
Spare me the excuses next time.
Actually, I don't really care if one captioned their video or not. If they do, kudo to them. if it meant for mainstreamed audience like tv and such, yes, I expect they should caption or/and translate..if a show or movie did not translate a language, even for a few seconds conversation in foriegn language like I've seen in action adventure movies, there would be complaints.
Personal opinions and videos, nope and don't care, but you might lose some friends if you keep excluding them.
There is nothing to lose. Just noting the hypocrisy on demanding CC: when it comes to their own videos. At least be honest and say that you're lazy to do your own captioning. I did. And I realized how weak of an argument that was and decided to include captioning in my videos.
Well, I am not fluent on ASL so I dont do video anyway. I usually write down my thoughts for everyone. I quit caring about captioning because even my own family don’t caption their home videos...even if it include my son. It get tiresome to keep reminding everyone to caption their video and no one does it. At least I would have access to ASL without the need for caption.if you want to speak without captions, thats your choice.
Those that are demanding access to information cry foul when there's no captioning of videos online, yet, when it comes to their own secluded world, they don't want anyone in. Sorry folks. Fortunately there is currently a big effort underway, a campaign that is making sure ALL videos are captioned, including those that have sign language in the videos.
There's one funny incident recently when CCAC asked one blogger:
"This really must include quality full captioning asap please. Yes?"
Bloggers' response:
"Do you offer captioning service for my vlog voluntary, yes?"
However, the blogger must have come to her sense and what do you know?! she captioned her next video and said it wasn't too bad! Yay!!
We all need to remind people to caption their videos and thank GOD we have CCAC to remind us gently and kindly. Thank you CCAC!
And, Thank you Mike and to many others who constantly remind us of this important effort.
Just a question, what if a HOH can't remember word for word of what he said and can't understand his own video (hence why he want captioning in the first place) I have been watching my own home video and I could not remember what I was saying and I don't have enough hearing ability to figure out.
Not lazy on their part if they are unable to caption their own video.
Well, you do the best you can. If you cannot hear or understand your own voice, then best to write out what you want to say and then caption those words.
What I'm discussing about are for those who sign in their videos yet demand captioning in other videos (e.g. movies, tv shows, super bowl commercials, etc) and even in other people personal videos on YouTube. And when they sign in their own videos they refuse to include captions or at the very least a transcript. I'm talking about those people. Wouldn't that be an example of hypocrisy in action?
At least admit being lazy about it. I know I was with a few videos I didn't caption (out of the many I did) and vowed not to do that again. It's about access and about reaching as many people as possible. With captioning you drastically increase your potential audience size by simply captioning your videos.
That's it. There is no secret.
Unless they are satisfied with their own glass ceiling and contained world to not caption (or provide a transcript) their videos and get their own message out for EVERYONE to hear. Then so be it.
But don't ever complain about captioning if you refuse to do it in your own videos. Regardless of your excuses.
When I say "you" I mean "not you" but everybody "you."
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