Diversity or is it really discrimination in action?

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.

Free Translation and Captioning Service for ASL Vloggers?

Here are some interesting questions on the equal access issue of signed video bloggings if you were given the opportunity to use a free service to translate and caption (or transcript) for your ASL video blogs. Would you take it if done free so other non-signers may be able to access your ASL vlogs?

Would you accept free ASL translation and captioning service for your ASL vlogs?
	Yes
	No
pollcode.com free polls

Would you accept free ASL translation and transcripting service for your ASL vlogs?
	Yes
	No
pollcode.com free polls