Captions for online training?

Why do my organization's ADA compliance people insist I need to put captions in online instructional material aimed at people I think need to be able to hear to do their jobs?

Many, many people including some who do not identify as deaf or hard of hearing rely A LOT on lip-reading. If an online training has a voiceover without a visible speaker and no captions these users will also miss content. Demanding that spoken language interpreters be free of hearing impairments sounds to RantWoman like demanding someone be able to sight-translate without glasses.

LOTS of people have acknowledged or unacknowledged hearing impairments. Someone who does fine up close where he or she can lipread might be completely lost in a large hall or with bad computer audio and no captions. Hearing aids can allow some interpreters to continue working even if they are also coping with hearing loss. (There are backend questions for the organizations hiring such people but your job in creating the training is to comply on the front end.)

Several people have pointed out that deaf interpreters, including certified deaf interpreters, sometimes use the same training materials as other students or even get hired to teach. RantWoman knows someone who learned a lot of his English from captions in many different materials. He was a teacher and interpreter for the deaf in his home country; in some cases locally he interprets for other deaf people from his country and is the person best suited for the job.



Lawyer-induced Disclaimer and Advisory: RantWoman is not a lawyer. This item is for educational purposes, not legal advice. Mention in RantWoman's blog does not imply exclusive endorsement or automatic suitability for any specific situation. Based on observations of others and on RantWoman's experience, lawyers' areas of specializations and levels of expertise vary widely. In addition, the fastest route to good workable solutions for ADA concerns may or may not be through lawyers.