Comments on: Open Letter to Studios and TV Networks

By: Melinda Gillinger

Melinda Gillinger — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 17:59:09 +0000

I am in complete agreement!! My 18 yr old daughter is profoundly deaf, uses a cochlear implant, is mainstreamed, and can communicate with people who use spoken language as well as those who use sign language. However, at age 17 for the first time she knew that upon take-off in an airplane the flight attendants share safety information. She only knows now because for the first and only time we flew on an airline that showed the warning on video with captions!! Watching her face as she comprehended was something I will never forget. We wondered then why all airlines didn’t provide equal access and how we could make a difference. Additionally, her school uses the internet more than videos and so, after years of advocating for her equal access to her education, she is once again being left out of the auditory information when watching videos on the computer – socially or educationally. Thank you for your hobby and your compassion.

By: Internet TV kijken

Internet TV kijken — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 11:45:07 +0000

Caption is the way to go. It is also better for a more global distribution.

By: Bill Creswell

Bill Creswell — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 09:24:15 +0000

Cool! I hope to get to see some of your films.

By: Jules Dameron

Jules Dameron — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 02:12:31 +0000

I completely and wholeheartedly agree. My film production company has a rule of making sure that everything will be subtitled– whether it is intended for a deaf audience or a hearing audience, all ASL will be translated and all spoken languages will be translated.

I have gotten a higher number of viewers just because of this reason, as well!

As a deaf individual, I must share that I absolutely enjoy watching all this captioned material you have done. This is absolutely entertaining and I enjoy watching all this stuff, even though some of it isn’t something I’d usually come across!

Hats off to you, Bill Cresswell.

By: Ganga

Ganga — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 03:33:48 +0000

Wow, this is exactly what I wanted ever since streaming videos began showing up in the internet! Thank you so much for doing all this and speaking up on behalf of all of us hard of hearing people!

I visit sites like CNN almost every day, but stick to the text content because all their videos on the web don’t have captioning. Given that about 13% of the people in US and Canada are hard of hearing, surely it won’t hurt their viewerships if they incorporated captions in their videos! Like you said, the same programs on TV are already captioned. Thanks again!

By: Mary Gill Smith

Mary Gill Smith — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 17:46:58 +0000

“Equal Access” took a step backwards when we went from VHS to DVD and now very few movie titles are available with DVS descriptions. The technology should already be there for this, since it is for director’s commentary in Special Features. When DVS is provided for theatrical viewing, it’s a total waste of resources and an affront to the visually impaired community not to extend that same track to the DVD. It’s not enough to just have captioning.

By: Lizabeth Healy

Lizabeth Healy — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 18:32:07 +0000

Absolutely – All things should be captioned! Access to content by as many people as possible. As well as the ability to turn down the “noise” is a great option.

Captioning can be a great tool for kids to read. Turn the volume down, let them read the DVD instead of listening. While the visual media has increased in their lifetime, it can’t undermine their ability to read and understand their written language.

For captioned shows, I love reading the song lyrics. I may have “sung” the song before, but definitely not with the right words! So nice way to learn them!

I’m in my 50’s now, and for the past 5 years have been watching all DVD’s with captioning on, so just in case slang, or an accent comes up that I don’t understand, I won’t miss the content.