The Open Captioning Accessibility War, and a Solution
Deaf people want subtitles (otherwise known as open captions) on every screen at the cinema. And they aren’t alone. Quite a lot of hearing people would like it too. Some autistic people want it.
People also argue it makes it easier for people trying to watch a movie in a foreign language.
So, why not just do it.
Subtitling Reduces Accessibility for Some People
Okay, so, here’s where it gets personal. I have something called hyperlexia. It’s a symptom of the autism spectrum (some doctors argue it should be a separate disorder under the overall umbrella).
Hyperlexism is somewhat hard to describe. I’m fortunate, in that I have the form in which I still comprehend everything I read. But I literally have a compulsion to read text I see. Yes, backs of cereal boxes included. I pathologically prefer communicating in text over verbally. No, I won’t call you. I’ll text you. Please text me.
But there’s another aspect to this.
If I am reading and somebody is talking, my brain’s language center refuses to process what the person is saying. In fact, it completely tunes it out. This means that unless the subtitles/captions are in a different language from the dialog, the captions make…