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 it impossible for me to hear the actors. Needless to say, this does not improve my movie-going experience. A Deaf person would argue that I get the same experience they do.
Other people find captions hideously distracting.
When you bring these things up, though, you’ll get “Well Deaf people are shut out, deal with it.”
What About Closed Captioning?
The solution of most theaters is to offer closed captioning devices. They are, however, bulky, uncomfortable (especially if you wear eyeglasses) and the batteries aren’t always turned on.
This might change as AR glasses slowly become more normalized, at which point closed captioning would merely be transmitted to the moviegoer’s own device, presumably using some kind of free app.
Closed captioning glasses are also becoming lighter and thus easier to wear, and most…