Progress needed to reach deaf and hard of hearing community
“Thanks to our collective [INAUDIBLE], the era of Connecticut’s permanent fiscal [INAUDIBLE] is [INAUDIBLE] as long as we maintain the same [INAUDIBLE] that served us so well over the last four years.”
Those words, and more, were spoken at Gov. Ned Lamont’s 2023 State of the State address, broadcast statewide earlier this month. And while his speech was sent far and wide, it likely looked like the example above for a significant portion of the Connecticut population — our Deaf, Deaf/blind and Hard of Hearing people. This is because despite the availability of captioning, Connecticut’s major network affiliates failed to keep the American Sign Language (ASL) interpreter on screen for the duration of the governor’s remarks.
Herein lies an enduring challenge and an opportunity.
In 2020, on behalf of the Connecticut Association of the Deaf and Connecticut Coalition of Organizations Serving the Deaf, we convened talks with Connecticut’s local TV stations to work with them to boost the quality of captioning and interpreting services provided during televised broadcasts.
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) requires all video programming distributors to make televised emergency information accessible to persons with disabilities, setting standards for accuracy, synchronicity (timing), program completeness and placement of closed captions.
We are pleased that the quality and consistency of captioning from Connecticut’s television stations have improved since we first met with them. But captioning alone doesn’t provide a clear or complete sense of what is being said. Aside from the fact that captions often scroll by very quickly and can have gaps and incorrect words, captioning provides access to those whose primary language is English. For many of the Deaf, Deaf/blind, and Hard of Hearing people, including those who have been deaf since birth or early childhood, AS L— not English — is their primary language, resulting in confusion and frustration.
Governor Lamont was one of the nation’s first governors to hold regular media briefings with an ASL interpreter at his side, partnering with the Connecticut Network (CT-N) to feature a separate “inset” camera focused on the interpreter. CT-N’S reason for being is to improve transparency and access to state government, so they are perhaps naturally the first to think about making their coverage as accessible as possible. That doesn’t mean they should be the only network to make that commitment.
Prior to his speech, we contacted the governor’s office and are happy to report that they made sure a certified deaf interpreter (CDI) would cover his inauguration at the State Armory and the State of the State speech. CDIS are members of the deaf community, and therefore have a personal understanding of our culture. To our knowledge, this is a first, for Connecticut, and a sign of the governor’s commitment to communicate to all.
Yet unfortunately, something happened with the TV coverage of the speech as the ASL interpreters made fleeting appearances with camera angles shifting from wide shots of the entire dais to close-up shots of the governor and reaction from gathered legislators. Gone was the steady inset that we have come to rely upon when our governor speaks.
As we have said before, if the deaf and hard of hearing can’t participate in the full news experience because of inconsistent captioning, a whole section of the public is walled off from what’s occurring. Let’s make this the last time that happens.
Let’s break down this artificial barrier to equal access to information.
To be sure, opening day at the Capitol is always a happy, tumultuous event, and we know it presents challenges. But these are solvable, and we ask that our state’s television stations get together with the folks at CT-N and collaborate on a solution to keep the interpreter on screen regardless of the camera angles.
Connecticut’s television stations have made great strides in bringing information to all, as has Lamont. We are grateful. Let’s work together to make sure everybody is included by the time he returns to deliver his next address.