To be clear, I’m not necessarily against sign language interpreters.
They do miss out on what I consider to be an important part of accessibility though - they are not an example of universal design. High-quality captions are an example of universal design, which gives them higher staying power (what right-winger would move to kill captions?) and makes it easier to justify investments.
ASL is not English, though. It has its own grammar structure and words (obviously) so it is functionally a different language than written English. People who speak ASL as a first language are essentially learning a second language with written English, one that is based on spoken language they can’t hear. As a result, many in the Deaf community struggle to read and write. Add to that the stress of it being an emergency and having to process the text in real-time before it disappears? I just don’t see captions being the answer for this already vulnerable community, especially in life-or-death situations.
To be clear, I’m not necessarily against sign language interpreters.
They do miss out on what I consider to be an important part of accessibility though - they are not an example of universal design. High-quality captions are an example of universal design, which gives them higher staying power (what right-winger would move to kill captions?) and makes it easier to justify investments.
ASL is not English, though. It has its own grammar structure and words (obviously) so it is functionally a different language than written English. People who speak ASL as a first language are essentially learning a second language with written English, one that is based on spoken language they can’t hear. As a result, many in the Deaf community struggle to read and write. Add to that the stress of it being an emergency and having to process the text in real-time before it disappears? I just don’t see captions being the answer for this already vulnerable community, especially in life-or-death situations.