Hearing loss charity encourages people to be proactive about their communication needs – Action On Hearing Loss: RNID

clatterbane:

clatterbane:

The UK’s largest hearing loss charity Action on Hearing Loss is urging the 9 million people in England who are deaf or have hearing loss to tell their GP what support they need to help them communicate.

The call to the public comes as the charity launches its new campaign, ‘On the Record’, just under three weeks before the NHS England’s mandatory Accessible Information Standard comes into full force.

The charity’s Access All Areas research found that most people with hearing loss surveyed were forced to struggle with the phone or go in person to book appointments for lack of other options such as online booking. One in seven had missed an appointment because they hadn’t heard their name called out in the waiting room. Furthermore, more than a quarter had said they didn’t understand their diagnosis after seeing their GP, and two thirds of those needing a British Sign Language (BSL) interpreter didn’t get one.

NHS England estimates that missed appointments for people with all levels of hearing loss costs the NHS at least £14 million every year.

Dr Roger Wicks, Director of Policy and Campaigns at Action on Hearing Loss, said: “This is a huge step forward for people who are deaf or have a hearing loss. From simply booking appointments to fully understanding what has been said in the consulting room, many have struggled to enjoy full, equal access to healthcare.

“This Standard now means that the 9 million people in England who are deaf or have hearing loss must be provided with the support they need to communicate when they visit the GP or other NHS services. We urge anyone who hasn’t had their needs recorded to use one of our free resources to contact their GP and make their needs known.”

The Standard, which becomes a legal requirement in England by 31st Jul 2016, establishes a clear administrative process for providers of NHS care or publicly funded adult social care to follow to make sure people with disabilities and sensory loss can contact services when they need to, communicate well during appointments and understand information they are given.

The charity has created a template letter for patients to send to their GP practice manager or a card for patients to give to the receptionist the next time they’re at the surgery. Patients can use one of these two resources to explain what support they need.
To find about more about how the Accessible Information Standard will affect you, and to download the template letter or card, please visit: www.actiononhearingloss.org.uk/ontherecord. All information on the Standard and how to use the template letter are available in BSL on the page.

Very relevant. Hopefully this will make some difference, with their at least having to look like they’re doing something about accessibility.

This is supposed to apply to all kinds of disabilities which may affect communication needs. (So what is the Accessible Information Standard?)

(And I must add that the DDA went through in 1995, and that describes the state of accessibility for NHS services over 20 years later. I don’t necessarily expect much, but you can bet I am sending a letter to the GP’s. Where I have not been able to make an appointment for quite a while.)

Reminded of this again. Because they are threatening me with loss of treatment for freaking retinopathy and maybe going blind, largely because I am already HOH and otherwise disabled.

(I also developed that complication already largely thanks to inaccessible and just plain bad care, but I don’t need to go on right now.)

And the state-run health system has largely avoided even pretending to follow equalities legislation for over 20 years. Because the system places that much value on disabled people. Simple appointment booking is the least of it, but still a major hurdle.

Then they keep blaming us for draining the system with missed appointments. When we’re too often not treated as worth providing decent care.

Not even able to add much right now. (Other than that I did, indeed, get dropped from ophthalmology services recently for having to reschedule too many times, while sick and without the support needed.)

Text of H.R. 3571: Reasonable ADA Compliance Act of 2017 (Introduced version) – GovTrack.us

actuallyblind:

lunaplath:

urbancripple:

This legal turd comes from the lovely state of Florida, home of boiled peanuts and racism. Before we begin, I want to clearly state that I AM NOT A LAWYER and nothing in this post should be construed as anything more than my snarky, cynical, possible ill-informed opinion regarding this piece of legislation.

The purpose of the bill is stated as:

To amend title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 to require a plaintiff to provide a defendant with an opportunity to correct a violation of such title voluntarily before the plaintiff may commence a civil action, and for other purposes.

According to ADA.gov, Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (colloquially known as “The ADA”):

…prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability in the activities of places of public accommodations (businesses that are generally open to the public and that fall into one of 12 categories listed in the ADA, such as restaurants, movie theaters, schools, day care facilities, recreation facilities, and doctors’ offices) and requires newly constructed or altered places of public accommodation—as well as commercial facilities (privately owned, nonresidential facilities such as factories, warehouses, or office buildings)—to comply with the ADA Standards.

H.R. 3571 seeks to change the ADA by giving entities that violate Title III an:

(3) Opportunity to correct alleged violation

(A)

In general

A State or Federal court shall not have jurisdiction in a civil action that a plaintiff commences under paragraph (1), or under a State law that conditions a violation of any of its provisions on a violation of this title, unless—

(i)

before filing a complaint alleging a violation of this title or such a State law, the plaintiff provides the defendant with a written notice of the alleged violation by registered mail;

(ii)

the written notice identifies the facts that constitute the alleged violation, including the location where and the date on which the alleged violation occurred;

(iii)

a remedial period of 120 days elapses after the date on which the plaintiff provides the written notice;

(iv)

the written notice informs the defendant that the plaintiff is barred from filing the complaint until the end of the remedial period; and

(v)

the complaint states that, as of the date on which the complaint is filed, the defendant has not corrected the alleged violation.

(B)

Extension of remedial period

The court may extend the remedial period by not more than 30 days if the defendant applies for such an extension.

TL;DR: If a person or business violates Title III of the ADA, they have to be notified of the violation in writing via registered mail and then have up to 150 days (120 days plus a possible 30 day extension) to correct the violation before they are open to any kind of civil action (i.e., a lawsuit) can take place.

Now, when I first read this, I was thinking to myself: Hmmm. This seems odd but not terribly insidious.

Luckily Gregg Beratan was there to remind me that the ADA is, in fact, a civil rights law and that we don’t give people and companies who violate other civil rights laws 150 days to get their act together before we sue the ever-loving fuck out of them. The ADA has been in place for 27 years. People and businesses have had plenty of time to comply with the law.

Imagine the following exchanges:

Government Official: We hear your restaurant is not accessible to people with disabilities.

Restaurant Owner: You caught us. We need six months to comply. It takes time to add ramps and grab-bars

—

Government Official: We hear your restaurant is refusing to serve people of color.

Restaurant Owner: You caught us. We need six months to comply. It takes time to start seeing people of color as…well….people.

Starting to see my point? The ADA has been reasonable enough for nearly three decades. If companies can’t be bothered to comply with the law, they shouldn’t bother to do business at all.

I’m a blind lawyer. I’d like to expand on this issue.

My favorite quote:

“If companies can’t be bothered to comply with the law, they shouldn’t bother to do business at all.”

If you guys really want to see me rage, ask me about this proposed bill.

The only reason that businesses are pissed about these violations is because they have never heard of or thought of the ADA. The reason they have never heard of the ADA is because they are bad business owners. Anyone who cares about running a business well looks into the legal requirements for starting a business, including things like health codes, fire codes, and public accommodations statutes such as the ADA.

Imagine a business violating the health code by having roaches crawl all over the counters in the kitchen as they prepare your food. The health department shuts down their restaurant and the business owner says, “But I didn’t know I wasn’t allowed to have a bug-infested kitchen.” The health department will probably laugh at them and say too bad, ignorance of the law is no excuse.

“But,” you sputter, “having a bug-infested kitchen is not the same as violating the ADA!”

Yes it is.

By refusing to comply, owners create a dangerous condition for a large portion of the population. A huge number of Americans are older and have disabilities that relate to age. Any business owner can expect to members of the public who are disabled, whether they are older or not.

The reason there are so many ADA lawsuits right now over public access isn’t because the lawsuits are frivolous, it’s because there are a lot of disabled people in this country who want to go out and live their lives just like anyone else.

As @urbancripple pointed out, the ADA is a civil rights statute. Disabled people have a right to enter public spaces without endangering themselves. The reason I bring up that point is because businesses, before the ADA, could legally force people with disabilities to leave for simply looking disabled. If customers didn’t want to look at a person with a visible disability while they ate dinner, these customers could (and did!) ask business owners to kick out the disabled person. And the business owner would do it!!

I personally know Deaf people who have been kicked out of public businesses for publicly using sign language. Yes, their native language. Recently, Starbucks in New York got into trouble for trying to force a group of Deaf people to leave its business for buying coffee, hanging out while drinking the coffee, and using sign language to speak to each other while doing so. I guess having more than a few Deaf people in the business at once scared the able-bodied people or something. /s

I have had businesses try to kick me out SO MANY TIMES because I have a guide dog. From your average Chinese Buffet to “trendy” restaurants that serve vegan global street food in the capital city of my damn state. I’ve also tried to find the bathroom in these “trendy” restaurants, only to realize that there are no braille labels for the bathrooms, even though I’m in a brand new building and the labels themselves cost hardly anything. I have complained about this to business managers before, often in the nicest terms possible, even offering to bring my own braille label maker and make a sign for them FOR FREE, only to be met with hostility and defensiveness.

I have done the EXACT THING that this bill is suggesting–giving people notice and time to correct the issue–and the business owners just get angry and never fix the problem. The people who run these places aren’t mad because they didn’t have notice of violating the law before being sued, they’re mad because they don’t care about allowing access for all people and resent the fact that you want them to care.

Also, if you’re in an older building that hasn’t been renovated, the business owner can’t be sued for ADA violations. There is already an exception that prevents it. This exception was part of the original text of the law.

And if you’re in a new building but you chose not to follow laws, then you are doing so at your own risk. In that case, it is your own fault that you are being sued. The disabled person isn’t being unreasonable by suing you because it’s not our responsibility to explain every law of this country to business owners.

!!!! Fucking yes thank you for this!! This is exactly the problem and this is exactly the kind of thorough explanation I am here for.

Text of H.R. 3571: Reasonable ADA Compliance Act of 2017 (Introduced version) – GovTrack.us

andreashettle:

notdifferent-justme:

As an abled-body person, you do not get to decide what a disabled person can and can’t do.
You do not get build a world that is only suited for your needs, and then tell us it’s not your fault we can’t do something.
You do not get to blame inaccessibility on our disability.
You do not get to choose if you want to accommodate us.
You do not get to limit us just because we are disabled and “that’s the way life is.”

THIS. I co-sign ALL THIS ^^^^^^^^^

I cannot count the number of times that I have explained that I can’t do X because X is not accessible, only to be told, “Oh, you mean you can’t do it because you’re deaf,” as if no other factors can possibly matter.

Oh, really, then? So the ONLY reason I can’t go watch that movie is because I’m deaf? So explain to me what is happening when this happens:

I go to a movie and understand every word in the whole movie. (True story. I have experienced this many times. Yes, really.)

Later on, I again go to see a movie, but this time cannot understand a single word. I have to ask for a ticket refund and leave the theater because of it. (Also true story, on multiple occasions. Sometimes it is for the same movie and/or the same theater as before, and sometimes it is for a different movie and/or a different theater.)

And later on, I again go to see a movie, but this time I can once again understand every word in the whole movie without any difficulties. (Also true story, sometimes the same movie and/or theater, sometimes a different one.)

If my deafness is the ONLY factor important enough to mention that limits me from understanding what is said in a movie, then obviously I must have miraculously become hearing as soon as I walked into the theater all these times that I have successfully watched a movie with full comprehension! Maybe there is magic in the movie popcorn, or maybe they use water from a healing spring in the beverages!? And on the occasions when I have needed to walk away from the theater in frustration due to being unable to understand? Oh well, for some reason the sudden miracle cure didn’t work this time!

What?

No, you don’t think I have been miraculously cured of my deafness all those times that I successfully saw a movie?

Okay then, surely it must follow then that my deafness IS NOT THE ONLY CRUCIAL FACTOR IN MY INABILITY TO UNDERSTAND MOVIES. Because, see, my deafness is not a thing that varies from one day to the next. I have been alive for … well I’m not going to do ALL the math to give an exact figure, but it’s definitely well over 17,000 days so far. (47 years and some change.) Well, guess what has happened on all 17,000+ days of my life? On every single day of my life, I woke up deaf.

On the day of my birth? Yup, deaf. Second day of my life? Yup, still deaf. Day number 10,000 of my life? Yup, still deaf. And today, another few thousand days later? Yeah, nope, nothing has changed there.

So, no, the reason why I don’t bother to mention my deafness in explaining why I can’t see a movie is not because I have somehow managed to forget such a constant, unchanging fact of my life. See, the reason why I don’t bother to mention my deafness is precisely BECAUSE it is such a constant unchanging fact of my life. When something like my ability to understand a movie keeps CHANGING all the time, then you can’t look to the constant, unchanging factor as the only cause. You have to look for that OTHER crucial factor that profoundly influences whether I can understand a movie or not. THIS is the crucial factor that people so often stop me from trying to explain in their rush to put all the blame on my deafness instead.

So what’s the other crucial factor?

CAPTIONS. Of course. When the captioning technology that some theaters use is operating correctly, then I will understand everything said in the movie with no difficulty (assuming, not just correctly operating technology, but also good quality and consistently reliable captions … none of which are guaranteed, but that’s another blog post in itself). But if anything goes wrong with the captioning equipment that day, then no I will not understand anything said in the movie.

When you keep trying to talk over my explanation about how an inaccessible environment impacts me, you not only erase my lived experience, you ALSO abdicate the responsibility to help FIX THE ENVIRONMENT so that the environment can be fully accessible for ALL people with ALL disabilities. Not just captions, but also wheelchair ramps, braille or audio format for blind people, sensory-friendly environments for Autistic people, information provided in a wide array of accessible formats, and so forth.

Of course, that’s probably exactly why many non-disabled people keep trying to put all the blame for the consequences of an inaccessible environment on our disabilities instead.

shanneibh:

gingerautie:

misanthropymademe:

cassolotl:

natandnatcomics:

#15 – *Accidental* ban

Because the architects don’t always think about everything… or everyone!

Grandma Miller will be back next week along with a sweet little surprise from my boyfriend and me! Stay in touch!

Thank you for reading this week’s comics and have a wonderful day!

Nat & Nat

Mrs Miller is such a rebel, I love her.

Access is a right, but if you’re gonna eat outside anyway, why not order pizza/Chinese/whatever and then eat it outside whilst sitting at a table/on a wall/sidewalk just as you would with a hot dog?

Sit down restaurants don’t usually do take away as well. And that means you can’t eat out – you have to actually be somewhere they can deliver to, and a bench in a mall isn’t an address.

Maybe you want to sit down, enjoy table service and get dessert after too. Being in a wheelchair shouldn’t prevent that.

Source: natandnatcomics

ableism:

kelpforestdweller:

kelpforestdweller:

you can reserve a space on the train for your bicycle in the default online booking form.

to get a wheelchair space, i have to book the ticket then exchange several emails with the railway company, as if the concept of wheelchairs is entirely new to them. sometimes there’s no email address and they try to insist i call them, which is inaccessible to so many people. then they demand i show up half an hour early, at which point they typically act as if they’ve never heard of you or they have a wheelchair ready because no one told them i have my own. when i arrive at my destination, i cross my fingers that anyone has bothered to call ahead for someone to get the ramp out, and usually have to resort to asking another passenger to flag down a member of staff. i leave long after all the other passengers and crew. and don’t even get me started on airplanes.

now apply this principle to literally everything.

oh and the only reason i have to do any of this is because they didn’t build the trains to be level with the platforms. i only need their “assistance” (literally just a ramp) because they didn’t factor me in in the first place. all that effort, MY effort, for “help” i shouldn’t need.

being disabled is so much WORK. contacting everywhere you might go in advance to find out if it’s accessible, then you get there and “oh there’s just a few steps” or you have to call them on some number so they can get the one guy who has the key to the rickety elevator but oh wait he’s on vacation, or they’re using the disabled toilet as a storage closet. everything i do comes with layers of effort that abled people can’t even imagine (i know, i used to be one).

now bear in mind that on a good day i have like 25% of the energy of an average person my age. i need most of that to, you know, eat and so forth. so having to spend half my energy dealing with this type of bullshit renders so much of the world inaccessible to me, because i often physically cannot jump through all these fucking hoops to like… enter a building or get on a train.

ableism:

kelpforestdweller:

you can reserve a space on the train for your bicycle in the default online booking form.

to get a wheelchair space, i have to book the ticket then exchange several emails with the railway company, as if the concept of wheelchairs is entirely new to them. sometimes there’s no email address and they try to insist i call them, which is inaccessible to so many people. then they demand i show up half an hour early, at which point they typically act as if they’ve never heard of you or they have a wheelchair ready because no one told them i have my own. when i arrive at my destination, i cross my fingers that anyone has bothered to call ahead for someone to get the ramp out, and usually have to resort to asking another passenger to flag down a member of staff. i leave long after all the other passengers and crew. and don’t even get me started on airplanes.

now apply this principle to literally everything.

If You’re Gonna Make Something Wheelchair Accessible, Don’t Make it a Thing

literaryfurball:

urbancripple:

Here’s some examples awkward accessibility being a thing:

Your at a hotel that has a lift to get you from one sub-floor to another, but the lift can only be unlocked and operated by one specific person that the hotel now has to go find. Sure, they’ve made the entrance to the sub-floor is accessible, but now it’s a thing.

The buses are wheelchair accessible but the driver has to stop the bus, take 30 seconds to lower the goddamn ramp, move passengers out of their seats, hook up the straps and then secure you in the bus. Sure, they’ve made the busses accessible but now it’s a thing.

The restaurant has an accessible entrance, but it’s past the trash room and through the kitchen. Sure, the restaurant is accessible, but now it’s an insulting thing.

Here’s some great examples of accessibility not being a thing:

The train to the airport pulls up flush with the platform. I board with everyone else and sit wherever the fuck I want. Riding the train is accessible and not a thing.

In Portland, I press a button the side of the streetcar and a ramp automatically extends at the same time the door opens. I board in the same amount of time as everyone else. This is not a thing.

I get that it is difficult to design for wheelchair accessibility, but folks need to start considering the overall quality of the experience versus just thinking about meeting the minimum requirements.

For the love of all things holy please pay attention to this

carnistprivilege:

actuallyblind:

let-the-spectrum-in:

actuallyblind:

drackir:

candidlyautistic:

carnistprivilege:

actuallyblind:

Small tip to help some of your blind friends: do not put 10,000 emojis in the middle of a text or a post if you continue to put text after the emojis because I will tell you that I will Straight give up if I have to listen to “face with tears of joy, face with tears of joy, face with tears of joy,” 23 times just to hear the rest of your text or post.

Oh my god, that’s what screen readers say when they read out emojis?? I didn’t realize.. I will change how I write my posts now… My bad…

This is good to know. Pretend there are twenty three light bulb emojis indicating sudden understanding following this text.

So the clap hands emoji post would be extra annoying since you can’t just speed read it, damn!

YES. That is one of my least favorite emojis because it’s LONG. It also says skin tone on some, and while that’s AWESOME, if you put 30 prayer hands, I have to hear “hands clasped in celebration with medium dark skin tone” 30 times in full. And even if I use a braille display, it still writes it out in full because there’s no real way to represent them any other way yet, so until someone invents a Braille display with like 10 lines that isn’t astronomically expensive, there’s no easy way to skip over them.

Now, at least with some screen readers, punctuation is a little different and if there are multiple of the same thing it’ll say like “17 exclamation points” instead of saying them all individually, and I wish that update would be made to screen readers to speak emojis in multiples that way… That would be a good solution.

Is it okay to use emojis sparingly? I don’t ever use a million like that, the most I’d put in a row is probably two different emojis, lol. But I do feel the need to use either emojis or ASCII faces in order to get emotion across in my writing. Which is better for you, a traditional ASCII face like 🙂 or a newfangled emoji like ☺️? Can your screen reader “translate” things like 🙂 into “smiling face” or do you just hear “colon dash right parentheses”?

Oh yeah, of course! If you only use one or two in a row that’s totally fine! Don’t feel like you have to just stop using them. They are fun and lots of people like them.

As for emoji versus traditional typed out faces, it doesn’t really matter. It can’t translate most of those faces except for a general smiley face, but I know what the symbols put together mean, though this may be difficult for somebody who is not very well versed in print reading. Most blind kids get taught to recognize both though.

There’s so much good info on this post! I didn’t know any of this. Thanks for making it!!

Don’t Take Up Spaces that Aren’t Meant for You

theinfiniteofthought:

urbancripple:

bpdvixon:

urbancripple:

I go to use the elevator in a high rise building only to find a sign that says “Please ask security for access to this elevator”. A week ago, that sign wasn’t there. When I ask the security guard why the sudden change in policy, they said that people from other floors in the building had been abusing their access to the elevator and that they needed to lock it down.

Let me make this perfectly clear: I could no longer independently access the only elevator available to take me to this part of the building because other people decided to use / abuse a space that was not meant for them instead of taking the stairs right next to the fucking elevator.

Here’s another example: In order to have access to an accessible room on a cruise ship, I have to submit a form stating that I do in fact have a physical disability that prevents me from using a normal state room on the ship. I have to do this because able-bodied people have, in the past, been dishonest about the level of accessibility they require in order to have access to a larger stateroom without having to pay a premium.

How about this one: I go into the restroom of a massive convention center. Every single stall in this restroom is empty except for the one handicapped stall in the back, which is being occupied by someone who does not need to use a handicapped stall. I now have to wait for that one person to exit the stall before I can use the restroom. Remember: This bathroom has 7+ other stalls that are built specifically to work for them, but they chose to use the one space that is available to people like me.

Dear able-bodied people: Handicapped bathroom stalls, seating areas, staterooms, and elevators are not meant for you and you should not use them.

I do not care how big of a hurry you were in and how that elevator got you to where you needed to go faster. Because of you, I have to go find someone every time I need to use this elevator and if I can’t find them I GET NOTHING.

To you, that cruise ship can house 2000+ people and you have an opportunity to get a massive stateroom at no extra cost if you’re wiling to fib a little. To me, that cruise ship has a capacity of around 12 (the number of accessible rooms on the ship) and if they’re all full, I GET NOTHING.

To you, that movie theater has four really great seats right in the middle that just happen to have a handicapped accessible sign on them. To me, that theater has four seats and if they’re all full, I GET NOTHING.

And let me address the bathroom thing in particular. I don’t give a flying fuck if the handicapped stall was the only one available. You should pretend like it doesn’t fucking exist and wait in line like everyone else. *

Don’t take up spaces that were not meant for you. Because everything but those few precious spaces were not meant for us.

* Unless it’s literally the only stall in the bathroom or you’re about to absolutely shit yourself. Then it’s fine.

Story time: I cleaned and stocked portable toilets at a music festival, the main blocks were connected to a really big septic tank but not accessable. The disabled toilets had a tiny tank that would get full very quickly. When not cleaning I would guard the toilet so no one ‘skips the cue’ to use it. When cleaning I couldn’t observe it and it would fill out. The big truck to empty it could not come around to after the day ended, thus people with disabilities would have to either not use to the toilet or find another block and hope that it isn’t filled. No one would understand because ‘noone needs it now’ no they don’t but that’s not the fucking point.

Yes! The “no one needs it right now” thing is the most common excuse I hear about stuff like this. It’s ridiculous.

And just to add some more perspective to this problem, when I park my car in a handicapped space, I purposefully avoid parking in the spaces meant to accommodate wheelchair accessible vans. I don’t need to use that kind of space to get in and out of my car so I don’t use it. That parking space is **not** meant for me.

To be fair though, using a lift instead of stairs is valid in almost all circumstances and I think that is the fault of the building-runners thinking that they should police who uses the lift? Like, not all disabilities are apparent to begin with, but also, someone is just really tired? Or they have a bad knee? Just had a run? Whatever? Let them use the lift

Seriously though, locking up the elevator in a high rise building shows some pretty worrying disregard, right there. It’s there to get people from floor to floor. That’s why it exists. People shouldn’t have to go through security gatekeeping and justify some particular need to use the elevator, for whatever reason.

mookybear12404:

mookybear12404:

Can we please please normalize subtitles?

Subtitles are:

1. A necessity for deaf people

2. REALLY helpful for those who are partially deaf, have APD (like me and my sister) or any other hearing problem

3. really helpful for those who can’t focus well, especially for those with ADD/ADHD (like me)

4. Is incredibly helpful for people learning a second language, or for bilingual people who can read better than they can hear

5. Even if you aren’t into learning the language, there are countless amazing foreign movies and songs you really can’t enjoy without subtitles!

6. Can help people (like my sister) who have reading comprehension

7. Can help when you’re having a party and you don’t want to pause every time someone wants to make a comment/joke

8. Can help when the characters in the show have a heavy accent (especially in period shows)

9. Let’s be honest subtitles can really add to the humor of the show! (”sobs mathematically”, “screeches loudly”, “angrily fixes bowtie”)

10. Can let people watch content without headphones, or in areas of loud noises.

11. Alternatively, If someone has sensitive hearing or is triggered by loud noises, they can turn the volume down low and still be able to enjoy the content

12. The last bit is VERY true for movies where they switch between soft speaking and LOUD BOOMING NOISES (I’m looking at you hunger games)

13. Very good for helping young kids recognize and associate words and learn to read faster!

14. Really good when you’re eating chips/crunchy candy and can’t hear the movie

15. IS A NECESSITY FOR DEAF PEOPLE!!!

I can’t even tell you how many of my friends made fun of me for needing subtitles, to the point of where I just don’t bother with them anymore. Asking for subtitles at an event is the scariest thing I can imagine. People often complain that it “gets in the way” of their movie. Watching shows (especially in loud areas or with people who talk a lot) is incredibly frustrating for me. People often think I’m stupid for not understanding a show or needing to rewind when someone talks. Most Youtube users don’t bother to create subtitles for their videos (and auto-generated subtitles are crap). I just wish people were nicer to people who need subtitles, and that they were more accessible on other platforms.