In the last couple of months with most of us staying at home for work or studies due to COVID-19, having access to information with ease is even more important. With no physical interactions with friends, who would usually share about things they see, hear or experience, I had to rely on the Internet to be kept aware of what is going on.
I’m glad to have Assistive Technology which allows me to have access to information online. I am also thankful that I have learnt the braille system from a young age to read information with my fingertips.
However, many times, crucial information is not immediately made available for me to access.
When announcements on circuit breaker measures and Budget 2020 were made, I had to wait for the official press release to be published to get the information.
Then I got to know of the live notetaking services provided by Equal Dreams, a social enterprise. And I could be informed on the announcements before they happen real-time. It got really exciting during the post-election political speeches where we first heard the phrase “warms the cockles of my heart”, made famous by Mr Jamus Lim. Live notetaking as well as transcripts are helpful not just for the disabled but for everyone.
I remember an occasion when a friend was troubleshooting an issue for me. He tried to find the solution from a YouTube video. The narrator in the video spoke slowly and my friend could not fast-forward the video as he did not want to miss out anything important. If the video had subtitles, we could have just looked for the information by scrolling through the accompanying subtitles.
Subtitles also provide clearer information. For instance, when you watch a cooking video, we may not catch if the host said “use 15g of sugar” or “50g of sugar”. Adding in the wrong amount of ingredients to your cooking may result in disastrous results.
Having access to information which is accurate and in real-time is thus beneficial to both the disabled and the able-bodied.
Besides important broadcasts, other aspects could also benefit from subtitling. There is also a need for learning materials to have clear information. For example in the case of a speaker with a foreign accent, having written words will help us greatly.
Subtitles should also be included in lifestyle content. Take some of the videos which have good accompanying transcripts of the videos.
If you are planning to make a video, do consider having subtitles. Everyone will thank you for it.
Tan Siew Ling is fully Deafblind, having lost both her sight and hearing to a neurological condition, Neurofibromatosis type 2 (NF2). She carries a screen reader with a Braille display, which she fondly names it as “Bear Bear”, everywhere she goes. Her humour, wordplay, and love of puns keep friends on their toes. She enjoys reading books in her free time and loves to pen down her thoughts, often on a whim, which can be entertaining at times, on her social media. When she is not writing or reading, she can be seen doing insanely 72kg leg presses or swinging a 20kg kettlebell to and fro. You can find out more about Siew Ling and her journey here.