[NA-Discuss] NYTimes: Harvard and M.I.T. Are Sued Over Lack of Closed Captions

[Judith Hellerstein]

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/13/education/harvard-and-mit-sued-over-failing-to-caption-online-courses.html?smid=nytcore-ipad-share&smprod=nytcore-ipad

Federal lawsuits filed by advocates for the deaf says both schools violate antidiscrimination laws by not providing closed captioning in online lectures and podcasts.

Fascinating article in the NY Times about Harvard and MIT being sued for failing to close caption their online classes.  The suit charges that both universities violated anti discrimination laws by failing to provide closed captioning in their online lectures, courses, podcasts and other educational materials.

As Glenn, Gunela, and I have been both advocating the failure to provide captioning or in using you tube other services to provide captioning that is not correct is also something that we need to work on. As the article says:

“Much of Harvard’s online content is either not captioned or is inaccurately or unintelligibly captioned, making it inaccessible for individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing,” the complaint said, echoing language used in the M.I.T. complaint. “Just as buildings without ramps bar people who use wheelchairs, online content without captions excludes individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing.”online content is either not captioned or is inaccurately or unintelligibly captioned, making it inaccessible for individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing,” the complaint said, echoing language used in the M.I.T. complaint. “Just as buildings without ramps bar people who use wheelchairs, online content without captions excludes individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing.”

Advocates for the deaf on Thursday filed federal lawsuits against Harvard and M.I.T., saying both universities violated anti discrimination laws by failing to provide closed captioning in their online lectures, courses, podcasts and other educational materials.

Something we all need to all think about and why i have been pushing the pilot so hard so we can get the metrics to build a case for captioning icann wide.

Best,
Judith

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Judith at jhellerstein.com
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