It was the trip of a lifetime — exploring Madagascar‘s unique flora and fauna with experts on the island nation’s biodiversity. We would view wildlife with local exhibition leaders, and benefit from the insights of research scientists in Environmental Studies, Evolutionary Biology, Anthropology, and the author of the seminal work on Madagascar, through lectures and discussion. Yes, I can get a bit nerdy in my quest for adventure!
But how would I hear the presentations?
I reached out to the travel company to see what accommodations were available. Surprisingly, given the average age for this type of travel program, this was a new request. But they were open to suggestions, especially when I told them about PowerPoint’s built-in captioning capability. They said they’d see what they could do.
Accessibility Does Not Always Come Naturally
The first night of the trip, I revisited the issue of captioning with the organizers and was pleasantly surprised. All speakers had been asked to enable PowerPoint captioning for their presentations. Hooray!
But the professors were nervous about it. None of them had used this feature before, so I promised to provide tech support as needed. Arriving early for each professor’s talk, I helped them enable the captions and position them above the slides so they would be easier to see in the back. The process took less than 5 minutes for each speaker. All of them remarked on “how easy that was!”
During the setup process, I clicked the “always use subtitles” option, so unless the professors turn this feature off, all their future presentations will be captioned as well! I felt as if I was secretly (or maybe not so secretly) launching an army of accessibility champions back into their natural habitats to model this new behavior. Could it be the first step in the evolution of accessible lectures?
Auto-captions Not Perfect, But Greatly Appreciated
Like most auto-caption solutions, the results were not perfect.
Scientific jargon was sometimes hard for the algorithm to decipher, and buffering Internet issues left several-minute-long blanks in the captioning a couple of times. The lecturer with a British accent was hardest for the AI to understand. In one hilarious error, it mistook her use of the word “atoll” for a swear word and bleeped it out entirely.
Despite the imperfections, the audience was thrilled.
How can I get all lecturers to use these?
Why isn’t this common practice?
How can I do this on my PowerPoint?
The professors loved it too! Once they overcame their initial fear, they began asking me how else they could make their future presentations more accessible. Hopefully, these newly minted accessibility advocates return home to continue the trend.
Jump on the Captioning Bandwagon!
Each of us has the power to enhance communication access!
Consider enabling PowerPoint captions when you present at conferences and give lectures in the classroom. And require all speakers to use them at conferences you organize.
But don’t stop there. Turn on the captions for telehealth appointments and Zoom calls without being asked. And caption all the videos you post online.
When we model communication access, others will follow.
Shari Eberts is a passionate hearing health advocate and internationally recognized author and speaker on hearing loss issues. She is the founder of Living with Hearing Loss, a popular blog and online community for people with hearing loss, and an executive producer of We Hear You, an award-winning documentary about the hearing loss experience. Her book, Hear & Beyond: Live Skillfully with Hearing Loss, (co-authored with Gael Hannan) is the ultimate survival guide to living well with hearing loss. Shari has an adult-onset genetic hearing loss and hopes that by sharing her story, she will help others to live more peacefully with their own hearing issues. Connect with Shari: Blog, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter.
