[{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https:\/\/thehomeground.asia\/destinations\/singapore\/not-all-captions-are-the-same-accessibility-for-the-deaf\/#NewsArticle","mainEntityOfPage":"https:\/\/thehomeground.asia\/destinations\/singapore\/not-all-captions-are-the-same-accessibility-for-the-deaf\/","headline":"‘Not all captions are the same’: Accessibility for the deaf","name":"‘Not all captions are the same’: Accessibility for the deaf","description":"For the average hearing person, subtitles at the movies would either irritate or be little more than a bonus aid.\u00a0 It would likely, then, be a revelation of sorts that captions and subtitles are not the same things, and that certain kinds of captions barely benefit the deaf community.\u00a0 For deaf person Jessica Mak, 44, […]","datePublished":"2022-03-08","dateModified":"2022-04-15","author":{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/thehomeground.asia\/author\/rachel-teng\/#Person","name":"Rachel Teng","url":"https:\/\/thehomeground.asia\/author\/rachel-teng\/","identifier":367,"image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/thehomeground.asia\/wp-content\/uploads\/Rachel_Teng-100x100.jpg","url":"https:\/\/thehomeground.asia\/wp-content\/uploads\/Rachel_Teng-100x100.jpg","height":96,"width":96}},"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"TheHomeGround Asia","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/thehomeground.asia\/wp-content\/uploads\/photo_2021-07-22-222533.jpeg","url":"https:\/\/thehomeground.asia\/wp-content\/uploads\/photo_2021-07-22-222533.jpeg","width":640,"height":640}},"image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/thehomeground.asia\/wp-content\/uploads\/S3-Feature-1920-x-1080-px-V1-32.jpg","url":"https:\/\/thehomeground.asia\/wp-content\/uploads\/S3-Feature-1920-x-1080-px-V1-32.jpg","height":900,"width":1600},"url":"https:\/\/thehomeground.asia\/destinations\/singapore\/not-all-captions-are-the-same-accessibility-for-the-deaf\/","video":{"@context":"http:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"VideoObject","@id":"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=oguP3EnrDAo#VideoObject","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=oguP3EnrDAo","name":"Waka flocka thought the sign language interpreter was dancing and starts dancing with her","description":"","thumbnailUrl":["https:\/\/i.ytimg.com\/vi\/oguP3EnrDAo\/default.jpg","https:\/\/i.ytimg.com\/vi\/oguP3EnrDAo\/mqdefault.jpg","https:\/\/i.ytimg.com\/vi\/oguP3EnrDAo\/hqdefault.jpg","https:\/\/i.ytimg.com\/vi\/oguP3EnrDAo\/sddefault.jpg","https:\/\/i.ytimg.com\/vi\/oguP3EnrDAo\/maxresdefault.jpg"],"uploadDate":"2017-07-08T22:10:33+00:00","duration":"PT1M4S","embedUrl":"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/oguP3EnrDAo","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UChceIY2uEUPcqcEST0FfQXQ#Organization","url":"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UChceIY2uEUPcqcEST0FfQXQ","name":"G B","description":"Hello","logo":{"url":"https:\/\/yt3.ggpht.com\/ytc\/AIdro_k12Hjkf0GheiP5f3WhNQQEiibv-_ONPafjYQt3sKmiiMXO=s800-c-k-c0x00ffffff-no-rj","width":800,"height":800,"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=oguP3EnrDAo#VideoObject_publisher_logo_ImageObject"}},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","@id":"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=oguP3EnrDAo#VideoObject_potentialAction","target":"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=oguP3EnrDAo&t={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"},"interactionStatistic":[[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","@id":"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=oguP3EnrDAo#VideoObject_interactionStatistic_WatchAction","interactionType":{"@type":"WatchAction"},"userInteractionCount":1311472}],{"@type":"InteractionCounter","@id":"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=oguP3EnrDAo#VideoObject_interactionStatistic_LikeAction","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":14471}]},"commentCount":"1","comment":[{"@type":"Comment","@id":"https:\/\/thehomeground.asia\/destinations\/singapore\/not-all-captions-are-the-same-accessibility-for-the-deaf\/#Comment1","dateCreated":"2026-08-24 00:58:02","description":"Thanks for sharing. I read many of your blog posts, cool, your blog is very good. https:\/\/www.binance.bh\/futures\/ref?code=IHJUI7TF","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"binance US-registrera","url":"https:\/\/www.binance.bh\/futures\/ref?code=JW3W4Y3A"}}],"about":["Community","Local","Singapore"],"wordCount":1109,"keywords":["accessibility","cc","closed captions","deaf and hard of hearing","DHOH","disability","inclusion","open captions","sdh","subtitles","subtitles for the deaf and hearing impaired"],"articleBody":"For the average hearing person, subtitles at the movies would either irritate or be little more than a bonus aid.\u00a0It would likely, then, be a revelation of sorts that captions and subtitles are not the same things, and that certain kinds of captions barely benefit the deaf community.\u00a0For deaf person Jessica Mak, 44, the absence of captions automatically opts her out of an existing selection of TV shows or videos. \u201cI rarely watch television, because most of them don\u2019t provide subtitles or captions,\u201d she says.\u00a0Ms Nix Sang, a team leader of disability inclusion consultancy Equal Dreams, says there are key differences between captions and subtitles.\u00a0\u201cCaptions capture 100 percent of the original spoken content, and also include meaningful description of any aural information and speaker and sound source. Subtitles seen on local TV channels sometimes censor away or edit words or phrases. This compromises full access for the Deaf or Hard of Hearing (DHOH) community,\u201d she saysFor example, when watching a Singaporean Chinese drama with English subtitles on Mediacorp Channel 8, the subtitles translate every line spoken in Mandarin, but exclude all those spoken in English \u2014 which left Ms Mak lost in translation.\u00a0The male character speaks in Mandarin, which is not translated by the open captions (Mandarin subtitles), which are \u201cburnt\u201d onto the visuals. Closed captions \u2014 which can be turned on or off, and come in different preferred languages \u2014 are available these days, and include all lines in English. (Source: Truths about Us, MeWatch)Sound descriptions, or speaker identifications \u2014 especially those off-screen \u2014 are all the more key for some forms of content to even make sense for the DHOH.\u00a0\u201cRight and left\u201d captions, which follow the placement of characters in a frame closely, help indicate to a deaf person which character says what. (Source: Friends\/Netflix)\u201cWhenever my deaf friends and I watched a horror movie, we didn\u2019t react when other hearing people screamed or jumped,\u201d says Ms Mak. \u201cWe were puzzled about their reactions until our hearing friends told us the eerie sounds caused them to behave like that.\u201d\u00a0Due to the speed of delivery, other presentation factors also contribute to the accessibility of captions \u2014 such as font size, type, colour, and background. \u201cThere are a few videos that provide captions in very small fonts that make it very difficult for us to read, especially for those of us with Usher Syndrome \u2014 a genetic disorder that results in a combination of both hearing loss and visual impairment,\u201d she adds.\u00a0Strides in Singapore\u00a0Accessibility for the DHOH community has undoubtedly come a long way in these past decades. Even rap concerts now have sign language interpreters, and yes, deaf people still enjoy live music events via the vibrations of the sounds.\u00a0Here in this island republic, calls for more accessible captions have not gone unnoticed. In 2013, deaf person Alfred Yeo relentlessly wrote to movie production companies and cinemas requesting captions for the Deaf so they, too, can enjoy English movies.\u00a0\u201cIn the past, English and non-Chinese movies always only had Chinese subtitles, and most of us were educated in English only,\u201d says Ms Mak.\u00a016 May 2013 became a revolutionary day for the DHOH community, because Golden Village started screening movies captioned in English. (Source: The Straits Times)That said, there are still ways to go in building a truly inclusive and conscientious captioning system \u2014 the very thing one would expect the needs of the deaf community to be able to take the forefront of.\u00a0\u201cWhile the deaf can now enjoy watching movies, the timing, location, and selection of movies with English subtitles are very limited. So we have to apply for leave and go to very far places like Vivocity, if we live in the North, for example,\u201d says Ms Mak.\u00a0Adapting to the new norm, video conferencing platforms like Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, and Skype now also have auto-captioning functions \u2014 but they are seldom very accurate. \u201cDuring work meetings, I am only able to understand about 70 to 80 percent of the conversation without knowing the context. But deaf people are good at guessing, and it\u2019s better than nothing,\u201d she says.\u00a0Good captioning borders on being an art, the same way translation does \u2014 Ms Sang says it\u2019s not as straightforward as simply being able to capture every single word, or describing sounds literally.\u00a0\u201cContext is important. When the speech is fast, how do we capture all of it, yet not let it flash too fast in each frame? How do we describe the sounds, tones, and music meaningfully without dictating the audience\u2019s interpretation, while letting it stay true to the sound designer\u2019s intention? How do we avoid an early reveal of a joke or a punchline?\u201d she asks.\u00a0Sound descriptions including interpretations of the delivery rope the deaf in on humorous elements of a show. (Source: Friends\/Netlflix)A movie released in 2021 aimed to change that. Called CODA, which is short for children of deaf adults, it is a coming-of-age story about the only hearing member of a deaf family. The film was shown with captions that require no special equipment to see.Deaf actor Marlee Matlin, who played the mother in the film, said, \u201cIt couldn\u2019t be more groundbreaking.\u201d And deaf actor Daniel Durant, who played son Leo, added, “This is a day we have waited to see for so many years.”The award-winning movie\u2019s writer-director Sian Heder, who can hear, learned American Sign Language for the project. She wanted to be sure CODA was available for everyone to watch and enjoy.“Oftentimes I think deaf people are left out of the movie-going experience because of devices that don’t work and lack of devices in theatres,” Heder said.\u00a0Preferences might vary from deaf person to deaf person, Ms Sang says. While there are common international guidelines, working closely with local deaf communities and constantly seeking feedback is what she thinks is the key to accessibility.\u00a0In November 2012, Singapore ratified the United Nations\u2019 Convention of Rights of Persons with Disability (CRPD), with the purpose of ensuring that persons with sensory disabilities have equal basic access to information (Articles 9 and 21). Sadly, many like Ms Mak still find many things inaccessible to them, and envy their foreign deaf friends who have better access to TV, movies, and events.\u00a0\u201cDeaf people are human beings \u2014 and just like everyone else, they want to enjoy things together with their family and friends, regardless of their disability. I hope to see more captions in the media and at events that will make our society more inclusive,\u201d she says.\u00a0Join the conversations on TheHomeGround Asia\u2019s Facebook and Instagram, and get the latest updates via Telegram."},{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Destinations","item":"https:\/\/thehomeground.asia\/destinations\/#breadcrumbitem"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Singapore","item":"https:\/\/thehomeground.asia\/destinations\/\/singapore\/#breadcrumbitem"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"‘Not all captions are the same’: Accessibility for the deaf","item":"https:\/\/thehomeground.asia\/destinations\/singapore\/not-all-captions-are-the-same-accessibility-for-the-deaf\/#breadcrumbitem"}]}]