Bridging the Gap Between the Hearing & Deaf Worlds
During my day job, I help to grow small business’ WordPress website and I talk about that on my other website.
But like many people, I have had my fair share of barriers when it comes to accessibility. I wanted to share a story about my recent one.
Read more about how I felt shot down because of my accessibility needs
In episode 9 of the podcast, I chat with Wayne Barrow, a CODA (child of Deaf adults) and a sign-singing performer where he performs online and also runs his own business where he teaches other people to sign-sing to popular music.
Wayne is also a huge advocate of having British Sign Language taught at school too and is campaigning to make it happen.
If you have noticed from my writing, whether it’s here on this website or on social media, you may have noticed that I write “d/Deaf” in that format…and no, it’s not a typo.
This allows me to incorporate both the small ‘d’ and capital ‘D’ at the same when talking about this particular topic. This is not necessarily for convenience but mainly for identity and inclusion purposes.
But what is the difference between deaf and Deaf?
What’s the Difference Between Deaf with Capital ‘D’ & deaf with Small ‘d’?
In episode 8, I wanted to talk about the dreaded the ‘Dinner Table Syndrome’, which tends to happen at almost any event; Christmas, birthdays, networking events, restaurants, etc.
And this is something that a lot of d/Deaf people, as well as other people, can relate to.
Read or listen to the story about The Dinner Table Syndrome here
There is a very good chance that you’ve seen it on many differences places.
Online videos, films, TV programmes, video games…captions are gradually becoming a norm and many of us are expecting to have the option to check whether it’s available and to switch it on (whether it’s available or not is another debate).
But one thing that many of us have noticed is that there are 2 types of captions: open and closed captions.
However, it’s not very clear on what are the differences between the two and when to use them respectively.
In episode 7podcast, I talk about the release of the video game Spyro Reignited Trilogy not having subtitles during the cut-scenes.
And there was also a surprising statement by the games developer and publisher on their decisions not to add it.
Read or listen to the story about Spyro video and lack of subtitles
In episode 6 of the podcast, I chat with Ed Rex, aka ‘The Deaf Traveller’.
Ed shares his story about travelling around the world and the challenges he faced with some surreal stories and brilliant advice for anyone who wants to do the same.
If you are a hearing person, there is a chance that your hearing is different from another.
But for anyone who is d/Deaf or hard of hearing, it’s even more different as different people have their own level of capabilities of what they can and can’t.
In my own personal situation, it’s a bit complex as, even though I can hear many things, there are certain things and scenarios where I would struggle.
When watching any video-based content, I tend to automatically switch on subtitles/captions (if available) and make use of any transcription if listening to a podcast or watching a video online.
It’s just an easy way for me to consume the content with ease and enjoy the experience better.
But I have realised it’s not just d/Deaf people, as there are many benefits of subtitles that everyone can take advantage of.
Find out what are the benefits of subtitles/captions and transcriptions
