Obama vs Hillary on deaf issues

[FunkyLeprechaun]

Now that may not seem like a meaningful title for my post but I am willing to give up one of my 3 allocated posts for this one issue. I have yet to see this addressed amongst us deaf people.

Here goes... Obama makes an effort to reach out to deaf people by linking to captioned videos on his website. Here: http://www.barackobama.com/tv/. You can see the buttons on the right hand side what videos he has closed captioned. Project Readon is a wonderful website.

Hillary does have captioned videos on her websites (in fact more than Obama) but you will have to scroll down 35 different video links to find the first captioned video (called "Strong"). If you don't believe me, take a look http://www.hillaryclinton.com/video/.

According to a deaf DailyKos poster (read at: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/2/8/21511/86528), the campaign videos for Hillary weren't captioned while Obama's were in the Washington DC area. Home of Gallaudet.

Project ReadOn does the captioning for both websites but only Obama links to them or even regards them on his website.

It's something interesting to think about. I haven't been in the US so far so I haven't really experienced the captionability of either candidate on television (in November, I only saw a smattering of them, and Obama's were captioned and I only would catch the tail end of Hillary's and it didn't seem like they were captioned).

Wonder if it has to do with costs of captioning an advert for national television? Hmm?

[FunkyLeprechaun]

1. Oh... come on... it's 4 am and I'm finally getting tired from the Red Bull

I had earlier for helping me along in a somewhat slow/fast pub environment.

I just think this is interesting and I'm sorry that not many think it's interesting (hey 53 of you decided to look in this thread).

It's just an accessibility question... that's all.

[grantcart]

2. good luck in raising awareness k and r

[FunkyLeprechaun]

6. I just wanted to have a discussion

About something new and I felt that this hadn't been discussed yet. I'd like her supporters to explain to me why she doesn't go that extra mile to provide captioned videos on her website. She does provide them but you have to click on a link, which leads to a pop up box.

Obama does. I wonder if he has a number of deaf people in his campaign because his video site is well-presented to deaf people.

[grantcart]

14. I am an Obama supporter but am sure that Hillary is not intentionally

ignoring deaf people. Maybe your post can help get the word out.

I have had some loss of hearing so I understand how you feel. I think people just need to be made aware of it.

(I am very proud of myself that I did not take the low road and make the ironic comment about Hillary now thinking that words are cheap and will be pantomiming her next speech. I was terribly tempted to do so but, thankfully, did not do it.)

[FunkyLeprechaun]

16. I agree

If Hillary wanted a wider audience, she should have hired a member of her Internet staff who was in the know of these issues. She didn't.

That's what notched up another support for Obama for me.

[frazzled]

3. Captioning is important

Not only for deaf persons, but for many with hearing problems. I have a hearing-impaired daughter who is very dependent on captioning. My 91-year-old father, like so many elderly, cannot hear the tv well enough to understand. When I visit, he turns it up very loud, and I try to show him how to turn the closed captioning on ... not something easy for someone that age.

I'm surprised that, given the number of seniors who form Clinton's main constiuency, that she isn't really pushing captioning to its fullest extent.

Perhaps it should be an ADA requirement for all campaigns.

For those who have attended rallies or town halls, are signers present? They often are even at far smaller lectures I attend from time to time at various community and cultural institutions.

[FunkyLeprechaun]

4. It is very important

We deaf people have independent minds, just not the use of our ears. So it's grossly unfair when a campaign video isn't captioned. I'm grateful for Obama putting these on his website and highlighting the fact that he has them. He even has a video talking about disabilities, and captioning it.

Hillary's action on putting all the videos on one page and not even saying that she has captioned videos, I'm willing to bet that the diarist at Daily Kos gave up after scrolling down to 25 and not getting to the bottom, not realising that Hillary had captioned videos.

Obama imbeds the captions in his videos. If you go to Hillary's, it's not initially captioned but there's a link where you can click to get a "black box" where you can put below it, but you have to synchronise them. Ie the captions in the box have to start at the same time as the video. Better for me to go to ProjectReadOn to watch the Hillary ads because there, the captions are in the video, not a pop-up box to put below it.

So technically, her captioned videos are NOT captioned unless you click on the green button below it.

[TexasObserver]

5. Thanks for making this post. It does matter.

It's a reflection of sensitivity to the deaf population.

[FunkyLeprechaun]

7. That's a really good way of putting it nt.

[sablescort]

8. From what I have seen...

Fom both the Obama and Hillary sites. Obama DOES provide a link to both the Project ReadOn and his videos. Hillary's I have to get through to her videos via ReadOn.

For me personally the accessibility to the CC's videos goes to Obama and that was what turned me towards supporting Obama instead of Hillary. Plus note the repugs NEVER caption their videos showing a disdain for the deaf.

[FunkyLeprechaun]

10. Hillary has captioned videos on her website

It's only until the 36th video you see a CC symbol.

You click on the video and you press play... where's the captions? You have to click on the Project ReadOn link for a pop up "black box" in which the captions appear. The problem with this is you have to press play on both of them at the same time in order to synch them up.

Better to look at Hillary's videos on Project ReadOn (where the captions are embedded in the video).




-----

I just realised that I had misspelled "embed" horribly earlier and I'm sorry for this.

[Adelante]

9. I remember he held a rally at a school for the deaf in Iowa

I thought it was an interesting choice of venue perhaps chosen to express commitment. It was a pretty big rally, over 1000 people were there.

[FunkyLeprechaun]

11. Oh wow!

I didn't know that.

I'm really glad I back Obama.

I'm kicking to see if I can get a Hillary supporter's point of view on this. I'm not bashing Hillary at all in my OP, just wondering why she hasn't made her site more accessible for the deaf.

[FunkyLeprechaun]

12. Huh...

I'm really surprised that the Hillary supporters are not rebutting this thread at all... just letting it sink down the list...

It's not a spam thread and I was looking forward to some reasoned arguments as to why Hillary isn't as accessibility friendly as Obama is.

[TexasObserver]

13. Zenzic, the response on this thread is a measure of something.

The Clinton campaign is all about slogans and sales pitches. They don't care about the issues, only the value of the issues for political gain.

Captions are important, and they should be on everything the campaigns do, and they should be obvious.

I read threads started here that are clearly fits of hubris, and they draw more response than this. Someone gives their "I'm outta here because someone said something I didn't like," and they get crying towels and calls to stay. But a real life problem like being deaf? Not interesting enough.

Write the Obama campaign about your thoughts. They'll respond.

[blogslut]

15. Accessibility is very important

I wish more webmasters realized that.