Acquiring a disability or realization of a disability condition can occur unexpectedly at any time in one’s life. Captioning being required for all recorded content used for class instruction, allows the university to be proactive in these situations, rather than reactive.
With online learning becoming a reality for most institutions, including A-State, recorded lectures and videos are being utilized more often. We can troubleshoot a lot of accommodation and accessibility related concerns by already requiring those videos to be captioned.
Students with disabilities are encouraged to register with AAS, but they are not required to, meaning there could be students that are hard of hearing that have not disclosed.
Captioning enhances access for all students. Students with learning and processing disorders often benefit from captioning because it allows them to access material in multiple formats (visual and audio). Captioning can also be beneficial to ESL students and students without disabilities because it can allow them to access video material regardless of environmental factors.
Having all videos captioned is a major component of the concept of Universal Design, the philosophy that environments should be designed as accessible as possible to all people on the front-end to eliminate the need for individuals to request accommodations.
