Audism: the notion of superiority and the discrimination and prejudice against Deaf/deaf/hard of hearing individuals based on one's ability to hear or to behave in the manner of one who hears. It can also suggest that a life without hearing is miserable and/or futile that creates a negative stigma towards anyone who does not hear (Wikipedia & Merriam Webster, 2015).
Interestingly enough, as I sit here on my computer typing the word audism, it is underlined in red; something that would frequently pop up in a typed format when a word is misspelled; in other words, when an error has occurred. Realistically, not many people have heard of the word audism, let alone know what the word means. It has been my experience that if I have said the word audism to someone else, they have had to clarify and made sure that I have not just said autism.
Unfortunately, because of their ignorance on the subject, many people can set themselves up to discriminate Deaf/deaf/hard of hearing people, whether they are aware of it or not. Audism can be intentional or unintentional; sometimes, and I include myself in this category, people do not always consciously mean to discriminate against another group or person no matter who they are.
When it comes to Closed Captioning, an example of unintentional discrimination can be leaving out captions that match music or lyrics of songs included in a video or any other presentation. Although the person or people who captioned the spoken utterance did not intend to leave out the lyrics or musical cues, it is a form of inaccessibility for the Deaf/deaf/hard of hearing individual or group watching the video or presentation. Most of the time, music accompanies almost every other scene in a movie or video in order to set the mood or tone for that movie or video; a potentially significant accompaniment vital to the development of the story line. If the Deaf/deaf/hard of hearing individual misses out on those musical cues or lyrics, they will have a very different experience than anyone who can hear those musical cues, which in turn has a different effect on their impression on the video or movie. In this moment, inequality is evident and unfortunately a form of discrimination has taken place.
Some may argue that someone who is Deaf/deaf/hard of hearing will have a different experience from hearing people anyway, seeing as there is no way to caption musical cues in a way that will evoke the same reaction that the music gets from someone who can hear. Although this is a valid point, the Deaf/deaf/hard of hearing communities can still experience music and songs even if it isn not necessarily in the same way that hearing people experience music. The point to consider here, however, is the fact that despite that Deaf/deaf/hard of hearing people have different experiences with music they still have access to it through vibrations. In this case, Closed Captioning cannot necessarily give access to the Deaf/deaf/hard of hearing communities through vibrations, Closed Captioning can at the very least be a bit more descriptive if there are musical cues without lyrics being played. Everyone's experiences will be different but the central issue is accessibility and how everyone's needs should be considered when it comes to Closed Captioning.
This framework of discrimination in this case involving the Deaf/deaf/hard of hearing community needs to be altered so that Closed Captioning can appropriately fit the needs of these communities without exclusion whether it is conscious or not.
Interestingly enough, as I sit here on my computer typing the word audism, it is underlined in red; something that would frequently pop up in a typed format when a word is misspelled; in other words, when an error has occurred. Realistically, not many people have heard of the word audism, let alone know what the word means. It has been my experience that if I have said the word audism to someone else, they have had to clarify and made sure that I have not just said autism.
Unfortunately, because of their ignorance on the subject, many people can set themselves up to discriminate Deaf/deaf/hard of hearing people, whether they are aware of it or not. Audism can be intentional or unintentional; sometimes, and I include myself in this category, people do not always consciously mean to discriminate against another group or person no matter who they are.
When it comes to Closed Captioning, an example of unintentional discrimination can be leaving out captions that match music or lyrics of songs included in a video or any other presentation. Although the person or people who captioned the spoken utterance did not intend to leave out the lyrics or musical cues, it is a form of inaccessibility for the Deaf/deaf/hard of hearing individual or group watching the video or presentation. Most of the time, music accompanies almost every other scene in a movie or video in order to set the mood or tone for that movie or video; a potentially significant accompaniment vital to the development of the story line. If the Deaf/deaf/hard of hearing individual misses out on those musical cues or lyrics, they will have a very different experience than anyone who can hear those musical cues, which in turn has a different effect on their impression on the video or movie. In this moment, inequality is evident and unfortunately a form of discrimination has taken place.
Some may argue that someone who is Deaf/deaf/hard of hearing will have a different experience from hearing people anyway, seeing as there is no way to caption musical cues in a way that will evoke the same reaction that the music gets from someone who can hear. Although this is a valid point, the Deaf/deaf/hard of hearing communities can still experience music and songs even if it isn not necessarily in the same way that hearing people experience music. The point to consider here, however, is the fact that despite that Deaf/deaf/hard of hearing people have different experiences with music they still have access to it through vibrations. In this case, Closed Captioning cannot necessarily give access to the Deaf/deaf/hard of hearing communities through vibrations, Closed Captioning can at the very least be a bit more descriptive if there are musical cues without lyrics being played. Everyone's experiences will be different but the central issue is accessibility and how everyone's needs should be considered when it comes to Closed Captioning.
This framework of discrimination in this case involving the Deaf/deaf/hard of hearing community needs to be altered so that Closed Captioning can appropriately fit the needs of these communities without exclusion whether it is conscious or not.