|
Between my hearing difficulties and having a child whose bedroom shares a wall with our TV, we require captions when watching TV at night. Since TV shows legally have to include captions, this isn’t a problem. But commercials don’t require captions, apparently. Since we use Hulu for most of our viewing, and seemingly none of the ads on any network had them, I wondered whether the absence of captions in ads was caused by Hulu.
And then an ad came on with captions. The presence makes the absence more obvious.
So I realized that most companies simply don’t care to market to parents with young children, the d/Deaf and hard of hearing, and any number of others who rely on captions to consume televised content. I have no idea what they’re saying about their product in most ads. They spend tens of thousands on ad production and broadcast spots but can’t spend the nominal cost of adding a caption track to a 15-second ad (when they already have the script and just need to have an intern reformat it with time stamps). Given how many captionless life insurance ads I’ve seen targeting retirees, it emphasizes the importance of the expression, “Nothing about us without us.”
It’s easier to notice the presence of something than its absence. If my yard had no squirrels for an entire day, that would be strange, but I wouldn’t notice. But when I was 5 years old, an elephant escaped from the circus and ran through my yard, and I’ll never forget it.
Whether it’s captioning in ads or disabled characters in TTRPGs, the presence of something not usually there gets attention. People notice. It’s the elephant in the yard. And it causes people to ask questions.
“Why is this here? Should it be? If it should, why isn’t it usually?”
Since you’re reading this, you’ve clearly thought about the importance of an elephant, or maybe a neurodivergent loxodon, in the yard in your RPG. You recognize the value of inclusive game spaces and worlds. You know that, while an elephant may not belong in a Wisconsin family’s yard, its presence in an RPG town makes things more interesting, as does the presence of a wide variety of people with different abilities and traits in a D&D adventure.
And because you want to imagine a world where accessibility matters, the real world is more fantastic because of you.
Thank-you. |
