SiriusXM Sued By The National Association Of The Deaf

Last week, satellite radio giant SiriusXM was sued by deaf advocacy groups for the failure of its podcasts to include transcripts for members of the Deaf and hard-of-hearing communities. 

The complaint alleges the shows, done by Sirius subsidiaries Pandora and Stitcher, violate the Americans with Disabilities Act by excluding those who cannot hear from access to transcripts. The National Association for the Deaf (NAD) and the Disability Rights Advocates (DRA) are plaintiffs in the litigation.

“The lawsuit marks a shift in the way broadcasters and creators need to approach accessibility. In the early days of podcasting, transcripts were ‘nice to have,’ but this is a signal that they are becoming a requirement. We should all be paying attention and adjusting our workflow now,” said Latasha James, an online educator and host of the Freelance Friday podcast, in an interview with Kim Lyons of The Verge . “From an accessibility perspective, this is great. Podcasts are such a fantastic resource [for] education, entertainment, and community—it's only fair that we try to open up our shows to as many people as possible. Being deaf or hard-of-hearing should not be a barrier when the solution—transcripts—is such an easy one.”

The obvious reason for including transcripts of podcasts is that they ensure people who can’t hear at all, or have very little hearing, can enjoy the medium like anyone else. Transcripts can also benefit multi-modal learners who retain knowledge better by using multiple senses—in this case, using their ears and eyes to take things in. Beyond entertainment value, podcasts offer a wealth of information—particularly in the news and technology spaces. 

But James said there are other reasons to advocate for transcripts that are not expressly tied to accessibility; one is SEO, or search engine optimization. “Since audio is not crawled by search engines like Google, uploading a transcript on your website enables your words to be found more easily through search,” she said. 

She added transcripts can also be convenient, insofar as they allow someone to quickly skim the text and decide if the episode is something they want to come back to later if there isn’t time to listen the moment it reaches their podcast app. experiencing podcasts without providing reasonable accommodation (like transcripts). 

The landmark 1990 legislation compels service providers who distribute to the general public make sure their product is as accessible as possible to people with disabilities.

SOURCE: Forbes (Steven Aquino)