Entertainment forms a major aspect of every human life. Today, people are deliberately and continuously finding ways to incorporate entertainment into their personal, family, and business lives because they have come to realize that numerous advantages can be derived from doing such.
Even though various entertainment and media industries cater to the pleasure and educative needs of the hearing populace, deaf individuals through different means are finding ways to benefit from the product of these industries. In what ways do they do such? This question is what forms the center of this article.
The Ways by Which Deaf Individuals Access Entertainment and Media
Through Closed and Open Captioning and Subtitling
Image by Roey Ahram on Openverse
Gone are the times when a deaf person needed an interpreter by his or her side all the time to understand movies, drama, and music displayed on TV sets and screen shows and the reason for this is the availability of captioning and subtitling.
Open and closed captioning came as an appropriate visual tool to help deaf individuals. OPEN CAPTIONING is an automated feature embedded inside a video enabling the display of texts to explain what the video is about. On the other hand, CLOSED CAPTIONING while enabling the same function in a video is a feature that can be turned off and on when a special device called a decoder is available.
As for subtitling, a dear individual gets the chance to choose what language they will love to view their content in.
It is good if more content in the entertainment and media industries have both features.
Through Sign Language Interpretation
Some entertainment and media contents have live sign language interpretation. This enables deaf individuals to enjoy the show while it is being shown. Another instance of sign language interpretation enabling deaf individuals to access entertainment is when some TV shows and videos have pre-recorded ASL interpretation as a viewing option.
One way of doing this is by adding a split screen to the video with a sign language interpreter.
Efforts are also being made by some individuals in creating sign language summaries of different entertainment programs. In this case, deaf individuals might not be able to enjoy the content to its fullest, but it gives them access to the content all the same.
By Using Assistive Listening Devices
For cases where the hearing loss is not profound, hard-of-hearing individuals can make use of some assistive learning devices to enhance their entertainment and access to the media. Some of these assistive listening devices include:
- Hearing Aids
- Cochlear Implants
- FM Systems
- Infrared/Loop Systems etc.
By Using Visual Signals
The human eye is very significant in communicating information to the brain. For deaf individuals who can see, they can also rely on different visual cues which include facial expressions, body language and mannerisms, and pictures to comprehend the flow of information that a particular content aims to give.
One of the features of ASL is its application of facial expression. It trains your eyes and minds to understand people beyond the words people use to communicate.
What Challenges Do Deaf Individuals Face Trying to Access Entertainment and Media?
Despite the awareness of the ways by which deaf individuals can access entertainment and media, can we say then that deaf individuals no longer experience any challenges accessing these? The answer is no. Some reasons why this is so include:
- Media content creators not having enough deaf awareness to include the deaf person in their content creation. Those that do have the awareness may not have enough training and resources to include them in their production.
- The technology of sign language interpretation inclusive in available entertainment and media content is limited in certain countries/societies, especially during real-time TV shows. So, deaf individuals might have to wait a little while to get interpretations to enjoy the same shows others (their hearing counterparts have enjoyed earlier).
- Some deaf individuals who need the aid of specific assistive listening devices to enable them to enjoy movies and TV shows might not be able to access these devices or afford them.
- Deaf individuals might not have the luxury of enjoying or comprehending these contents because they do not all have subtitles and captions available. Where it is available, it might not be in the language the deaf individuals understand. Another factor that may be ignored is that sometimes these subtitles and captions might be inaccurate.
Benefits of Entertainment and Media That Deaf Individuals Should Not Be Deprived Of
Helps to Maintain One’s Sanity
Enjoying a good movie, good music or a good video game is not something that only jobless people do.
Trying to unwind after work–any kind at all, with any form of media and entertainment can help an individual to regain mental energy, improve productivity and relieve mental and physical exhaustion.
Having regular channels of entertainment where these can take place is a way of maintaining one’s sanity because part of being sane implies being able to go through a day more hopeful than you were the previous day. You cannot do that if you keep piling your daily body weaknesses and exhaustion.
Another element of one’s sanity is emotional stability. Through different forms of entertainment, people have also found that they can channel their emotions the right way including their pains, anger, joy, and wonder.
Acts As an Informative and Educative Platform
It is through the media that people are constantly made aware of all that is going on around them and through such information have ensured their security.
There are also people whose major informal education came from the media and who constantly apply the knowledge gained from the media in the course of their formal education.
Conclusion
Movies and TV shows are for the entertainment and education of all humans, deaf individuals included. Deaf individuals can enjoy themselves (along with their loved ones) with some ASL movies that are available as well as with other content using any of the ways discussed above.
Will ASL ever lose its relevance in society? No. Many industries are finding ways to include it in their product to reach the large deaf populace even if it is still viewed as the minority and that is why the number of those learning ASL keep increasing. You may not need it now but you might need it soon.
Join others learning with the ASL learning resources made available by SignBee Academy and become part of the ASL learning community.
Thumbnail Photo Credit to: Image by Paladin27 on Openverse
