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Deaf Australia - CaptioningTV shows, DVDs, Films at Cinemas and public announcements on TVs in public areas can be understood by Deaf and hard of hearing people. All of this is made possible with captioned programs. What is the difference between Captions and Subtitles?Captions are different to from foreign language subtitles. Captions are coloured and positioned to show who is speaking, and provide information on music and sound effects which may be important for the understanding the TV show / film. Subtitles are just a translation of a foreign language into English which appears on the bottom of the screen. For example French to English. Captioning was introduced to fulfil the requirements of the Disability Discrimination Act, giving Deaf or Hearing Impaired people the same access to audio/visual media as hearing people. This includes non-verbal sounds such as [door bangs], [phone rings] or [dramatic music]. This kind of captioning improves the viewing experience so those who use captions can tell what is happening even if there is no dialogue between people.     Source: » Media Access Australia - About Captioning Open and Closed CaptionsThe Australian Government's Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy has defined that open captions are burnt into the film and the captions are always on. But for closed captions, the DVD or TV viewer has the option to turn the captions off. Source: » Media Access - About Captioning Complaints about DVD accessibilityThe Australian Visual Software Distributors Association (AVSDA) has released a DVD accessibility framework document, affirming its commitment to making available access features such as captioning and audio description. » See AVSDA's Framework AVSDA will also respond on behalf of members to complaints about accessibility of specific DVD titles where access features were available overseas and not in Australia. AVSDA members are committed to increasing the amount of product available in Australia with access features and have already undertaken steps to educate, promote, accurately label and include features on Australian DVDs. If you are unhappy with the accessibility levels on a DVD, and if the DVD is distributed by an AVSDA member, you can complain directly to AVSDA at:
If you need help in finding a DVD distributor, please contact Media Access Australia on ph: 02 9212 6242 or email info@mediaaccess.org.au. Media Access Australia
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