Jessie Zhang speaks about Deafness and the need for captions

Jessie says that accessibility does not mean just catering to a specific group of people. Accessibility is not just for people with disabilities, accessibility is for everyone! Thanks to White Coat Captioning for providing in-kind sponsorship for this episode. Transcript Nic Hi, I'm Nic Steenhout, and you're listening to the A11y Rules Soundbite, a series of short podcasts where disabled people explain their impairments and what barriers they encounter on the web. Thank you to today's sponsor, White Coat Captioning. The White Coat Captioning team specializes in and focuses on tech, medical, science, and social justice jargon so that your domain‑specific language is typed correctly. Get the best captioning you can for your event, large or small, internationally. Today I'm talking with Jessie Zhang. Hi, Jessie, how are you? Jessie Hi, Nic, it's nice to meet you. I'm doing pretty well. Nic Good, it's very nice to meet you, as well. Let me start with the first question. What's your disability or your impairment? Jessie Well, so my name is Jessie, and I identify as Deaf or hard of hearing. If you want me to be more elaborate, I would say I have bilateral sensorineural hearing loss, but to put it, I'm deaf. Nic Thank you. It's good to ‑‑ I have to say, it makes me happy to show that people running podcasts not only can make the podcast accessible for Deaf people at the end, but we can have Deaf guests if we try to figure out how it works, so thank you for being willing to participate and show that to my audience. Jessie For sure. Nic So what would you say your biggest barrier on the web is? Jessie I think on the web ‑‑ or on the mobile ‑‑ on the phone, as well ‑‑ my biggest barrier would be captioning and videos, and also podcasts, as well. So in general, when I'm browsing a website, like CNN or NPR, I usually watch videos, but sometimes the videos are not captioned, or I don't have any indication that the video is being captioned, and even if it is captioned, sometimes it's not much or sometimes there is a lag or sometimes ‑‑ I cannot tell you how many virtual conferences or events or meetings I have missed out on because there is no captions. And even if there is captions, like on Zoom, I have to request that the host enable captions. But sometimes captions are not enabled. Nic Yeah, I am always surprised at the lack of captions, at the lack of transcripts for podcasts. It's not that difficult to make happen. I mean, sure, it can be technically a little bit more complicated than just doing whatever we're doing, but the impact on Deaf and hard of hearing folks, and so many other people. If you had one message for designers or developers on the web, what would you like them to know about accessibility? Jessie Um, that accessibility does not mean just catering to a specific group of people. Accessibility is not just for people with disabilities, accessibility is for everyone! And that includes people with disabilities. That includes people who speak a different language, and people who might have difficulty accessing a website in any way or any form. So I'm asking designers to be really mindful of that and try not to create more barriers, but instead, to put captions on videos. You do not have to go with what is already there. You can do something new, and you can do something that is more creative, more innovative, and also include people with disabilities in the process, too. I just realized that was more than one thing I shared. Nic That's awesome. Yeah. I mean, get out of my brain! You say what I'm thinking. Thank you for that. I'm so glad we're on the same wavelength. Jessie Also, I'm really excited to help pave for a better future that is more accessible for everyone. Nic Awesome, Jessie. Thank you so much for being a great guest, and we'll see you around on the web, whether it's Slack or Twitter or elsewhere. Thanks again for being a guest. Jessie Thank you s