Deaf Redskins Fans Suing for Closed-Captioning
Not to be outdone by the blind, the deaf are suing the Washington Redskins alleging "the team is in violation of the Americans With Disabilities Act for failing to provide captioning during games" live at FedEx Field.
"I have been a Redskins season ticketholder for six years," says one of the members of the lawsuit, "When a player gets ejected, I have no idea why. . . ."
Adding captioning to the Jumbo-Tron seems reasonable enough, because hell, who CAN hear in a football stadium? We're all for it. In the meantime, though, it's probably time to learn the hand-signals displayed by referees. This one is called "safety," and unless Clinton Portis comes back soon, you might want to commit it to memory.
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I think this is happening in DC because Gallaudet is there, so there's a large population of young Deaf adults, and possibly a larger than average population of Deaf people overall because they may stay near the university after graduation. It's probably not about the team per se.
"...When a player gets ejected, I have no idea why. . . ."
It's cause Sean Taylor spit on an opponent again.
You mean all those hand singles done by the refs are frivilous? I can only hope all those involved in this suit will end up in a car crash, flipping into a ditch.
They want to know what is going on? Read!
I like this idea, and perhaps they'll include subtitles for all of the spanish speaking fans as well... and maybe french too... and don't forget ebonics... maybe, in the future they'll have one jombo-tron devoted to every major ethnicity and handicap. Really though, if you don't understand the game, you should't be seeing it live to begin with.
Wait a minute. They're talking about captioning for at a live event? Not the TV broadcast? That's ridiculous! Should I have to provide captioning for my day-to-day speech in case any deaf people would like to listen in? Perhaps they should install captioning for live theater, too. No. Wait. That would suck. This is real life. There are no captions. Learn to interperet your environment.
I just went to the Austin City Limits festival in Austin, Texas, where they had sign language interpreters for all the musical performers on stage. It was awesome. Stop being dicks, captioning on the jumbotron is not going to impede your stadium experience.
I went to see Madonna twice this summer, and I had as much fun seeing Madge on her disco crucifix as I did watching her gorgeous sign-language interpreters sign her show for the deaf people in the audience.
captioning on the jumbotron would be odd because they don't really show anything caption worthy on the jumbotron. replays are typically silent, or with background music. are they going to show the lyrics to the "hey song" or "welcome to the jungle"?
Or they show goofy games.
Does the helmet game really need captions to be understood?
I have trouble believing that anyone actually wants to be at a Redskins game anymore. They way they play is the biggest argument that redskin is a slur and not a tribute. Not to mention, they charge the highest prices in the league, moved the team to Maryland (just outside of DC, still too far), and bombard you with ads.
Anyone have any clue if other pro sports teams have closed captioning? Could the blind sue for bad announcing?