More and more Americans are depending and counting on closed-captions in their video entertainment. As a program producer or television station program director, you’re probably aware of the regulations that require all programs to be closed-captioned. Most of you probably dread the additional costs and coordination efforts it will take to deliver your programs with closed-captions. As in life, you have a choice as to how to view your circumstances. You’d most likely change your point of view if you spent the day in the shoes a deaf or hard-of-hearing person. When Saddleback Church in Lake Forest California had VHS tapes closed-captioned for the first time, Rhonda, the leader of the deaf ministry had this to say:
“Praise God! We won’t need to pay the cost of a signer and will be able to reach those that don’t know signing. I can’t begin to explain the positive impact this will have on our group. It is going to grow by leaps and bounds. We’ll be able to deliver God’s word and teaching those people that previously have been ‘left-out’.”
No one wants to be “left-out” and by providing closed-captions, you’ll be giving these people a chance. Did you realize that very few of the 30 million Americans that are deaf or heard-of-hearing are Christians? They typically live in a lonely world that most Churches and Christian broadcasters have ignored? This is fertile ground! It’s time to turn on the closed-captioning!
