A Message From the DCMP Project Director
Universal access to education is a widely used concept referring to the goal that all people should have equal opportunity in education, regardless of their social class, ethnicity, background, or any physical disability.
The Individuals With Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), which funds the DCMP, stipulates that students with disabilities are entitled to access, participation, and progress within the general education curriculum.
Multimedia presentations through videos, DVDs, the Internet, and other media are becoming increasingly important in not only supporting curriculum but also providing it. Yet students who are visually impaired, blind, hard of hearing, deaf, or deaf blind are denied access to much educational and informational media because it is not described or captioned.
Of media used in classrooms throughout the United States, approximately 25% is captioned and less than 5% is described. In addition, media integral to informal learning opportunities (occurring at work or play, through exposure to mass media, and in places like the library) are also often inaccessible.
The “Keys to Access” guidelines for captioning and description were developed by the DCMP based on the input and guidance of experts in the field of accessible media, master teachers, and consumer leaders.
There can be no doubt that captioning and description are keys to universal access in educational media. They open up a world of information for students with a vision and/or hearing loss, and they benefit many other students with literacy and learning needs.
Statistics indicate the extent of the need for this access: the National Association of the Deaf reports that there are approximately 32,000,000 Americans who are deaf or hard of hearing, the American Foundation for the Blind reports that there are over 21,000,000 who are blind or visually impaired, and the American Association of the Deaf-Blind cites a U.S. Department of Education study estimating between 42,000 and 700,000 persons who have some level of both vision and hearing loss. Join with us in our quest to ensure that all these persons will equally benefit from the same media used to enrich the experiences and lives of others!
Bill Stark, Project Director
Described and Captioned Media Program