Why I use captions even though I can hear

Accalia Baronets
Jul 10, 2017 · 2 min read

So it’s pretty obvious why deaf people need closed captioning–at least I hope it is– but closed captioning is pretty important in the hearing world too.

Here’s why I need them:

1. I can’t read body language at all. It’s hard to focus on a show when there’s a lot of body ,language going on that I don’t understand.

2. I have adhd or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. I’m unable to concentrate on a show without subtitles.

3. People don’t enunciate their words, no one does, not even me. If a show doesn’t have subtitles not only can I not follow along, I can’t understand the show as well.

4. I watch a lot of foreign shows especially ones from the BBC. Some of the shows I watch aren’t even in English.

5. I can’t understand accents like at all. If a show isn’t captioned, you might as well forget it.

6. Also shows are very rarely edited properly meaning the music is often too loud for their voices. Or the sound effects will be louder than their voices and I have to turn the tv way down. Without subtitles I’d be lost.

7. Have you noticed just how much you have to pay attention to in any tv show? How am I supposed to follow along without captions?

8. I’m Autistic if you haven’t figured that out by now. Spoken language is just lost on me.

So the next time you see a hearing person using captions and your first thought is “Why do you need subtitles? You’re hearing! You don’t need them!”
Maybe think about that for a second. Maybe the person has the same exact problem that I do.

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