Harvard University, The Latest Higher Education Institution To Be Mandated To Provide Video Closed Captioning
Sarah Kim Contributor
I write about diversity and inclusion in the realm of disabilities.
Harvard University to provide closed captioning on online videos after a four-year-long lawsuit.
On November 27, the National Association of the Deaf (N.A.D.) won a landmark settlement with Harvard University that institutes a series of new guidelines to make the university's website and online resources accessible for those who are deaf or hard of hearing. The settlement represents the most comprehensive set of online accessibility requirements in higher education and ensures for the first time that Harvard will provide high-quality captioning services for online content.
The settlement expands upon Harvard's new digital accessibility policy, which was announced in May. According to the new policy that will go into effect on December 1, Harvard must provide captions for all online resources, including school-wide events that are live-streamed, content from department-sponsored student organizations and any new university created audio or video hosted by third-party platforms such as YouTube, Vimeo and SoundCloud.
Also, Harvard must add closed captioning to existing content posted on or after January 2019 within two years. For any content not already captioned, upon receiving a request, Harvard must caption the content within five business days. Harvard is also required to submit reports every six months beginning in June 2020 to N.A.D. and the Disability Law Center with information about the number of requests received and any changes made to these policies, among other details.
The terms of the settlement are included within a consent decree, which can be enforced by the court. The court must approve the consent decree before it may become active.
"This settlement means greater access for current and future deaf and hard of hearing learners to the vast universe of Harvard's online content. Ensuring accessibility is not something that can be considered a bonus—it is a fundamental right that everyone deserves. We're pleased that Harvard will finally be treating all learners with the same standard of respect," explains Amy F. Robertson, the co-executive director of the Civil Rights Education and Enforcement Center.
This settlement was reached four years after this litigation began in 2015 when it was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Massachusetts as a class action lawsuit.
The lawsuit was prompted by the recognition that, notwithstanding the description of Harvard's online resources as available to "learners throughout the world," many of its videos and audio recordings lacked captions or used inaccurate captions. Harvard had no published policies in place to ensure these learning tools were accessible to people who are deaf and hard of hearing. In the United States alone, approximately 50 million people are considered deaf or hard of hearing. The failure to provide appropriate accommodations to this community is a violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Rehabilitation Act of 1973.
A similar lawsuit was filed against the Massachusetts Institution of Technology at the same time, but they haven't settled on the litigation yet. Both Harvard and M.I.T. are known for their extensive materials available free online, and the two universities are the founding partners of edX, a nonprofit that offers dozens of massive open online courses (MOOCs), free to students around the world.
Through the litigation, Harvard filed two motions to dismiss the case. In response to each, the court ruled those federal laws prohibiting disability discrimination covered Harvard's online content. After these rulings were issued, Harvard announced its new digital accessibility policy, and several months later, the parties reached a settlement.
"As Harvard learned through this lawsuit, universities and colleges are on notice that all aspects of their campus, including their websites, must be accessible to everyone. Captioning video content is a basic form of access that opens up academic learning to not only deaf and hard of hearing people but the world. The National Association of the Deaf asks all who develop video content for the Internet to ensure access through quality captioning," said Howard A. Rosenblum, C.E.O. of the National Association of the Deaf.
Sarah Kim
I focus on the intersectionality of race, socioeconomic status, and politics on people with disabilities, especially women. I hold a master's degree from Columbia Unive