Turn on the Words! Deaf Audiences, Captions, and the Long Struggle for Access

Dr. Lang provides rich historical details of how captioning took place over several decades. Both the educational and entertainment access are addressed in the book. The book begins with a discussion about Thomas Alva Edison, a deaf inventor, his invention of the motion picture and his team’s first motion picture in 1892. He then reviewed the silent films that were coincidentally accessible for deaf people. When the “talkies” films took over, it was a setback for deaf people. The journey toward captioning started at this point and evolved from there. Beginning in 1947, many people experimented with captioning during the long journey of making captions accessible. Lang also explains the tedious process of etching the captions on films and filmstrips during the early days and how this evolved. He also describes resistance from the film industry, Congress and their committees, and the U.S. Department of Education’s fluctuating support for the captioning organization.