The new rule is part of the Air Carrier Access Act of 1986 and will come into effect on 12 December 2013. Airline website pages for booking and changing reservations will need to be accessible. Within two years, these pages must meet the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 AA, with entire website compliance required within three years.
The rules cover any device which is used to receive or play digital video, including televisions, set-top boxes, computers and smartphones. From now on, these will need to have on-screen text menus and program guides which are audibly accessible (i.e. the user can opt to hear them spoken), and a single button, key or icon to activate accessibility features such as closed captions.
Real time captions provide equal access to education by offering a rolling transcript of a teacher’s voice. They are created by a professional captioner working in a remote location, who coverts an audio feed into text. While the school district makes American Sign Language interpreters available, as Harrington does not use sign language she requires captions.
Live captioning refers to when the captions are created as the program goes to air. These are generally less accurate than captions created ahead of time.
Ofcom’s new approach follows extensive consultation with consumer groups, broadcasters and access suppliers and is part of Ofcom’s effort to comprehensively review the quality of live captioning and identify ways in which it can be improved. The measurement program will start later this year and requires samples to be analysed every six months for a period of two years.
