Elise Knopf: Political ads need captions, to engage the hard of hearing

It's reasonably quick to do, and it doesn't cost much. Minnesota should require it.

By ELISE KNOPF

Last update: April 24, 2008 - 6:24 PM

Ten percent of the people living in Minnesota are deaf and hard of hearing. There is something inherently unfair about the fact that those 500,000 Minnesotans do not have access to the broadcast ads of people running for public office in Minnesota.

During the last election cycle only four candidates captioned their ads for people who are deaf and hard of hearing. Attempts to convince all candidates and political parties to caption during the past three election cycles have been unsuccessful.

The Minnesota Commission Serving Deaf and Hard of Hearing People is working hard this year to pass a law making ads -- that ask for our vote -- accessible to us. It requires legislative candidates who advertise on television and on the Web to caption their ads. Presidential candidates who receive funds as a result of the Federal Campaign Finance Law have been required to caption their ads since 1995. Rhode Island, Florida and California already have state laws requiring captioning.

What we often get is an argument about cost, but in truth, the cost is small for candidates to make their ads accessible to Minnesota's deaf and hard-of-hearing residents -- $10 for a one-minute ad on the Web and $200 for a one-minute television ad. It is a tiny part of the cost of the production of an ad.

Today's world of attack ads sometimes makes a quick response necessary. The turn-around time for caption service is just one to four hours.

Individuals 64 to 75 years of age make up more than 10 percent of the state's population. Of that number, one-third have hearing loss severe enough to require captioning to understand the spoken word in visual media.

A startling new category of people with hearing loss is veterans. The United States Veterans Administration reported recently that in the five years since the war began in Iraq, 38,000 veterans have been given disability status because of hearing loss that they acquired while serving there.

With at least 10 percent of Minnesotans living with hearing loss severe enough to require captioning, it would be safe to say that within every Minnesota family, there is a family member, neighbor, coworker or friend who would benefit from it.

Instead of seeing captioning as a burden, candidates should see it as a way to get their messages to an untapped group of voters. Passing the bill is the right thing to do, and it won't add a dime to the state's budget.

Elise Knopf is chair of the Minnesota Commission Serving Deaf and Hard of Hearing People.

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