<p>I have had hearing issues my whole life and have asked profs to use subtitles before, numerous times. It’s never, ever been an issue. In fact, most of my profs have used subtitles automatically whether there were hearing issues or not. I watch tv and movies with subtitles all the time and no one has ever said that it bothers them or that it takes away. I realize that some people might be annoyed, so I always ask people if they want me to turn them off. No one has ever said yes. I do think post 17 would be a reasonable accomodation, however I don’t think forcing the student to rewatch it on her own personal time is. You can miss out on a lot of discussion and such when you have to view it at a different time.</p>
<p>romani, if I were watching tv or a movie with you I would never complain about the subtitles, or say yes if you offered to turn them off. You need them. As your friend, I would live with it, as annoying as they are. But it would definitely detract from the experience.</p>
<p>In a film class where the visual aesthetics of what is on screen is so important there is simply no reason to force everyone else to look at subtitles when an easy accommodation is at hand. And in my experience, screenings do not take place at the same time as discussions in film classes. When I took film classes, it was assumed that one would attend one or more of the scheduled screenings, just as it was assumed that one would do the reading for other classes. This is not “forcing the student to rewatch on her own personal time” anymore than reading Middlemarch in preparation for English class is forcing one to take “personal time.”</p>
<p>What I really wonder is how the deaf student manages to take part in classroom discussion in ANY subject without an ASL interpreter. Or maybe she has one.</p>
<p>Everything that parent 1986 says is incorrect. The availability of schools for the deaf has absolutely nothing to so with providing academic adjustments for a student with a disability. Providing the adjustment outside of the class is not an appropriate accommodation since the student is unable to take part in the full educational experience with his fellow students, which h/she has a right to do, and cannot because of the failure to provide a reasonable academic adjustment.</p>
<p>Now there may have been other options than subtitling, for example, the student, if he/she has some hearing, could have been provided with an infrared system that would have made the the dialogue accessible.</p>
<p>It constantly amazes and saddens me that almost forty years after Section 504 was passed, and more than 20 after the passage of the ADA, the issue of providing students with disabilities what they need to take part in their educational experience is still up for debate.</p>
<p>I am a former teacher of the deaf/hard of hearing/deaf-blind and agree with tsdad.</p>
<p>We don’t know the actual whole story, though. Perhaps there are some details that might shed a different picture on the scenario.</p>
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<p>Me, too! What are you doing now?</p>
<p>I hope the student can use the experience as a good life lesson…there some people who do the absolute minimum to follow the law and some who go out of their way to be helpful, whether or not required by law. They need to be able to cope with the former while hoping to find the latter.</p>
<p>“Everything that parent 1986 says is incorrect.”</p>
<p>REALLY? Signing instead of subtitles may have been an option. What is your objection to it.?</p>
<p>I did say “I think” - which was an indication I was guessing, which is what most of the comments on here are.</p>
<p>Having worked with the disabled in multiple capacities for several years, my guesses are educated ones.</p>
<p>IF ALL THE KNOW IT ALLS ON THIS BOARD WEREN’T CONSTANTLY TELLING THOSE WHO DO KNOW, THAT THEY ARE WRONG - THERE MIGHT BE A LOT MORE PARTICIPANTS.</p>
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<p>I agree with this in general but in this particular case, the solution seems quite simple. The student could have come up with the solution on his/her own easily. It is better if everyone can be self-reliant as far as they could before asking help.</p>
<p>It’s hard to judge what the student could or couldn’t have done without knowing the whole story. I was dependent on a laptop in college to take notes due to a physial disability, and you wouldn’t believe how hard I had to fight to be allowed to have my laptop open during films being screened in classes-- apparently the light from the screen distracts people even if you sit in the very back and separate from the rest of the class. In many cases it simply wasn’t allowed and I went without notes.</p>
<p>Having to sit in class for the duration of a film without being able to hear it, having to sit through every film twice-- at home in advance and in class, and being required to spend that much more time outside of class than the rest of the students just to access the material is certainly not ideal. But sometimes accommodations aren’t and you take what you can get. I can’t really say whether or not I think it was a reasonable accommodation without all the details, but we shouldn’t be quick to assume that we know what the student could have done herself…</p>
<p>What I have learned over many adult years is that when I hear one person’s version of a story, it is usually extremely different than the other person’s version of the story. One version is usually meaningless and ridiculous to comment upon. </p>
<p>If this were the real story, it would be unethical and maybe a serious violation of the law if no accomodation was provided (which is why almost every university I have never heard of has a centre that supports and protects students with disabilities and why every student with any disability should be registered with them and have them involved in ensuring adequate accomodations…it works much better than posting on a blog).</p>
<p>Oh now I read the post I missed…there was more to the story.</p>
<p>I agree with posts 8 and 12.</p>
<p>“reasonable” does not mean the same to all, that’s why there are court cases a judge must decide. Based on what we’re told here, I see it this way: For a film class(not just a film in another class) is it unreasonable that a student view subtitles outside of class? Could it be so disruptive to all the rest of the class as to diminish their analysis? Is the deaf student denied an opportunity to see the film? I think it is reasonable to let student see film outside of the class. Or worded another way, it is really unreasonable that the student needing an accommodation be permitted to view the film on her own time?</p>
<p>How the heck do you teach a film class anyway when some students experience the film in ways other than what the filmmaker intended?</p>
<p>The deaf student can only experience the visual aspects of the film plus the captioned dialogue. She cannot experience the music or sound effects, yet they play a large role in the overall experience of some films. Similarly, a colorblind student does not experience the visual aspects of the film in the way the filmmaker intended. I wonder how film professors deal with this sort of thing. </p>
<p>Jaws without the music or Avatar without the colors would be an entirely different work than the one experienced by the majority of the audience.</p>
<p>Marian, I’m not sure. My boyfriend and his brothers are all red/green colorblind (which makes many other colors difficult) and his brother was a film student. I’ll have to ask him next time I see him what accommodations he had for that or if it was even an issue. Luckily, colorblindness is a deficiency that’s generally fairly easy to work around. Sometimes.</p>
<p>How difficult it would be though to not hear anything in the film.</p>
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<p>I was once a teaching assistant for a microbiology course. We asked students at the beginning of the term whether they were colorblind, and if any were, they were allowed to work with a partner in the lab, even though students ordinarily did not work with partners. Giving them partners was essential because some of the reactions they had to observe and record involved color changes. Also, if there were any colorblind students in the class, we made sure that the laboratory practical examinations did not include any activities that required students to distinguish colors. </p>
<p>All of this involved considerable effort on the part of the instructors.</p>
<p>Yet compared to film, microbiology is easy when it comes to compensating for colorblindness. I can’t even imagine how they do it.</p>
<p>I had a colorblind friend who did electrical work. Sometimes he had problems when all the wires were gray.</p>
<p>On the main topic, I agree that more facts are needed. For example, it seems to me that if the professor uses excerpts from films in his lectures, then the captions should be turned on. If, on the other hand, these are out-of-class screenings, then the accomodation may well be reasonable.</p>
<p>I’m curious as to why this student didn’t check into this before she signed up for the class? To me it would be like someone with a gluten sensitivity or Celiacs registering for a school that doesn’t offer gluten free meals…and then complaining about it.</p>
<p>Thank you, chaosakita, for noticing and caring and bringing this issue to our attention.</p>
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<p>I don’t see why subtitles would “ruin the cinematic experience”, assuming that they were done properly and unobtrusively (not like the misspelled closed-captioning sometimes seen in news or sports shows or whatever).</p>
<p>Agree that more facts are needed, but I do think ultimately the professor tried to accommodate by allowing the student to watch at a different time with the subtitles. I also agree with the poster that said the student should have done some checking before taking the class. Disabilities are a two-way thing…the student needs to advocate and the college needs to figure out reasonable accommodations. It’s not entitlement for the student, it’s an allowance from the university to help the student be successful…and I have an LD kid who uses accomodations.</p>
<p>MissyPie,</p>
<p>To answer the question from earlier, I am not using my credentials at all! Occasionally, I’ll interpret in church, as we’ve had three deaf kids grow up in our church, and I use sign language occasionally when I choreograph.</p>
<p>What about you?</p>
<p>Being deaf is a lot different than most people imagine, particularly if you are profoundly deaf.</p>