The workplace, for many of us, is a sacred place. A place of challenge, triumph and defeat. We spend most of our time there - working and mingling with our colleagues, discussing weekend events and the latest TV series. However, many workplaces have a dark secret: they are not accessible to everyone. Employees with disability are often left behind either due to bias or a lack of accessibility awareness. This is typically unintentional, but accessibility initiatives are trying to undo this injustice and make the workplace accessible for all employees.
Being a workplace accessibility champion is a pivotal role in any company or organisation. It involves seeking out inaccessibility and resolving it. Here, we will get you started on your journey as a champion of workplace access through two services: captions and transcripts.
What does it mean to be an accessibility champion?
Every workplace needs an accessibility champion. Like an OHS expert, these champions seek and overcome potential accessibility threats by implementing accessibility solutions and services. These can be anything from adding ramps to making architectural adjustments to hallways, kitchen areas, bathrooms, or even desks.
While those types of adjustments make workplaces physically accessible, how can you ensure that the information in your workplace is also accessible? Are your meetings, videos, training sessions and workshops accessible? In these instances, services like captioning and transcription are the perfect solution for providing full access, especially for employees who are Deaf or hard of hearing. Ensuring all employees can engage in and understand meeting content is a crucial aspect to any business who values communication. But what are captions and transcripts?
What is Captioning?
Captioning is the display of audio content as text on the screen. Captions include sound effects as well as the dialogue. Captions assist viewers with hearing loss, deafness, or those who are watching with muted audio to fully access the content of a video. Captions provide crucial access to media for everyone, anywhere, and anytime. The burden of poor access not only makes content creators look poorly prepared, it takes it toll on the communities who benefit from it.
Every workplace and employee benefits from captions as they provide:
- Increased involvement in meetings, conferences, or conference calls
- Increased participation by employees who are deaf or hard of hearing
- Greater understanding from all employees in calls, meeting. etc.
- Improved awareness of business activity
What is Transcription?
Transcription is the process of converting the spoken word into text. Creating transcripts is the responsibility of a transcriber who is especially skilled at typing audio into a text document as accurately as possible. The transcript itself can be an exact word-for-word document or an edited version of the original text. Transcribers can also edit things out like ‘um’ and ‘ah’ to ensure the final transcript is more readable.
Benefits of transcripts in the workplace:
- They provide greater access to spoken content for Deaf, hard-of-hearing or non-native speakers
- Handing out transcripts allows all employees to be across of meetings, conferences, etc.
- Written text is easier to process than verbal conversation
- Provide an accurate written record that can be archived or distributed
Scribblr is an easy to use and reliable provider of transcripts that you can access now. Simply go to Scribblr.ai and follow the easy 4-step process:
1. Upload Your Files
Upload audio or video files from your computer, safely and securely.
2. We Work Our Magic
Our global team get to work captioning or transcribing your content.
3. Files Are Double Checked
Your captions are personally checked by our Quality Assurance Team.
4. Get Your Files, Fast
You receive your caption or transcript file directly in your inbox.
Ready to get started? Try Scribblr for free or get in touch to learn how transcription or captioning can help make your workplace accessible.
