http://composition.al/blog/2014/05/31/your-next-conference-should-have-real…
I went to this conference and it worked out really well. As the
Computer-Assisted Realtime Transcription (CART) captioner writes at
http://stenoknight.com/demo.html :
When an event needs to be made inclusive, projecting
the CART display
for the benefit of the entire room can be the best way to provide
universal access for Deaf, late deafened, and hard of hearing people,
as well as people who might have some degree of hearing loss but who
don’t self-identify as hard of hearing or deaf. CART is also useful
for English language learners and people with dyslexia, auditory
processing disorder, or ADHD. When the CART display is available to
every audience member, no one has to feel singled out or as if
they’re demanding special privileges. Everyone benefits.
Live transcriptionists can work onsite, or can work remotely via an
audio feed and then stream the text remotely onto a screen at the venue.
And you can often use the resulting transcript and - with trivial
editing - put it up within days of the event.
This particular conference (!!Con) was able to get a sponsor to pay
specifically for the captioning. I'd like to suggest that Wikimanias
from 2016 onward also try to do this, at least for the plenary sessions,
and perhaps additionally for sessions where we especially want to
welcome Deaf participants and/or people with less fluent English.
--
Sumana Harihareswara
Senior Technical Writer
Wikimedia Foundation