Digital TV Transition And Its Impact On People With Disabilities

Television has undergone a historic shift. From June 12th, 2009, onward, all television programs in the United States are being broadcast digitally. Do you have satellite or cable television? Do you have a television that has a built-in digital tuner? Then, for you, June 12th, 2009, was a day just like the one before it and after it.

However, for television consumers who are deaf or visually impaired, this historic shift may leave them behind. One-third or more of over-the-air television viewers have disabilities, according to the American Association of People with Disabilities. Being left behind means much more than missing the latest installment of "General Hospital". Many of these users rely on their televisions for valuable news and weather information; television is rendered accessible through the availability of closed captioning and descriptive audio. While there does exist federal oversight in making new digital-ready televisions capable of carrying closed captions and descriptive audio, the federal government has imposed minimal requirements and has chosen to largely step aside when it comes to the impact of the digital television transition on consumers who are disabled.

Unfortunately, the onus rests on the consumer to research which digital-to-analog converter boxes and digital-ready televisions will carry closed captions and descriptive audio. Even the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) recommends that consumers research before purchase to learn not only which converter boxes support closed captions but also which boxes and converters are accessible to the visually impaired and whether those remotes have dedicated buttons for accessing descriptive audio.

Closed captioning features vary by converter box, according to the DTV Transition Coalition. The FCC has a guide that lists closed captioning capabilities for coupon-eligible boxes. The Consumer Electronics Association offers a flier (PDF document, download Adobe Reader) about closed captioning options and converter boxes. The caption decoding function, by U.S. government mandate, is included in all digital TVs that have a screen size 13 inches or larger as well as in all converter boxes. Users with a set-top or converter box must use the remote control or the on-screen menu to access captions.

Furthermore, some DVD players do not support closed captions. For those that do, oddly, consumers must use lower-quality connector cables to connect the DVD player to the television and, thus, to access closed captioning through the converter box. These lower-quality cables cannot carry the highest-quality sound and picture – another way in which disabled television consumers have been left behind.

There exist challenges for visually impaired TV consumers as well. The government agency charged with regulating the DTV transition, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), did not take into consideration the needs of persons who are visually impaired. Descriptive audio services can be set up through the remote or the on-screen menu. According to American Federation for the Blind's (AFB) AccessWorld, the remotes supplied with the converter boxes are not all accessible, nor are the boxes themselves, with nondescript buttons and on-screen menus lacking speech access. As AFB states on its AccessWorld website, the last part of the DTV setup process involves steps that must be followed on-screen without the benefit of speech, so persons who are visually impaired must rely on a sighted interlocutor to complete this step. It is also true that only some of the converter boxes approved for coupon eligibility are able to process audio signals.

Digital televisions also have a secondary audio programming (SAP) feature, but stations are not required by the FCC to provide this accessibility feature. According to the National Captioning Institute, “Keep in mind that all of this is still new to commercial broadcasters and cable networks, so even if you activate the SAP feature, you may encounter difficulties:

1. Your local television station must be equipped to pass along the SAP signal
2. If you have cable or satellite access to programming, those companies must also pass along the SAP signal