Purpose
UNC Pembroke relies on administrators, faculty and staff to provide equal access to all programs and activities for individuals with disabilities. The university is committed to adhering to the requirements of Sections 504 & 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Americans with Disabilities Act Amendments Act of 2009, by providing reasonable accommodations to qualified individuals with disabilities. Individuals who are deaf or have a hearing loss may require accommodations and/or modifications to course materials and/or other university communications.
2. Policy and Procedure
2.1. The most effective means of providing equal access to videos, movie clips, DVDs, and films is through the use of products with open or closed captioning or subtitles. It is the responsibility of all units/departments, administrators, faculty and staff to utilize only media products with open or closed captioning or subtitles, and/or provide an alternate format, such as a script.
2.1.a. New Video/DVD/Film Releases: It is the responsibility of the unit/department, administrators, faculty and staff to:
2.1.b. purchase and use captioned videos/DVDs/films for teaching purposes within their particular classroom and/or unit/department;
2.1.c. substitute a video/DVD/film with captioning in the place of an older version without captioning;
2.1.d. update all video/DVD/film stock to include only those with captioning; and
2.1.e. create subtitles/captions for any university-created video.
2.2. Non-captioned Video/DVD/Film Releases: It is the responsibility of the unit/department, administrators, faculty and staff to:
2.2.a. transition their media materials into captioned and accessible products for all;
2.2.b. contact distributor to inquire about availability of captioned version of the film;
2.2.c. consult with Livermore library to inquire about availability of captioned version of the film through inter-library loan;
2.2.d. consult with Captioned Media Program (https://dcmp.org/) to see if captioned version of the film is available for loan;
2.2.e. seek an alternative video/DVD/film with closed-captioning;
2.2.f. make a determination if the video/DVD/film is essential to a course outline or may be deleted from a syllabus or planned program;
2.2.g. if film is absolutely pertinent to the essential components of the curriculum or program and no other film can be substituted, present request to have film captioned to department chair/captioning committee.
2.3 The Captioning Committee will consist of representatives from the Accessibility Resource Center, Media Services, and the department chair in addition to the Provost or selected representative. The role of the Captioning Committee will be to develop and update policies and procedures and to help determine if it is appropriate to provide captioning in situations where a captioned version of a film cannot be attained.
2.3.a. If request is approved by Captioning committee the department sponsoring the class or event will proceed with captioning via contracted vendor.
3. Alternative Accommodations for Non-Captioned Electronic Resources in Academic Courses
3.1. In the event the unit/department, administrators, faculty or staff determine a non-captioned media product is essential to academic course requirements, it is the responsibility of the unit/department, instructor, and/or faculty member to meet with the hard-of-hearing/deaf student to determine reasonable alternatives. A list of possible alternatives (not all inclusive) follows:
3.1.a. If the individual interpreter for that particular class agrees to interpret the video/DVD/film, the department will be responsible for additional wages incurred by the interpreter for the extra preparation time it will take to review the media transcript, if available, and/or preview the video. Interpreters must be informed one week in advance of the assignment.
3.2. The Role of the Accessibility Resource Center: It is the responsibility of the office of Accessibility Resource Center (ARC) to:
3.2.a. determine reasonable accommodations, auxiliary aids, and services based upon documentation presented by the individual.
3.2.b. provide the following services for eligible hard-of-hearing/deaf individuals:
3.2.b.1 a qualified Sign Language Interpreter; and/or
3.2.b.2. a trained captionist; and/or
3.2.b.3. assistance in locating a peer note-taker.
3.3. inform professors and instructors when a hard-of- hearing/deaf student using an Interpreter, or captionist will be present in their classroom. Notification generally will be provided within three working days of ARC receiving a finalized schedule; timely notification is dependent upon the voluntary disclosure by the student.
3.4. provide the university community with general informative materials regarding captioned videos, working with a hard-of-hearing/deaf individual & interpreter, interpreter responsibilities, captionist information, accessible media, and requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act and Section 504 & 508 of the Rehabilitation Act.
4. Outsourcing for Captioning Protocol
4.1. Upon receiving approval from the captioning committee to have films outsourced, each department must follow the procedure outlined below:
4.1.a. Each department may contact the vendors listed by phone, email or through their website to request a quote for captioning the media. You MUST have written permission from the vendor to request captioning a film.
4.1.b. Keep in mind that quotes from agencies should be obtained and submitted to the Purchasing department at
UNC Pembroke and follow the purchasing guidelines.
Last Revised 03/23/2020