Sign Language Interpreting, Captioning & Accessible Media

The Ohio State University provides Sign Language Interpreting, Communication Access Realtime Translation (CART), and Accessible Media services to employees, students, and visitors when it is requested as an accommodation. Requests for employees and visitors at OSU-events is arranged by the ADA Coordinator's Office. Typically, a two week notice will allow us to provide seamless access. 

Live Captioning Guidance

In response to the COVID-19 public health emergency, many university events that would have otherwise been in-person are now being planned on a digital platform. The Digital Accessibility Center has provided guidance on captioning for these events.

ADA Coordinators Office will support the cost of captioning and other accommodations under the guidelines below. These will be reevaluated when the university ceases to be in a state of emergency.

ADA funds proactively if all following conditions are true:

  • Event is not revenue generating
  • Anticipated audience size is greater than 200 and/or open to the public
  • It was originally planned to be in-person, but for the public health constraints the event was moved online.
  • Topic determined by ADA Office to be of high interest to the deaf community

ADA funds after receiving a specific accommodation request if:

  • Event is not revenue generating
  • It would have been in person but for the public health constraints
  • Event organizers included accommodation statement on event announcement and for duration of registration
  • Event organizers gave a deadline of two weeks prior to event for audience to request accommodation

Hiring a Captioning Supplier

Ohio State created a pool of suppliers to provide captioning services at lower, more uniform rates than campus units were being charged when hiring captioning suppliers individually.