I am a profoundly deaf 26 year old, with a double degree in
Engineering/Science. I recently obtained a cochlear implant, which makes
communication with others easier, but still gain advantage from the
existence of closed television captioning. I have a very good understanding
of the importance of captioning to the severely and profoundly hearing
impaired in order to access television, which the hearing take for granted.
For a quarter of my life, captioning was the only way I could possibly
follow a television program, and it remains the only way for the many deaf
people out there who have severe and profound hearing losses. In addition,
many in the community with milder degrees of hearing loss use the captions
to ease understanding of rapid dialogue, or to understand over film sound
tracks.

I have had a brief look over the captioning proposal, and, while I am
pleased that there is going to be a dramatic increase in the amount of
captioning (it has made a very great difference to my enjoyment of
television programs), I am very concerned that the implementation period
proposed is so long. I do not understand why 5 years is required to achieve
the proposed standards. It only takes 4 years to train a professional
engineer, and 5 years to do a double degree in Engineering/Science, so I am
very sceptical about claims by the TV stations that roughly that amount of
time is required to train a captioner to an "experienced" standard.

I don't see why such a thing cannot be achieved in a year. I am sure that,
were the ratings to demand it, it could be achieved within 2 months on a
fast track program. However, I acknowledge that such a course would be much
more expensive. I suggest that the TV stations be encouraged to start
realizing that it is actually possible after all, and to aim to be providing
the required amounts of captioning within one year, with target achievement
in two. For them to claim that the maximum of 5 years is required to achieve
the objectives smells suspiciously of an attempt to minimize the financial
cost as far as possible, while still complying with the letter of the law.

I highly recommend that someone starts a bit of pushing, to see how low they
can get the stations to go.

I do, however, recognize the unusual financial position of SBS, and strongly
believe that the Government should provide financial aid in the
implementation of captioning proposals, given their lower market share and
financial resources.

I am more than prepared to eludicate on my answers, if required.

Thankyou very much for your time,

Andrew Selby Smith