Pigeonhole Episode

[bright ambient music]

CHORUS OF VOICES: Pigeonholed, pigeonhole, pigeonhole, pigeonhole, pigeonhole, pigeonhole, pigeonhole, pigeonhole.

[A restaurant scene: multiple conversations and laughing in a general hub-bub, forks and knives clinking on plates, low, mellow music in the background]

[Transcriber note: The re-enactment will be in italics, and my narration will be in regular font.]

CHERYL: I’m talking to this guy at a podcasting networking event. For this story, let’s call him Guy. At least, that’s the name you’ll see for him in the transcript. This guy, he’s telling me about his show, but I’m kind of overloaded by all the noise in the place and not sure how many questions I can ask and then actually hear the answers. But a very natural question for me to ask anyone about their show is if they transcribe it. So, I ask it.

GUY: Oh, of course, I do! How could you not transcribe it?

CHERYL: Really?! No way!

Someone who doesn’t do any Deaf or disability-related content is transcribing?

Oh, my god. I do that too! I mean, this is so great. Like, seriously, almost no one ever does that! Thank you.

He’s not really responding to the fact that I’m becoming so happy that I’m starting to inch toward panic.

GUY: Yeah…. I mean, how can you even edit without a transcript?

CHERYL: Oh…. Oh, of course. I…paper edit. I mean, I, I…I paper edit. But, I mean you release your transcript with the audio, right? You have it.

GUY: No. [painfully long pause]

CHERYL: Why not? I mean, if you publish the transcript, then D/deaf people can access your podcast.

GUY: Yeah…I don’t think they’re interested.

[sounds of the social event suddenly cut out]

CHERYL: Have you ever asked them?

GUY: Ehhhhhhhhh.

CHERYL: He turns away from me. My jaw clenches. Silence.

[conversations, laughter, and eating sounds fade back in]

Didn’t I just offer him a way to reach a new audience without extra effort? He already has the transcripts. He just has to clean them up to match the audio and post them on his website.

[restaurant scene slowly fades away]

And it’s not only D/deaf people who use transcripts. I just picked one group whose access needs probably wouldn’t need a ton of explanation.

JULIA: I don’t really listen to any sort of podcast or public radio, mostly because I find it inaccessible.

CHERYL: That’s Julia. They’re an Autistic college student and artist who studies American Sign Language (ASL), in part because the language is so visual.

JULIA: All information is best when it comes through my eyes rather than my ears.

JULIE: I used to do a local show.

CHERYL: Julie used to host a radio show that didn’t have transcripts even though audience members sometimes contacted the station to request them.

JULIE: It always kinda bothered me that we didn’t. I have a condition called Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome. I have intermittent hearing loss, because the joints in the ear canal, they can dislocate. You know, it can be a real challenge sometimes. And it also affects my ability a lot to be able to decipher between background noise and what I’m listening to.

CHERYL: Julie’s daughter is studying ASL and has the same kind of on and off hearing loss from EDS that Julie has. Julie’s dad was a musician for decades and is starting to struggle with hearing, as he ages.

[upbeat electronica]

I talked to Krista, a deaf person whose primary language is sign language. When I talked with Krista, Andrew Tolman interpreted my questions into sign language, and I recorded Dana Walls’ voice as he interpreted Krista’s answers for me. And I just came out with it: Are there any podcasts or radio shows you want to listen to or read but can’t because there’s no transcript?

KRISTA: I wish. [chuckles] I certainly wish I could. I absolutely do love podcasts. There are, unfortunately, very, very few that provide transcripts. Every once in a while, NPR, for example—public radio—but you often have to wait a long time, you know, for an article to have that. Sometimes, you’ll get little tidbits. So, and I get all excited ’cause I see the little podcast blurb, and it’s like, oh! I actually can’t access that. So…it’s really frustrating!

JULIA: There’s times when I’ve gone on NPR, and I’ve read through the quick little article that’s almost like a transcript but not quite. And then I’m like, “Ooh! Want more information!” But the only way to get the information is to then listen to the podcast. And I don’t do that.

JULIE: I listen to NPR sometimes, and they have transcripts. And so, if I miss something, then I can go online and look at the transcript and still keep up with it.

[awkward, dizzying waltz]

CHERYL: OK, so some shows have no transcript, some have a partial sort-of transcript, some will have a transcript at some point down the road. And I’ve been noticing some bigger-named podcasts with whole production teams and budgets are starting to post transcripts. But some of them still don’t even always advertise it. Wait. You’re paying someone to make these transcripts, and you’re not telling people you have them? There are other shows where people have sworn to me there are transcripts, and I can’t find them.

JULIA: I think an important part of accessibility is also being open about accessibility. So, rather than just hiding your transcripts under a hard-to-find tab is, when you’re advertising your podcast or radio show, tell people that you have transcripts. You will get more people to click on and view it if they know already that it’s gonna be accessible. Take me, for example.

I think people hide it because they want people to actually listen to the show. And I understand that from one point, that you want someone to enjoy the full experience that you created, but at the same time, that full experience is not the way that everyone can learn or listen.

[phone rings]

COMMUNICATIONS ASSISTANT: A person who may be deaf or hard of hearing is calling through the California Relay. And the caller’s typed, “Howdy.” Go ahead.

[upbeat electronica]

CHERYL: That’s a Communications Assistant’s voice. I talked to Marrok, a student at University of California at Santa Cruz, educator, and creative producer who teaches, among other things, Universal Design. Marrok is multiply-disabled, deaf, and queer.

I’d found a snarktastic post from Marrok on Facebook. It points readers to a transcript that a pretty famous radio show provided. A disclaimer for the transcript says the show “is produced for the ear and designed to be heard, not read. We strongly encourage you to listen to the audio, which includes emotion and emphasis that’s not on the page. Transcripts are generated using a combination of speech recognition software and human transcribers, and may contain errors.” And this was because—

MARROK: They wanted people to listen to the podcast, not read the transcript.

CHERYL: [snarkily] I guess at least they’ve already warned you that they don’t put much effort into the transcript. I mean, really and truly, pages can include emotion and emphasis. I wrote “snarkily” in square brackets right before that sentence that I said in a snarky tone of voice. Is it 100% the same as hearing an audio piece? No, but should that stop me from transcribing that emotion?

I thought the radio show was being snarky when I read their disclaimer. I told him that reading the disclaimer made me want to burn my computer down.

MARROK: You cannot hear it because my TTY does not transmit this, but I am laughing.

[mellow ambient background music]

KRISTA: I think a lot of times, it’s actually not intentional.

For me, though, I feel like, hmm. Some people feel like adding transcriptions might alter the artist’s expression. People feel like if they have to change to provide accommodations for people in any regard, it’s like, “Ah! You’re ruining my artistic expression! Like, that wasn’t the intent of my content, and I’m an artist!”

And that’s the attitude that we’re up against when we’re trying to enact change for this, is how to show artists that you can provide accommodations so that everyone can enjoy your art and content. And that should be the goal, to get rid of that sort of elitist attitude. Open it up to everyone. Make it accessible to everyone, and that’s how people will find out your work, and you’ll garner more followers.

CHERYL: Marrok talked to me about viewing transcripts as part of Universal Design. That’s where you design things to be the most accessible for the most people possible. It’s not about tacking on access at the end.

And just because you have a transcript doesn’t mean all people who would use a transcript will do so or even want to.

MARROK: I am just a visual and kinesthetic learner.

CHERYL: But he advocates for transcripts to be there and to be good quality as part of the radio experience.

There are some exciting developments in accessible podcasting. Take, for instance, Bri.

[upbeat synth-pop]

BRI: So, my name is Bri, and I’m Black, Jamaican, queer, non-binary. I have MS, and so my physical impairment is instability, and I usually have chronic pain and muscle spasms and things like that.

I’ve been doing my podcast, Power Not Pity, for about three or four months. And it’s all about the lives of disabled people of color. I’ve gotten the chance to do a couple of talks about disability justice and podcasting, actually, at a high school, a specialized high school here in New York City.
I started doing radio shows in college. So, I picked up podcasts after listening to a ton of them. I wanted to amplify the voices of disabled people because I hadn’t really seen any media or any audio that was about disabled people of color, especially not disabled queer people of color.

So, I really like Disability Visibility. I like Snap Judgment. I really appreciate Disability After Dark. I really like Two Dope Queens as well.
I know Disability Visibility is pretty accessible on the transcript front. I’m not sure if Disability Dark has transcripts. But I know Snap Judgment and Two Dope Queens does not.

CHERYL: I asked zir why Power Not Pity has transcripts and what the consequences are for shows that don’t have them.

BRI: I want it to be, of course, as accessible as it can be, right? But I have always needed captions for any kind of media I ever consume. Like when I’m watching TV, I use captions. When I’m trying to listen to other podcasts, I try to find transcripts. When I’m maybe typing something, I make sure to use the computer voice to just hear it again, just to have a better understanding of what I’m consuming. And I think it’s just one of the multiple ways that you can engage with a podcast.

As disabled folks, we’re the largest minority in the U.S., right? One in five people has a disability, and I really do think that if you don’t include transcripts, you know, you’re leaving out a very valuable and worthwhile experience. You’re clearly stating who you don’t want listening to your show by not including transcripts.

CHERYL: I commented to Krista about how relaxed and easy-going she was, talking about this topic. Remember, I’m the person who wanted to burn my own computer when I read a transcript disclaimer that the transcript wasn’t a good record of the audio.

Thinking back to that networking thing I was at, I can still remember the feeling of my face burning with disappointment.

KRISTA: Yeah, well, and you know, sometimes there’s a time to be nice, and then there’s a time to move past that so. [laughs]

CHERYL: I asked her what she thought of the two excuses I hear most often: I don’t know where to go to get transcripts, or I don’t have the money.

KRISTA: And I don’t have to censor my language, right?

CHERYL: [laughs]

KRISTA: I can just be me? OK, sorry.

I think that is bullshit!! Yeah. Absolutely. So, come on. Yes, especially like a big company? You have absolutely no excuse. If you are a small, independent artist studio, maybe you don’t have the money or something like that. But you know what? If you’re creative enough to make art, you’re creative enough to provide accommodations. And you can always find a way, so yeah. I don’t care. I’m done with excuses, you know? Find a way to provide it. And again, if people don’t know how, ask people who do know how! Come find us. We’re happy to provide information.

JULIE: There’s all sorts of creative ideas to come up with raising the funds so that you can provide these things. I just, I really don’t think the general population has a grasp on the importance of these tools. I really don’t.

JULIA: We should make everything accessible to everyone, that we should have transcripts that can be read by screen-readers, that we should have more audio recordings of books. But at the same time, when we have an audio-started format, we should also have transcripts.

BRI: I would say that you’re doing your audience a disservice by not offering this other means of consuming your podcast.

[upbeat electronica]

CHERYL: How about recommendations of a few podcasts with transcripts? Carvell Wallace’s Closer Than They Appear from Jetty; Reveal, hosted by Al Letson, from Center for Investigative Reporting; Disability Visibility Project by Alice Wong, a brand-new show from Reid Davenport, Basic Able, and Dominick Evans’s Disrupt the Media, which is still in the process of getting episodes transcribed; and of course, Bri M’s Power Not Pity. Rustbelt Abolition Radio not only has really valuable content, but they have a beautiful post on how their episode transcripts are a “modest, yet crucial” step toward disability justice and therefore, transformative justice. Oh, and this podcast, which you’re currently reading, listening to, or both also always has transcripts!

What can you do? Content creators: start learning about accessibility and broadening your ideas of what audiences you could serve or even what guests you could have on your show. Content enjoyers, when you post or share about a show on social media, mention when there is or is not a transcript. Just a quick note like, “Hey, I like this show, but there’s no transcript” helps build the vocabulary up and push for accountability. And for all those shows where the hosts ask you at the end to email them with comments? Email them. Ask them to get transcripts, and use whatever reason for access moves you the most.

[bright ambient music]

Music in today’s episode: “Bizarre Waltz” by David Szesztay, “Chill” by Kevin Macleod, “Pives and Flarinet” by Podington Bear, “Echo Park” by Rest You Sleeping Giant, and “Let’s Sell Some Cars” by Steve Combs.

CHERYL: Every episode is transcribed. Links, guest info, and transcripts are all at www.WhoAmIToStopIt.com, my disability arts blog. I’m Cheryl, and…

TWO VOICES: this is Pigeonhole.

CHERYL: Pigeonhole: Don’t sit where society puts you.

[bright ambient music]

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