Text by Daphne Northrop
Photo editing by Meredith Nierman
Edited and described by Ellen London, with assistance from NCAM
July 22, 2020
Since the founding of WGBH, we have been dedicated to making media accessible to everyone. As we commemorate the 30th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act, we invite you to take a look back at the evolution of creating media that can be used, read and viewed by people with disabilities.
The Caption Center at WGBH invents broadcast captioning, providing open captions on TV for the first time. Closed captions, which viewers can choose to turn on or off, came along around 1980. (Photo: Courtesy of WGBH)
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A black and white photo shows a caption writer typing on a specialized typewriter. Above the typewriter are two stacked television screens. On one screen, text captions appear against a black background. On the other screen, a news reporter holds a microphone. Below him, the same text captions appear: “Do they have much political power left?”
The French Chef with Julia Child, a WGBH production, airs on [...]