Change.org - Deaf community

Bryan and his brother are huge football fans. Bryan thinks it’s unfair that his brother, who is deaf, doesn’t get the same experience from watching a game or clips online. “He deserves to enjoy the same things I get to,” Bryan writes. Bryan is calling on the National Football League to add closed-captioning to their programming. Sign now to help make NFL content more accessible. Add Closed Captioning to all NFL Videos 882 have signed Bryan Hall’s petition. Let’s get to 1,000!

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Honestly, I’m not expecting this to blow up or anything, but I decided to make a petition asking the NFL to add closed captioning to their videos. I am a Child of Deaf Adults, also known as a "CODA." My whole family is deaf, meaning they cannot hear and communicate using sign language. The reason I am making this petition (and hoping it blows up) is on behalf of my younger brother. My younger brother is also deaf, and he always asks me, "What are they saying?" My brother and I are huge football fans, and while we love the game of football, we also enjoy watching clips and behind-the-scenes. As an individual who can hear, I enjoy watching the NFL Mic’d Up series or the SoundFX clips on YouTube and NFL.com. However, my brother does not get to enjoy these same clips, especially when they are promoted nationwide on social media outlets such as Twitter, TikTok, Instagram, Facebook and so forth.  After scanning the internet for hours and having no luck in finding videos of the "NFL Mic’d Up" with closed-captioning, I have decided to turn to Change.org to help the NFL become more inclusive with the Deaf Community. I tried finding an appropriate contact for the NFL, but I felt like my request would be --unironically-- unheard. The goal is to provide entertainment to football fans, but there is an entire community that is missing out. Now more than ever, there has been a bigger desire to provide equality and equity to individuals who cannot hear on the internet with big media outlets (like NowThisNews) providing closed captioning on their videos so EVERYONE can enjoy it. My brother and I are huge football fans, and it hurts my heart to know that I can enjoy certain things while he can’t. For my entire life, I have never deemed myself as "better," and truthfully have never viewed my brother as "less" or allowing his disability to limit who he is as an individual. However, this is one area that I want to support him because he deserves to enjoy the same things I get to, and it’s truly an easy fix that the NFL can do to make their content more accessible for ALL. Even with YouTube’s text to speech option, it is not 100% accurate and I believe that the NFL could easily add closed-captioning to these clips, as well as potentially adding them to other content such as Fantasy Football or regular football clips. Please sign this petition so I can present it to the NFL and provide my family, along with countless other deaf football fans, the benefit of enjoying the same content that I and millions of other football fans enjoy on a daily basis. The NFL is taking strides towards encouraging equality for all, and this goes hand-in-hand in supporting fans who are Deaf, and so my brother can continue to enjoy the same things I can.

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