Deaf and hard-of-hearing activists have taken to the social medias to bombard Netflix with requests for more movies with subtitles.
The group is using Change.org to get their word out.
Sebastian St. Troy, a consumer-rights activists from Texas, who is hard-of-hearing following a non-cancerous tumor, talked to Venture Beat:
“Since I started relying on captioning, I’ve learned how few entertainment options exist for the deaf and hard-of-hearing,” he said. “Netflix has been promising captioning for years, but hasn’t really followed through.”
The campaign was launched two months ago, before the National Association of the Deaf filed a lawsuit against Netflix, on June 17, 2011.
The suit charges Netflix with violating the Americans with Disabilites Act, by not providing the deaf with equal access to its "watch instantly" digital video.
The group is also hoping Netflix will make it easier to find what little subtitled content they have.
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“In order to see what there is with subtitles you have to go to the Subtitles link hidden at the bottom of Netflix’s website and then click through 58 pages of content,” St. Troy explains. “You can see why having a search option, as simple as ‘with subtitles’ could save people time, not to mention frustration. I’ve spent hours every week just to find content to watch, which has now led to my canceling my subscription after Netflix changed their website.”
The hope is that Netflix will fix its service without having to go to court.
