Realtime Writers and Closed Captioning

On April 16, 2013, the Department of Education approved $1,068,870 in discretionary grant funding for Institutions of Higher Education (IHEs) to invest in training realtime writers to meet the requirements for closed captioning.

For many deaf and hard-of-hearing students, a court reporter walks with them from class to class providing a live realtime feed of everything said. Court reporters also perform convention, theatre and television captioning. Tammy Jaffe will tell you that providing that service “was the most personally gratifying experience of her career.”

Four court reporting schools or colleges are to be awarded the funding in an effort to attract and train more realtime writers, or captioners. With hearing loss on the rise — 35 million Americans now suffer from some sort of hearing loss — court reporters are becoming increasingly more essential both inside and outside the courtroom.

Court reporting is a fascinating, rewarding career, a field that continues to be considered a “Top Job,” and the only career that opens up the television, video and movie world to the deaf and hard-of-hearing community.