Elon Musk causes stir in the Deaf community with ASL / subtitles question
Elon Musk caused a stir in the Deaf community when he posted on Twitter/X whether there was any point in having an ASL interpreter in a video if there are already subtitles provided.
[Tweet showing a video clip by a Disney executive with a separate, in-screen ASL interpreter in a PIP. The executive is talking about LGBTQIA characters and whether there are enough of them having lead roles.]
[Tweet by Elon Musk: “What’s the point of sign language in a video if you have subtitles? Am I missing something?]
The video Elon saw was a Disney executive talking about the importance of LGBTQ characters. There was an interpreter provided. The original video was apparently a recording of a private, internal Disney meeting for its employees. There is an interpreter because it’s apparent that there were Disney employees who were Deaf and were participating in the meeting. The video was not for the public. It was a private meeting. But someone recorded it and leaked it last year. It caused many right-wing and conservative media outlets to criticize Disney for pushing LGBTQ characters. This hot topic seems to have resurfaced this week and someone re-shared this video and that’s how Elon noticed it and commented.
I read on a Reddit “Deaf” forum that the original video from Disney did not have subtitles. There was only an interpreter. Someone added the captions and released it. So it means Elon misunderstood, he thought Disney was providing both captions and interpreters at the same time. But someone added the captions later.
But, the Deaf community knows that we often see instances of TV programming that has both captions and an ASL interpreter simultaneously, so his question still applies. Elon asked if he was “missing something.”
Many Deaf people responded. I’ll show you three. Check out the first.
[Tweet by @dannygong: “Subtitles are great tool, but it's hard to compete with spoken words that convey, context, feelings, jokes and sarcasm through "Tone of voice".
Sign Language interpretation provides "Tone of Voice" visually and in a 3D communication style that encapsulates what the speaker is trying to convey.
I hope this helps bring a little more understanding about the difference between subtitles and a Sign Language Interpreter.”]
Nice explanation. Danny emphasized that ASL provides a different “experience” and shows the “tone of voice.”
Here is another response from a Deaf woman who said she grew up near Elon in South Africa.
[Tweet by @ClareChanelCC: “Hi Elon- this is Clare here, I’m a deaf translator. We were actually in the same year at school in South Africa- two different schools but we used to regularly compete against each other in sports. So I know for a fact that you have had experience of mixing and communicating with deaf people. You should also know that sign languages and written/ spoken languages are very different from each other. Many deaf people cannot fully access or understand subtitles. Sign languages is their first and preferred communication method. I’m sure you know this so not entirely sure if you’re being disingenuous and just want to wind up the deaf community for some reason?”]
Clare’s point is that written/spoken languages are very different from sign languages. She also questioned whether Elon wanted to just “wind up the deaf community.”
I’ll show you one more response on X.
[Tweet by @mynameispriyesh: “You made fancy rockets and electric cars, but you need to catch up with making things accessible in this modern age!”]
That’s a good thought. There are many more responses to Elon’s tweet all over Deaf social media.
It’s not the first time that Elon has posted on X a question related to the Deaf community. If you remember, in the spring of 2023, the internet star MrBeast posted a video of him “helping” 1,000 deaf people to hear by providing them with hearing aids.
There was a lot of criticism against MrBeast. Elon said, in support of MrBeast, “People definitely shouldn’t be attacked for doing good. Is it really just a question of money to restore hearing?”
[Shows tweet of Elon asking this question]
So, Elon has caused a stir again with a question related to Deaf people.
This is important and relevant to this news — when Elon bought Twitter/X for $44 billion in 2022, he made many cuts to Twitter’s workforce, including gutting its accessibility team. They were all laid off.
[Screenshot of a news article from Disability Scoop with the headline, “Twitter Faces Criticism After Disbanding Accessibility Team.”]
The layoffs included at least two Deaf employees. This caused the National Association of the Deaf to announce that it would suspend its tweets in a form of protest because the accessibility team was eliminated.
[Tweet by @NAD1880: “The NAD is suspending its tweets due to @Twitter eliminating its entire Accessibility team, and will not resume until a showing of commitment to full inclusion.”]
So, Elon Musk could have asked his two Deaf employees these questions, but he eliminated them.
So it seems like in Elon’s world, there shouldn’t be interpreters on the screen and deaf people should get money to have their hearings restored.
But in my world, I like ASL on the screen with subtitles and no amount of money could restore my hearing.
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Sources:
https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1755004625890197956
https://twitter.com/dannygong/status/1755634250026569787
https://twitter.com/ClareChanelCC/status/1755642395532644856
https://twitter.com/mynameispriyesh/status/1755653491245080979