Lawsuit Challenges Inaccessibility of Major Podcast Platforms

NAD December 21, 2021 in ASL 19 Subscribers Subscribe

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The National Association of the Deaf (NAD) and Disability Rights Advocates (DRA) have filed a lawsuit against three major providers of podcasts, SiriusXM, Stitcher, and Pandora, to end their exclusion of deaf and hard of hearing Americans from each company’s extensive podcast streaming service.

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[Video Desc. & Transcript: Howard Rosenblum stands in the middle of the screen with a black backdrop.

HOWARD: The NAD with Disability Rights Advocate (DRA) sued three podcast platform providers: SiriusXM, Stitcher, and Pandora. SiriusXM owns Stitcher and Pandora so it’s one company with three different podcast platforms. The lawsuit represents the NAD and five individuals: Rebecca Alexander (who is DeafBlind while the other four are deaf), Dr. Amber Martin, Jazmine Jones, James Monroe, and Mei Nishimoto. Before I explain why we filed a lawsuit, I'd like to explain what a podcast is. A podcast is similar to the concept of radio broadcasts where people can listen to anything they'd like such as music or discussions and dialogues about politics, astronomy, art, etc. A radio station requires people to go into their building to use their expensive equipment to record shows with its signal tower. Today, with the Internet, anyone can record a podcast from anywhere about anything like music, politics, art, money, and more. But where is the access? The Internet allows people to include a transcript with their podcasts for anyone to read. However, SiriusXM, Stitcher, and Pandora do not provide nor include a transcript for podcasts on their platforms. We reached out to ask about access but they've not done any positive actions to address that gap. As a result, we filed the lawsuit against them. Our goal is to impact system change so that all podcast providers provide equal access, including transcripts for all deaf, hard of hearing, and DeafBlind consumers. Thank you.]