Closed Captioning Ordinance

Why?

• The City of Bloomington’s Comprehensive Plan promotes developing programs and strategies that support inclusivity and ensuring public spaces are accessible to all ages and abilities. Closed captions help reduce communication barriers for people with hearing loss and other disabilities.

Who benefits?

• Everyone!
• Closed captioning makes television programming available for a broad range of patrons, visitors, and clients, with or without disabilities, including deaf and hard of hearing customers.
• A majority of people without hearing loss prefer captions, especially if the audio is unclear or if they are in a noisy restaurant or bar.
• Over 200,000 Indiana residents have limited English proficiency. Captioning makes it easier for language learners to follow television programming.

Whom does this apply to?

• The ordinance applies to any place of public accommodation in Bloomington that provides at least one public television for its customers or visitors to watch, including
  • restaurants
  • bars and sports bars
  • gyms and recreation centers
  • electronics stores and other locations that sell televisions
  • waiting rooms in hospitals, medical offices, and other professional offices

Who is involved?

• The development and implementation of the ordinance is a partnership between the City of Bloomington, the Indiana Association for the Deaf, AARP Indiana, and the Greater Bloomington Chamber of Commerce.
• The ordinance was passed by City Council after recommendation from the Council for Community Accessibility and the Bloomington/Monroe County Human Rights Commission.

How does it work?

• Each business or place of public accommodation in Bloomington must provide closed captioning on each television in use in public areas during business hours.
• Businesses are not required to turn televisions on or purchase new equipment.
• If a business has multiple televisions showing the same programming, such as a sports game, they are only required to provide closed captioning on one out of every five televisions. (A business with ten televisions showing the same programming is required to provide closed captioning on two non-adjacent televisions, and so on.)
• A business with multiple televisions showing different programming is required to provide closed captioning on all televisions with unique programming.

How will the ordinance be enforced?

• The City of Bloomington and partners will educate local businesses on their responsibilities to implement the ordinance.
• An individual may allege a violation by filing a complaint with the Bloomington/Monroe County Human Rights Commission. By ordinance, the Human Rights Commission has the authority to investigate and resolve complaints of disability discrimination.

Links:

• Ordinance
• Municode
• Press Kit/Brochure/Social Media Posts and Images

Previous articles:

• “Next year, this Indiana town will require closed captions on TVs in public spaces,” Indianapolis Star
• “Bloomington bars must turn on closed captioning under new law,” Fox59 Indianapolis
• “Bloomington closed captioning ordinance to become first in the state,” Indiana Public Media