I count myself among the most fortunate to still have my parents in good health, mostly good humor, and largely of sound mind – a luxury afforded to few as we march through our own middle aged journey. A few years back, following a celebration of Mom and Dad’s 50th wedding anniversary, Dad mentioned that when he turned 80 he would like a party “just like this one”. My brother and I heard him utter that, and held on to that tidbit as his 80th birthday loomed a few short years in the distance.
As natural born schemers, we began planning well over a year ahead of time, to ensure that we could pull off an unforgettable celebration in honor of our fabulous father. We knew that in order to truly honor him, we had to capitalize on his quick wit, dispensing of life advice requested or otherwise, and his slew of memorable quotes ranging from his opinions on your taste in food (“You don’t want peppers and eggs? You don’t know food!”) all the way through his dripping sarcasm when I outlasted him in a football betting pool (“Keep using that close your eyes and point strategy – seems to be working for you!”). There are many “classic Dad” stories and we were a bit struck with inspiration one day as we talked about Dean Martin and his classic comedy roasts – and then we knew without a doubt what we needed at Dad’s celebration – a line-up of speakers, sharing the best of the best stories about our Dad.
We threw ourselves into preparations with fevered earnestness. The 120+ person guest list was crafted, color theme decisions were made (maroon and grey, a nod to his high school colors), centerpieces created (football themed, of course), and the assembly of a list of key figures throughout his life that were willing to share their love, admiration and respect for our wonderful Dad – while also not being afraid to infuse a bit of good-natured ribbing.
I was sharing the plans with Brad throughout the process. I dropped the latest innovation or spark of creativity in the middle of conversations about our work together running Down the Tubes Productions. As he is used to now, though I imagine the charm and novelty wore off many months ago, my brain is like a runaway train. I start off on one topic and then ramble off into several directions before returning to the original track. He is somehow still holding on and has become masterful at distracting me with other things including: “Look at the dog!” or “Take a sip of your seltzer” whilst steering me back to the original flow of conversation. During one of these random yet productive conversations, I shared our lineup of speakers for Dad’s party, which led to a true “aha!” moment in the name of accessibility. We would both be in attendance at the party and knew that hearing people conversationally would be an immense challenge but hearing speeches through a microphone would be nearly insurmountable.
Unless we were able to employ…(drumroll please)…live captions.
In a flurry of excitement at this incredible inspiration we sprang into action, messaged my brother, and figured out exactly how to make this happen. We knew it would benefit us but would also accomplish the following:
- The captions would help Dad ensure that he was understanding all of the wonderful things said in his honor due to his own hearing loss and hearing aid use
- Provide caption support for those that were hard of hearing in attendance but who may not have been comfortable advocating for their needs
- Allowing us a chance to enjoy the speakers with some assistive technology in place for our own needs
- Providing an example for all about how accommodations can be automatic and normalized
- Bonus: We could promote our work with a well-placed QR code on the final slide
Brad was our dynamite tech support – both during the party set up and when it was in full swing. Thankfully, my brother and I are masters at improvisation and the embodiment of “the show must go on” – so while Brad was fixing a tech mishap, we kept going as though nothing was happening before our eyes with the projector, laptop, WiFi connection, and slideshow. Brad deftly righted the situation and we were able to continue with our slate of speakers. We did have another bump with two speakers who refused the microphone, which resulted in inaccessibility for many in the crowd – lesson learned when we do this again at another event – we will make it clear from the start that the microphone is not an option, regardless of how loud you think you may be.
It was beyond exciting to be able to provide an accommodation that I honestly would never have considered as an option to include prior to launching our work together in July 2024. It was a night full of memories, adoration, and laughter – all made better with live captions.
The ultimate punchline?
In his haste and flurry to be on time for his own celebration, Dad arrived without his hearing aids.
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