![Live stage performance with a text overlay reading '[#CAPaware] because 10 million people in the UK have hearing loss'. Image credit: Stagetext](/sites/default/files/images/2015_news_images/September_2015/CAPaware.png "Live stage performance with a text overlay reading '[#CAPaware] because 10 million people in the UK have hearing loss'. Image credit: Stagetext")
On the Captioning Awareness Week webpage, Stagetext writes, “10 million people in the UK are deaf, deafened or hard of hearing - that’s 1 in 6 of us. Text-based access to the arts, including captioning and live subtitling, is the most far reaching form of access for people with varying degrees of hearing loss. There are many people who could benefit from the service, but simply don’t know it exists…yet.”
Stagetext is encouraging social media participation during the week. It is asking people to tweet about their favourite captioning experiences, favourite venues and what they would like to see captioned in the future (hashtag: #CAPaware). It is also encouraging people to post a selfie with the words “I’m #CAPaware”. Venues that provide captioning are being asked to get involved by tweeting about upcoming performances and letting their audiences know it’s Captioning Awareness Week so they can join in.
Stagetext was founded in 2000 by three theatre enthusiasts, Peter Pullan, Merfyn Williams and Geoff Brown, who have varying degrees of deafness, and pioneered theatre captioning in the UK.
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