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Mayor Michelle Wu signed an ordinance on Friday Dec. 9 requiring "places of public accommodations," which includes bars, gyms, restaurants, and banks, to turn closed captioning on any televisions placed in public areas.
The ordinance, sponsored by Council President Ed Flynn, was passed unanimously in the pursuit of increasing access to public spaces for people with disabilities.
"This is a step towards accessibility," Flynn said. "We will continue to focus on equity for residents and visitors with disabilities. Disability rights are civil rights.”
The use of live-scrolling transcripts will, according to the city council, help people without hearing disabilities by increasing access to information in crowded or noisy public spaces.
“Improving communications access in public spaces across Boston is critical to Boston truly being for everyone,” said Wu.
Closed captions benefit everyone, improving comprehension, attention, and memory of the captioned video, according to a 2015 article by Morton Ann Gernsbacher that summarized over 100 empirical studies.
Benefits are increased for people watching television in their non-native language, adults and children who are learning to read, as well as those who are deaf or hard of hearing.
Rules like this one are already in use Seattle and San Francisco, among other places, Disability Advisory Board Chair Wesley Ireland said.
Disability Commissioner Kristen McCosh said that enacting this rule is free to businesses, because all televisions are closed caption-compatible and cable and streaming services already offer captions. To assist businesses in the transition, resources will be made available instructing businesses how to enable captions.
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