Multiple Florida Agencies Partner with Swagit for Captioned Meetings

Swagit Productions, LLC Provides Florida Public Meeting Video Delivery with ADA-Compliant Captioning

DALLAS (PRWEB) April 30, 2019

In response to recent ADA compliance lawsuits, several Florida agencies have augmented their meeting video streams with captioning solutions provided by Swagit Productions. Swagit's captioning services meet FCC mandated ADA requirements for closed captioning as well as Level A and Level AA WCAG 2.0 accessibility requirements for video.

Courts have ruled that city websites – including live-streamed and archived public government meeting videos – are included under Title II of the 1990 Americans Disability Act, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability and requires governments to provide equal access to services. As a result, streaming-specific ADA lawsuits are at an all-time high across the nation, particularly in Florida and California.

Following a discrimination lawsuit filed by a deaf South Florida resident, the City of Daytona Beach, Florida briefly discontinued online meeting video broadcasts in October of 2018, and removed their meeting video archive. Daytona Beach officials needed a quick and effective solution for compliance, and Swagit upgraded the City's broadcast streaming equipment and services to provide both live and on-demand captioning for City Commission meetings as well as other public city meetings.

The Florida Cities of Atlantic Beach, Palm Beach Gardens, St. Augustine, Tamarac, and Palm Bay, as well as the Broward Metropolitan Planning Organization in Ft. Lauderdale, have also implemented Swagit's captioning services for their meeting broadcasts as a proactive measure against potential ADA lawsuits.

"At Swagit, we strive to improve a jurisdiction's transparency without adding additional workload for their teams," said Vin Nguyen, Swagit Account Manager. "Our captioning services directly enhance video accessibility and transparency for all viewers."

Closed captions are not just for viewers who are deaf or hearing impaired. They can help citizens for whom English is a second or third language, by spelling out the spoken content and making it easier to follow along. In noisy or office environments, viewers can watch captioned meeting and event videos without disrupting their surroundings. Captioning is also beneficial for viewing by large audiences, or for conference presentations where background noise is a factor.

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