About the Described and Captioned Media Program
Explore our Web site to learn how we are living our mission to promote and provide equal access to communication and learning for students who are blind, visually impaired, deaf, hard of hearing, or deaf-blind.
The DCMP is an idea that works thanks to funding by the U.S. Department of Education and administration by the National Association of the Deaf.
About the U.S. Department of Education
The mission of the U.S. Department of Education is to ensure equal access to education and to promote educational excellence throughout the nation. The U.S. Department funds the DCMP through the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP), which is part of the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS).
OSERS supports programs that assist in educating children with special needs, provides for the rehabilitation of youth and adults with disabilities, and supports research to improve the lives of individuals with disabilities. OSEP is dedicated to improving results for infants, toddlers, children and youth with disabilities ages birth through 21 by providing leadership and financial support to assist states and local districts. The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) authorizes formula grants to states, and discretionary grants to institutions of higher education and other nonprofit organizations to support research, demonstrations, technical assistance and dissemination, technology and personnel development, and parent-training and information centers.
About the National Association of the Deaf
The National Association of the Deaf (NAD) was established in 1880 by deaf leaders who recognized the right of the American deaf community to use sign language, to congregate on issues important to them, and to have its interests represented at the national level. These beliefs remain true to this day, with American Sign Language as a core value. As a nonprofit federation, the mission of the NAD is to preserve, protect and promote the civil, human, and linguistic rights of deaf and hard of hearing individuals in the United States of America. The advocacy scope of the NAD is broad, covering the breadth of a lifetime and impacting future generations in the areas of early intervention, education, employment, health care, technology, telecommunications, youth leadership, and more.
Mission and Vision Statement
Our mission is to promote and provide equal access to communication and learning through described and captioned educational media.
The ultimate goal of the DCMP is for accessible media to be an integral tool in the teaching and learning process for all stakeholders in the educational community, including students, educators and other school personnel, parents, service providers, businesses, and agencies.
The DCMP supports the U.S. Department of Education Strategic Plan for 2011-2014 by committing to the following goals:
- Ensuring that students (early learning through grade 12) who are blind, visually impaired, deaf, hard of hearing, or deaf-blind have the opportunity to achieve the standards of academic excellence.
- Advocating for equal access to educational media as well as the establishment and maintenance of quality standards for captioning and description by service providers.
- Providing a collection of free-loan described and captioned educational media.
- Furnishing information and research about accessible media.
- Acting as a gateway to Internet resources related to accessibility.
- Adapting and developing new media and technologies that assist students in obtaining and using available information.
The Described and Captioned Media Program is funded by the U.S. Department of Education and administered by the National Association of the Deaf.Back to top
The DCMP provides services designed to support and improve the academic achievement of students who are blind, visually impaired, deaf, hard of hearing, or deaf-blind.
Free-loan described and captioned educational media is available to students who are deaf, blind, hard of hearing, visually impaired, or deaf-blind. This educational media is made accessible to the deaf and hard of hearing via captioning and to the blind and visually impaired via description. With over 4,000 titles (and growing!) available for viewing, the DCMP is continuing to provide equal accessibility to these students and the professionals who serve them. There are no user-registration or service fees.
The Learning Center
The DCMP offers a wealth of information related to education, accessibility, deafness, blindness, and other related topics. Use of this center is free to everyone. Read about what people are saying about the DCMP. Learn about captioning, description, laws pertaining to accessibility, assistive technology, and an array of other subjects – all at your fingertips. Start browsing and start learning.
Internet resources related to accessibility are at your fingertips. The DCMP would like to introduce its gateway, which will allow you to selectively search across our entire clearinghouse of accessibility-related articles.
The DCMP gateway will search the following partner sites (links open in new browser tabs/windows):
- American Council of the Blind (ACB)
- American Foundation for the Blind (AFB)
- Audio Description International
- Center for Applied Special Technology (CAST)
- Deaf Education (DeafEd)
- dicapta Accessible Communication Developers
- Family Connect
- Gallaudet University
- Helen Keller National Center for Deaf-Blind Youths and Adults (HKNC)
- National Association of the Deaf (NAD)
- National Center for Accessible Media (NCAM)
- National Consortium on Deaf-Blindness (DB-LINK)
- National Dissemination Center for Children with Disabilities (NICHCY)
You can also choose from several other search options, such as restricting results to those on the DCMP Web site, the DCMP media collection, or from “Other Videos,” which gives you immediate search results of media available for purchase from the largest database of accessible media in the world.
Guidelines for Captioning and Describing Media
The guidelines for both captioning and description are used by providers, government agencies, businesses, school technical departments, teachers, parents, students, and others. The DCMP’s purpose is to present recommendations for technique, style, and technical considerations.
The DCMP is funded by the U.S. Department of Education and administered by the National Association of the Deaf.Back to top
The National Association of the Deaf (NAD) is pleased to present an outstanding team of professionals to conduct the DCMP project. As the National School Board Association has stated concerning educational leadership: “The best predictor of the future is the past.” DCMP staffers are trained and experienced in teaching, management, technology, and accessible media. Find out more
The DCMP Advisory Board is composed of members who have a variety of backgrounds and experience in advocating for individuals who are deaf, blind, or deaf-blind. Members include respected figures in leadership organizations, educators, administrators, parents, media suppliers, media producers, and description/captioning service providers. The diversity of this board not only enhances the services that DCMP provides, but also acts as a catalyst for change in the DCMP to keep pace with change in education and technology. Find out more Back to top