MTV: Big, BIG FAIL!

MTV's series, "True Life," is a series of mini-documentaries showcasing the lives of ordinary people as they deal with the extraordinary in their lives. Last year, I watched the episode on teens & young adults with Tourette's Syndrome; my husband and daughter both have the disease. I have since seen a few other episodes, and in general, the producers approach difficult subject matter in a sensitive annd meaningful way. It is a welcome departure from a network that has otherwise subjected us to such goodies as "Jersey Shore" and the un-real "Real World." I admired and applauded them for the effort.

But now? I have to simply scratch my head in wonderment at the singularly boneheaded move they've made. It's a brain fart of such tremendous proportions, I have to wonder who exactly dropped the ball here and why nobody at the network noticed it. It is a FAIL of damn near epic proportions.

They produced a show about the lives of deaf children and their families. This is good.

They didn't caption it. This is bad.

Let that sink in for a moment: they created a program highlighting the joys and struggles of the world of young people who are hearing impaired. These same young people, and others like them, will not be able to view said program, because MTV failed to use closed captioning.

MTV? What the hell?

It is ridiculous that this, of all programs, is NOT captioned! It almost smacks of exploiting the participants. If nothing else, it's delibrately excluding them from a project they took part in, believing that MTV cared about deaf persons enough to devote an entire episode of this otherwise great series to their lives. They cared enough to film them, but not enough to make sure they themselves can enjoy the finished project. It's hard to fathom.

I am hard of hearing. I am mostly deaf in one ear (I use a hearing aid), and partially deaf in the other. I rely on captions, as do the many millions like me who are hard of hearing or deaf. I would like to see this episode. But unless they fix their mistake and caption the thing, I'll be forced to pass.

I urge everyone to enlighten MTV about their insensitive and mind-numbingly ignorant mistake. On Twitter, they are @MTV.

MTV: this was a big, big FAIL on your part. Do the right thing, and caption the program so that everyone can enjoy it...

...especially those who agreed to take part in it.



Thanks to Marlee Matlin, who brought this issue to my attention via Twitter. I urge everyone to watch her new Internet series about a deaf family. I assure you, it's captioned!