The importance of subtitles for neurodivergent people

Subtitles are now commonly used by most people – in movies, social media, courses, television, work meetings, events, and even theaters. What may have started as a way of accessing content in foreign languages, proved to be an essential accessibility tool for the deaf and hard of hearing community. Now, it has proved to be much more than that.

Videos offer visual and auditory stimulation, but this is not always enough to keep the focus and properly engage those who have attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Adding the cognitive stimulus of reading subtitles has a positive impact on people with ADHD, increasing content retention.

For autistic people, subtitles can help clarify information that is unclear due to their difficulty in assessing social contexts. Focusing on the subtitles also helps to prevent overstimulation from the other elements of the video. People with hyperlexia find satisfaction in being able to consume content through reading, people with anxiety can feel calmer by confirming what they have heard through subtitles, and those with processing deficits can compensate for gaps in comprehension - the list of benefits is as broad as neurodiversity.

Thus, following the example of previous accessibility inventions, such as the vegetable peeler, the ramp, and the automatic door, subtitles do more than help their original target audience. Subtitling is a simple way to ensure that content reaches as many people as possible, breaking language and stimulation barriers.