NCI was excited to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the very first airing of closed captions on television! On March 16, 1980, “The Wonderful World of Disney” and “Masterpiece Theatre” were the first programs to air with closed captions, opening a new world of access for deaf and hard-of-hearing television viewers around the United States. 

The technology has changed, but NCI’s mission remains the same: “NCI will support services to people who are deaf or hard of hearing and others who, for whatever reason, wherever situated and irrespective of their economic conditions, are limited in their ability to participate fully in the world of auditory or visual communications.”

For four decades, NCI has used innovation and dedication to lead the way in providing high-quality service to viewers and groundbreaking technologies to the content providers. To learn more, visit www.ncicap.org.

Guest speakers at our 40th Anniversary Celebration included: 

• Lise Hamlin, Public Policy Director for HLAA

• Tami Davis, Outreach Director from Congresswoman Wexton’s office

• Marc Okrand, former NCI employee and creator of the “Star Trek” Klingon language

• Drake Smith, former NCI employee and one of the inventors of the first caption decoding microchip

• Darlene Parker, FAPR, RPR/ Director, Steno Captioning & Realtime Relations