As of 09 June, for the six Rusty Quill shows 376 out of 535 episodes (not including bonus content) do not have official transcripts, or roughly 70%. Without transcripts, whole populations (including deaf and hard-of-hearing folks, neurodivergent people, people with auditory processing disorders and more) cannot access audio mediums like podcasts.
At the end of May 2020, Rusty Quill met their $26,000 Patreon goal to "investigate a sustainable way to provide transcripts for Stellar Firma & RQGaming." They decided back in September 2020 to go with a professional transcription company instead of fan transcribers for RQGaming, but there has not been any public updates of where they are on the project since then. As for Stellar Firma, they did start producing season 3 transcripts in-house. A few times, either through negligence or indifference, they released the transcript on Patreon while waiting several days after the public release before posting the episode in the show notes, effectively putting the transcript behind a paywall those few days. They finalised the purchase of the season 1 and 2 transcripts from a fan transcription group in February 2021 but have yet to publicly post them anywhere. Enthusigasm was released on Patreon after the goal was announced, yet they have made no effort to produce transcripts for the show.
What are we asking from Rusty Quill?
1.) Budget for accessibility so more people can enjoy your products.
2.) Communicate what is going on. When we are past previous deadlines, update us as much as you can.
3.) Transcripts hosted on your website that are easy to find, easy to read, and easy to navigate.
4.) Make accessibility more of a priority. If we are pretty much in the same spot accessibility-wise as we were in 2017, you aren't making it a priority. Something else keeps getting prioritized over accessibility so it is not a priority. (Things really are that simple if it's been 4 years with minimal progress.)
5.) Make announcements public. It's fine to have patrons be the first to know about them but also make a public announcement. The last public announcement regarding transcripts was in 2018. Accessibility, including announcements about it, shouldn't be behind a paywall.
6.) If a transcript will be late, make an announcement. If it will be delayed for the public release, make a public announcement, just like you would if the audio would be delayed.
It is imperative that content creators build accessibility into their products from the start. Otherwise, they are sending the message that their work is for able-bodied people only. It's very important that Rusty Quill fans let them know: we care about accessibility! We want to be able to share the shows we love with disabled friends and family. We want transcripts!
Sign to show the folks at Rusty Quill that a truly accessible, inclusive network is something we care about!
