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Re: WCAG 1.2.3 Text Transcripts or Audio Descriptions

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From: Jared Smith
Date: Aug 16, 2012 2:00PM

Your understanding of 1.2.3 is correct. It is intended for users with
visual disabilities who cannot see the video. If there is visual
content, then the user can provide either a descriptive transcript OR
audio descriptions. If they provide a transcript, then audio
descriptions are required by 1.2.5 at Level AA. But if all content is
presented audibly, then there is no requirement to provide a
transcript until 1.2.8 at Level AAA.

It's a bit confusing, and allows multimedia content to be inaccessible
to many users (particularly deaf-blind) at Level AA. What's odd is
that if it is audio-only, then it must have a transcript for Level A
conformance (1.2.1), but if you add a still picture or video to that
audio, WCAG doesn't require a transcript until AAA.

Your findings are what we recommend for optimal accessibility - always
provide both captions and a transcript for multimedia.

I discuss this in a bit more detail at http://webaim.org/blog/wcag-next/

Jared Smith
WebAIM