Accessibility work splits into two distinct jobs: CART (Communication Access Realtime Translation) for live events — high credential, high pay, hard — and post-production video captioning — lower credential, steady demand, scales through 3Play and Verbit. ADA Title III and WCAG 2.1 enforcement keep demand steady at universities, enterprise, and streaming platforms.
CART and post-production captioning share a goal (making audio content accessible) but differ in skill stack, pay, and hiring channels. Picking the right sub-field is a 6-month-decision.
You caption live events in real time: university classroom lectures, corporate all-hands, legal hearings, medical appointments, or broadcast news. Output appears on a captioning display within 2–3 seconds of speech. Tool stack is stenotype or voice-writer plus real-time captioning software (Eclipse, Case CATalyst). Minimum speed: 225+ wpm sustained, 96%+ accuracy. The NCRA CRC (Certified Realtime Captioner) credential is the standard.
You add captions (or edit AI-generated captions) on recorded video. Output is an SRT or VTT file timed to the video, conforming to a style guide (reading speed, line-length, speaker attribution, sound effects notation). Tool stack is a caption editor (CaptionMaker, Amara, MacCaption) plus timing software. No real-time skill required; precision and style-guide fluency are the bar.
Pay spans a 5× range across accessibility work. Credentialing is what moves you between the tiers.
Certified Realtime Captioner. Administered by NCRA. Requires a 225-wpm 96%-accurate skill test plus a written-knowledge exam. See ncra.org/certification/Captioners/Certified-Realtime-Captioner-(CRC) (checked 2026-04-24). The credential is voluntary but functionally required by most professional-CART agencies.
3Play and Verbit run skill tests at application time. They check SRT timing accuracy, style-guide compliance, and QA turnaround. Passing the test is the credential equivalent — you are hired or not based on the test, with no years-of-experience gate.
Title III of the ADA applies to "places of public accommodation" — which courts have consistently interpreted to include commercial websites. That interpretation, plus WCAG 2.1 being the de-facto civil-rights-enforcement standard for web content, is why demand for accessibility work stays stable regardless of platform-AI improvements.
Practicing SRT timing? Upload a video, let Whipscribe generate an SRT draft, then manually refine it for reading-speed compliance (~21 chars/second). That same workflow is how 3Play and Verbit editors actually work day-to-day.
Transcribe your first file freeThree major channels: accessibility-first employers, university and enterprise in-house roles, and freelance marketplaces for short-form video captioning.
US video-captioning and transcription-at-scale provider serving higher-ed and enterprise. Contractor caption-editor roles plus FTE QA and senior-editor positions on their careers page.
AI-assisted captioning and transcription for legal, higher-ed, and corporate. Transcriber-editor roles review AI drafts; CART positions separately credentialed.
Steady pipeline of captioning-specific jobs for Rev's freelance pool. Lower per-job pay than direct-client work, but volume is consistent and onboarding is fast.
Several mid-size captioning vendors sub-contract to freelancer pools. Harder to find because they hire through referral and editor-community Slack groups, not open job boards.
Every major US university has an accessibility office that hires CART providers and caption-production coordinators. Posted on each university's HR page or the associated disability-services office.
Corporate accessibility specialist and caption-coordinator roles surface here. Tech companies (Netflix, Adobe, Microsoft) and media (Disney, WarnerMedia) hire for internal accessibility teams.
Association on Higher Education and Disability (AHEAD) and related groups maintain member job boards. High-signal for campus accessibility roles.
National Court Reporters Association job board. CART-specific listings from major agencies and universities with in-house CART programs.
Specialist captioning agencies serving broadcast and enterprise live-event markets. Rates at the top of the CART range; CRC required; most work is remote.
Running post-production captions for a client? Whipscribe gives you an SRT draft in minutes; spend your time on reading-speed compliance and speaker attribution rather than typing. Your per-hour rate goes up, not the price you quote.
Transcribe your first file freeUpload an MP4 or paste a YouTube link. First 30 minutes free every day, no sign-up required. Export SRT or VTT, refine timing and reading speed in your caption editor, deliver to the client.
Transcribe your first file free →