In 2019, Audible announced a feature called Audible Captions. It would have allowed listeners to see text on screen while listening to an audiobook. It was not a full ebook, just simple captions to follow along.

Major publishers, through the Association of American Publishers, sued to block it. They argued that captions created an unauthorized ebook. By the end of that year, Audible agreed in a settlement not to launch captions without publisher permission. The result was that captions were never released.

This was not about protecting books. It was about profit.

Publishers wanted people to pay twice, once for the audiobook and again for the ebook, instead of letting captions be included.

And who did this decision hurt?? The very people who need accessibility most.

Without captions, people with ADHD lose focus halfway through and forget what they just heard.

People with dyslexia miss the chance to connect sound and text, which helps strengthen their reading.

People with autism struggle to process and retain words without visual support.

Language learners are shut out from connecting sound to meaning.

Stroke survivors and people with brain injuries lose a vital tool to help them process and understand what they are hearing.

Captions are not a luxury. They are how many of us focus, how we learn and how we stay included. Without them, audiobooks are another locked door.

Every other platform understands this. Netflix has captions. YouTube has captions. TikTok has captions. Audiobooks are the only place where accessibility was created and then taken away, all because of greed.

I have the right to listen and read at the same time. I have the right to access the book in the way my brain can process it.

Reading should be for everyone. Stories should be for everyone. Learning should be for everyone.

Sign this petition to make sure audiobooks finally include captions, not as a bonus but as a right.