“I need to know what is happening in my state in order to be fully informed at the polls and to fulfill my civic responsibilities. When our state government refuses to caption their proceedings, they are choosing to exclude deaf people like me from civic life.”

-Johnny Reininger, Jr., a deaf Oklahoman who filed a lawsuit against the State of Oklahoma for failing to provide captions for legislative hearings (Source)

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Ryan Gentzler worked at OK Policy from January 2016 until November 2022. He last served as the organization's Reserach Director and oversaw Open Justice Oklahoma. He began at OK Policy as an analyst focusing on criminal justice issues, including sentencing, incarceration, court fines and fees, and pretrial detention. Open Justice Oklahoma grew out of Ryan’s groundbreaking analysis of court records, which was used to inform critical policy debates. A native Nebraskan, he holds a Master of Public Administration degree from the University of Oklahoma and a BA in Institutions and Policy from William Jewell College. He served as an OK Policy Research Fellow in 2014-2015.

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