When Neil Armstrong took his first step onto the moon on July 20, 1969, Harry Lang had just graduated from college with a bachelor’s degree in physics. But as Americans across the country gathered around their television sets to witness this historic moment, Lang, who is deaf and thus could not hear the words that went with those famous images, was unable to follow along with what was happening. In the days before captions became available for television programs, there was little those who could not hear could do to participate in shared cultural experiences like that one.

Read the full news: