What is the point in movie theaters offering accommodations for people with disabilities if said accommodations cannot be trusted to function 100% of the time?Ĭontinuously giving away free movie tickets is not and never will be a proper solution. These free vouchers are about as useful as if McDonald’s apologized to vegetarians for not having meat-free options by offering them free burgers. Instead of working to ensure that all the assistive listening devices are fully functional for hard of hearing or deaf patrons, most theaters resort to apologizing by giving away free movie vouchers. It is common for CC equipment to be out of sync with the movie, missing lines of dialogue, or have the batteries die part-way through. Movie theaters are capable of providing closed captioning, albeit in less than ideal ways.Īs part of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Title III, it is required for all movie theaters to own and maintain equipment that provides closed captioning and audio description to its customers.ĭespite the legal requirement for such devices, they are plagued with functional and mechanical errors. Open captions are projected on the screen with the film and are unable to be turned off, and closed captions, often abbreviated CC on TV menus and remotes, are available at the viewer’s discretion. Captions, on the other hand, are designed for the hard of hearing and include dialogue as well as audio transcription of non-verbal sounds. Subtitles are only a transcription of dialogue, meant for language translation and designed for people without hearing disabilities. Subtitles and captions are very similar and often used synonymously, but there is a key difference between the two. It is necessary for American cinemas to undergo widespread adoption of open captions. In the transition away from silent films, the deaf and hard of hearing have been left in the dark, unable to enjoy the proper movie theater experience. However, since the first development of sound in moving pictures in 1927, the medium took off running and never looked back. In the times of silent cinema, the theater could entertain the hearing and deaf alike. The use of captioning for television and movies is readily available on streaming services in home entertainment devices, yet has failed to be properly implemented on the big screen.
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