I am hearing impaired. I overcome the impairment a large part of the time by the use of hearing aids. That does not work in a movie theater unless hearing assist device is provided. Recently I attended an advanced screening of a major film that had actually opened in New York 3 days before and would open in Chicago 4 days later. When I inquired at the theater customer service desk if hearing-assist headphones were available, I was told that the copy that the theater had received was not programmed for hearing or sight assist devices. Later that week I began my attendance at a 10 day film festival. Again, I was informed by the theater that 90+% of the English language films were not provided to the theater with closed captioning or audio description. This is the norm at most U.S. film festivals.
Under the Americans With Disabilities Act regulation CFR 36.303(g)(2) “A public accommodation shall ensure that its movie theater auditoriums provide closed movie captioning and audio description whenever they exhibit a digital movie that is distributed with such features.” The Department of Justice is charged under the ADA with formulating and publishing the regulations applying the ADA to movie theaters. The requirements of paragraph (g) unfortunately do not in any way prohibit a movie theater from displaying a movie that has not been made available with captioning and audio description features nor do the requirements require a movie theater to independently add such features to a movie that is not distributed with such features.
As a general rule, in the U.S., captions and descriptions are available in almost all first-run, wide-release English language films, and are provided to the theaters on the protected download to the theater’s DVR or storage drive. However, when providing films for use at movie festivals or screenings in advance of the general release, film studios generally do not provide the audio descriptions and captioning. It is these instances that necessitate a modification to the rule.
If the phrase “that is distributed with such features” was removed from the regulation then a movie theater would be unable to exhibit any movie that did not have closed captioning and/or audio description available. Since many hearing impaired moviegoers only want the dialogue where they can hear it, theaters are able to offer audio with or without descriptions. Some theaters offer selected showings with open captioning (the captioning is shown on the main screen rather than individual devices, just like your TV)
Filmmakers and film festivals are not covered under the ADA regulations, it is only the movie theater. So by making the suggested change in the regulation, theaters will be able to tell filmmakers, distributors and festivals that “It is against the law for us to show your film without the hearing and sight-assist features.” Festivals will likewise be able to tell those submitting films that the festival cannot accept them if they do not meet the legal requirements for the theater. Then ALL of us will be able to enjoy English speaking films at festivals and advanced screenings.
Filmmakers have various excuses for not providing the hearing assist material.
- It is being shown too soon after the film is finished and still put hearing and sight assist program on the theater download.
- Don’t know if it will be generally released to theaters yet, so do not want to spend money for hearing or sight assist.
- Some independent films are only made for festival distribution and cannot afford cost.
Weighing the alleged hardship for filmmakers against excluding and treating the thousands of hearing and sight impaired individuals differently than others because of the absence of auxiliary devices, the moviegoers should win.
If you are willing to add your signature to the DOJ petition and/or can assist in finding help from agencies, businesses and others please email me at bob.moss@vibesfromthescreen.com.
Bob
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