Advocates for the deaf here in Upstate New York want to find out just how much of an inconvenience it might be to extend the hard-of-hearing a few more rights. The group “We the Deaf People” is trying to get movie houses to offer at least some showings with captions.
“All those major movies, they have more than one room for the movies. We figured it would be beneficial if they would show a couple showings a week with open captioning. I don’t think they would lose any money and it would be for deaf people. Hearing people wouldn’t be distracted by the open captions.”
Ryan Marie Richardson, a student at Keuka College, is helping out with a survey the group has out through Wednesday to see what people think about the idea. She says movie distributors can provide the film versions with captions…but the theaters have to agree to show them. Richardson compares the Deaf Community with Gay and Lesbian people in terms of discrimination they face.
“When it comes to jobs, they’re looked over because people feel they can’t communicate with them. They’re having issues with the police because police feel sometimes their gesturing is aggravated. For a long time deaf people couldn’t marry each other.”
The “Open Captions Now” movement in the movies is just a small example of the group trying to gain more equality. The survey can be found here.
