Hearing Loss Law

Landmark, AMC commit to captioned movies

John Waldo — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 15:25:33 -0800

In a significant expansion of movie access, the Landmark and AMC theater chains have agreed to add closed-captioning capacity to most if not all of their theaters in conjunction with their conversion to digital projection.

Landmark's commitment came in a personal meeting last week with Ted Mundorff, the chain's Chief Executive Officer. Mundorff said that the cost-sharing formula that the movie studios have offered to the major theater chains like Regal and AMC does not work with Landmark's emphasis on independent and art films, which means that digital conversion may take longer and may not include all of Landmark's theaters. He said that Landmark anticipates having its digital conversion plans finalized by the middle of 2012, and that when conversions are undertaken, Landmark will add closed-captioning capabilities. Closed captioning displays the captions on individual viewing devices, thereby not altering the movie-going experience of other patrons.

Although Landmark operates far fewer theaters than Regal, AMC or Cinemark, its commitment to captioning may in some respects be more significant than the commitments of those larger chains. Landmark theaters focus on showing movies that appeal to an adult audience in the best sense of the word, and that audience includes the older population groups that have the greatest prevalence of hearing loss. Thankfully, Mundorff agreed that making films accessible to people with hearing loss may benefit Landmark significantly more than it would benefit the typical suburban multiplexes that cater more to younger movie-goers.

Landmark plans to use Sony projector/servers in those theaters that it converts to digital projection. It will experiment with caption-display devices. It has installed the CaptiView modules at its theaters in Los Angeles and Baltimore, but is having some difficulty working the bugs out of the equipment that supposedly makes CaptiView compatible with Sony servers. Mundorff said Landmark is very interested in obtaining and testing the Sony eyeware that Regal is using on a trial basis in Seattle.

As to those theaters that Landmark will not convert to digital projection, Mundorff said he would investigate the feasiblity of installing Rear Windows Captioning devices.

Mundorff also acknowledged that Landmark may be in a position to encourage more of the independent and art-house film-makers to include captioning as part of their package, and Mundorff committed to asking for captioning. Captions are done under contract with the studios by an operational arm of WGBH public television, and are furnished to the theaters without charge. According to WGBH, the one-time cost of captioning a typical movie is less than $2,000.

In Washington, Landmark owns the Egyptian, Harvard Exit, Guild 45th, Metro, Varsity and Crest theaters, all in Seattle. In California, Landmark owns the Landmar, NuArt and Regent in Los Angeles, the Hillcrest, Ken and La Jolla Village in San Diego, the Embarcadero, Bridge, Lumiere, Opera Plaza, Aquarius and Guild in San Francisco and the Peninsula, and the Albany Twin, California, Piedmont and Shattuck in the East Bay.

AMC's formal announcement of a nationwide commitment to captioning came in the form of a corporate press release dated Dec. 20. That press release was anticlimatic. AMC orally made that commitment in an Aug. 10 meeting involving representatives of the Association of Late Deafened Adults (ALDA), myself and attorneys from the public-interest firm of Disability Rights Advocates in Berkeley. The meeting with AMC was a follow-up to the resolution of a lawsuit ALDA filed against Cinemark in California. In an amicable resolution of that action, Cinemark, America's third-largest movie-theater owner, committed to closed-captioning of all its first-run theaters in California upon conversion to digital projection, then made that commitment national in scope. Regal, America's largest theater owner, made a similar commitment.

AMC initially resisted any commitment to full captioning. In July, though, the King County Superior Court ruled in a lawsuit brought by the Washington State Communication Access Project (Wash-CAP) that AMC can afford to provide the necessary equipment to show all caption-equipped movies in captioned form, and ordered AMC to do so within 90 days of conversion to digital projection. Although it is appealing that order, AMC made a verbal commitment to full captioning shortly after that decision.

Although it has been a long time coming, I believe we are now moving towards a time when those of us with significant hearing loss will be able to enjoy any movie, any time, with our friends and families.

Seattle live theatres offer accessible programming

John Waldo — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 12:34:35 -0800

Seattle's three largest live theatres continue to offer accessible performances during the 2011-12 season for people with hearing loss through both captioning and sign-interpreted performances.

Here is the lineup at the Paramount Theatre:

West Side Story, Sunday, Jan. 15, ASL performance 1:00 p.m., captioned performance 6:30 p.m.

Beauty and the Beast, Sunday, Feb. 26, ASL performance 1:00 p.m.; captioned performance 6:30 p.m.

Mamma Mia, Sunday, March 25, ASL performance 1:00 p.m.; captioned performance 6:30 p.m.

Cats, Sunday, April 22, ASL performance 1:00 p.m.; captioned performance 6:30 p.m.

Million Dollar Quartet, Sunday, May 20, ASL performance 1:00 p.m.; captioned performance 6:30 p.m.

American Idiot, Sunday, June 10, ASL performance 1:00 p.m.; captioned performance 6:30 p.m.

Captions are prepared in advance from the script, and displayed on a portable LED reader-board in synch with the pace of the actual performance. Paramount sets aside a block of seats from which both the caption-display board and the on-stage action are visible in the same line of sight. Tickets are offered at a discounted price, and can be purchased on line.

Here is the lineup for Seattle's Fifth Avenue Theatre:

Captioned performances:

Cinderella, Sunday, Dec. 18, 1:30 p.m.

Oklahoma, Saturday, March 3, 2:00 p.m.

First Date, Thursday, April 19, 8:00 p.m.

Damn Yankees, Thursday, May 17, 8:00 p.m.

Rent, Saturday, Aug. 18, 8:00 p.m.

ASL performances:

Cinderella, Thursday, Dec. 22, 7:30 p.m.

Oklahoma, Saturday, March 3, 8:00 p.m.

First Date, Friday, March 30, 8:00 p.m.

Damn Yankees, Saturday, May 19, 8:00 p.m.

Rent, Saturday, Aug. 18, 8:00 p.m.

Tickets are available at a discounted price by email, ticketing@5thavenue.org.

In addition to volume-enhancing Assistive Listening Devices, 5th Avenue also offers a copy of the script with a book light for all shows to enable patrons with hearing loss to follow the dialogue. The script and booklight may be reserved in advance by email, ticketing@5thavenue.org, and permits patrons with hearing loss to enjoy productions if they cannot attend on the dates set aside for captioned or ASL-interpreted performances.

Here is the schedule for Seattle Repertory Theatre's captioned performances:

How to Write a New Book for the Bible, Thursday, Jan. 19, 7:30 p.m.

Red, Thursday, March 1, 7:30 p.m.

Clybourne Park, Thursday, April 26, 7:30 p.m.

Tickets may be purchased online by clicking on the links above.

Seattle Rep also offers ASL-interpreted performances. That schedule is available at www.tadanw.org.

Oregon Shakespeare Festival Makes Upcoming Season Fully Accessible

John Waldo — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 16:55:33 -0800

The nationally renowned Oregon Shakespeare Festival is making its 2012 season fully accessible for people with hearing loss by scheduling 24 open-captioned performances and ten signed performances. Better yet, OSF will make unscheduled performances accessible upon request, provided that seats are still available in the captioned sections.

The captions are prepared in advance in-house, and are displayed in two or three line increments on a portable LED board. Seats are blocked out in areas from which the action on stage and the captions can be seen in the same line of sight. A live operatore advances the captions in synch with the pace of the performace, enabling us to read along and "hear" the dialogue with our eyes.

OSF is also clustering its captioned performances into five separate blocks. This was done in part at the request of the Oregon Communication Access Project (OR-CAP). We noted that because of OSF's remote location in the lovely town of Ashland, Oregon, patrons don't generally make multiple visits in a season. Rather, they go once or twice, stay for several days, and see a number of plays. The clustering arrangement makes it possible for those of us who need captioning to enjoy the festival in the same manner as our friends and families.

Tickets in the captioned section are available at a discount, but the patrons must specify that they want to have tickets in the captioned section. Otherwise, they might be given seats from which the captions are not readily visible. The tickets may be ordered over the telephone or online at boxoffice@osfashland.org.

As usual, OSF's 11-play schedule is a mix of Shakespeare, works by other well-known playwrights, and new works.

The cluster dates for captioned performances are:

March 29-31 for Romeo and Juliet, Animal Crackers, The White Snake and Seagull.

May 10-13 for Romeo and Juliet, Medea/Macbeth/Cinderella, Seagull, The White Snake and Troilus and Cressida.

July 26-29 for The Merry Wives of Windsor, Iowa, As You Like It, Party People, Henry V and Animal Crackers.

Sept. 7-9 for Medea/Macbeth/Cinderella, The Merry Wives of Windsor, Iowa, As You Like It, All the Way and Henry V.

Oct. 18-20 for Party People, Troilus and Cressida, All the Way, Romeo and Juliet and Animal Crackers.

The clusters for sign-interpreted performances are:

April 26-30 for Animal Crackers, The White Snake and Romeo and Juliet.

July 12-14 for Henry V, The Merry Wives of Windsor, Iowa, and As You Like It.

Sept. 21-23 for Medea/Macbeth/Cinderella, All the Way and Party People.

OSF regularly draws patrons from throughout the country, and particularly from Oregon, Washington and California. Despite the economic downturns, 2010 and 2011 were two of OSF's most successful seasons -- well over 90% of all available tickets were sold, and some plays were sold out for their entire runs. For that reason, it is never too early to order tickets.

OSF has been an absolute joy to work with on improving access for people with hearing loss. For those of us who have abandoned live theater, this is a great opportunity to participate once again.

National organization recognizes value of access work

John Waldo — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 13:21:13 -0800

At its national convention last week, the Association of Late Deafened Adults (ALDA) highlighted the importance of access to public facilities by honoring me with the I. King Jordan award. The award, named for the first deaf president of Gallaudet University, was given in recognition of the work done to increase the availability of captioned entertainment, particularly at movie theaters.

In a sense, ALDA was honoring itself, and rightly so. ALDA was the organizational plaintiff in a class-action lawsuit filed in California against Cinemark theaters, America's third-largest theater chain. Along with Disability Rights Advocates, a public-interest law firm based in Berkeley, I represented ALDA in that case. The case was amicably resolved when Cinemark agreed to install and use captioning equipment at all of its first-run theaters in California.

After resolving the California case, Cinemark extended its commitment to full captioning nationwide. It uses a personal viewing device called CaptiView that is attached to a flexible goose-neck that fits into the cup-holder on the theater seat. The captions are transmitted wirelessly to the device and shown in lighted type. The devices are shielded so as not to disturb other viewers. Unlike the more familiar Rear Windows Captioning system, the CaptiView devices can be used equally well from any seat, and the captions are not interrupted when someone behind the viewer stands up.

At the ALDA convention, I received very favorable feedback from a number of people throughout the country that have experienced captioned movies with the CaptiView devices. Many of them said they had not been able to enjoy movies for years, but are thrilled to be able to join friends and family members at the theater.

After the Cinemark case had concluded, ALDA, DRA and I initiated conversations with AMC theaters, America's second-largest theater chain. AMC also agreed to provide full captioning capability in its first-run California theaters. We were able to sign that agreement at the convention. We understand that AMC also plans now to make captions available everywhere once its theaters are converted to digital projection.

Regal Cinemas, America's largest chain, also has committed to full captioning after digital conversion. Regal showed an open-captioned movie for ALDA conference attendees on the evening prior to the convention opening, and received thanks and recognition at the conference.

Earlier this year, the Civil Rights Section of the Washington State Bar presented me with this year's Distinguished Service Award. That was a welcome recognition that securing the rights and opportunities that federal and state disability laws extend to people with hearing loss is very much a part of the same civil-rights movement that has opened doors that may have been barred because of race, religion, gender, sexual orientation or other characteristics that ought not be relevant.

None of those objectives could have been achieved without the support of organizations like ALDA, the Washington State Communication Access Project (Wash-CAP) and the Oregon Communication Access Project (OR-CAP). Their willingness to clearly and persistently articulate our needs has made it possible to enrich the lives of all of us that live with hearing loss.

U of Oregon moves the bar for athletic facility access

John Waldo — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 11:57:16 -0800

The University of Oregon announced this week that it is beginning to offer open captioning of the stadium announcements at its football stadium, and continues to investigate doing the same at its other athletic venues. When that program is fully implemented, the U of O will become the national pace-setter in making athletic facilities accessible to fans with hearing loss.

The captions will be displayed on the scoreboards, visible to all attendees from any seat. A remote captioner working through a telephone or internet connection will convert the public-address announcements, penalty calls and intermission information into text form, accessible to anyone unable to hear what is being said.

The announcement comes after almost two years of ongoing advocacy efforts by individuals in the Eugene, Oregon area, and after a series of meetings between the university athletic department and representatives from the Oregon Communication Access Project (OR-CAP). While other universities have The continuing cooperation between the university and the advocacy groups enabled us to reach this outcome without litigation or animosity.

The driving force behind the advocacy effort was the completion of the Matthew Knight Arena, the home of Oregon's basketball and volleyball teams. Several members of the Hearing Loss Association of Oregon contacted the athletic department, and became part of an ongoing effort to design disability-frlendly features for the new arena.

The university intially offered to provide captioning displayed on portable hand-held devices. After field-testing the devices, though, the advocates felt that they did not provide effective communication for a number of reasons that they enumerated in writing to the U of O. Chief among those reasons were the need to check the devices in and out, the frequent difficulties in establishing and maintaining connections, the difficulty of looking down to the device and back up at the field and court, and the inconvenience and "yuck" factor stemming from the need to tote the devices to the rest room.

In order to resolve the apparent impasse, U of O undertook a series of regular community meetings beginning in June of this year with an advocacy team from OR-CAP and some members of the Deaf community in Eugene. While U of O took our concerns about the shortcomings of hand-held devices seriously, university officials were initially uncertain about how scoreboard captioning could actually be undertaken at the Knight Arena.

Fortunately, our team included Carol Studenmund and Lisa Monfils from LNS Captioning in Portland. Carol, who is under contract with the National Basketball Association to provide captioning at the annual All Star Weekend. She demonstrated to U of O officials that the screens on the central Jumbotron scoreboards could be reconfigured to slightly reduce the vertical dimension of the replay screen, making room for two lines of captioned text below. U of O asked our group whether that was acceptable, and we were ecstatic.

After resolving the arena problem, the university turned its attention to its other athletic facilities. It was able to make scoreboard captioning a reality at its football facility in time for the home opener last week. It expects to provide captioning capability at the baseball park in time for the 2012 season, and at its track facility not only for the spring track season but for the Olympic Trials that will take place in Eugene next summer.

One legitimate question U of O officials raised is what events need to be captioned. They were particularly concerned about lightly attended events for which no admission may be charged. We agreed with them that it would be reasonable to establish an expected attendance threshhold at which the event will automatically be captioned, then to make captioning available upon request for events that would fall below that threshhold. That arrangement, we believe, will expose people who think their hearing is "normal" to the benefits of captioning without burdening the university with the expense of providing captions where there would be little or no audience or interest -- an arrangement we believe to be consistent with the "undue burden" defense of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Stadium captioning has been an ongoing legal challenge. The National Association of the Deaf has spearheaded successful legal actions against the Washington Redskins professional footbal team and the Ohio State University, and is currently involved in litigation against the University of Kentucky. Too often, facility managers have taken the position that one does not need to hear the public-address announcements to enjoy a sports event. But as the court said the in the Redskins case, the announcements, information, songs, etc., are all provided "for a reason," and therefore, if it's something that enhances the overall experience for the hearing fans, it's something that the deaf and hard of hearing fans are also entitled to enjoy.

The polite but persistent advocacy of the OR-CAP and HLA-OR members, the technical savvy from LNS and above all the good work and good will of Mike Duncan and the University of Oregon athletic and technical people have created a national model for accessible athletic venues, one that we hope other universities around the country will emulate.

The Oregon Communication Access Project (OR-CAP) is a non-profit membership corporation whose purpose is to enrich the lives of individuals with hearing loss by making public places accessible through means such as captioning. It is a sister organization of the Washington State Communication Access Project (Wash-CAP). John Waldo, an attorney with a significant hearing loss, is counsel to both groups.

Captioned theater comes to Portland

John Waldo — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 15:32:17 -0800

Captioned theater will make its first appearance in Portland in August, when Portland Center for Performing Arts begins offering one captioned showing of each of its seven Broadway musical presentations. The first captioned presentation will be Mamma Mia! Sunday evening, Aug. 28, at 6:30 p.m.

PCPA introduced live captioning to Portland in cooperation with the Oregon Communication Access Project (OR-CAP), a sister organization to Wash-CAP. Like the Washington organization, OR-CAP is a non-profit membership corporation comprised largely of people with significant hearing loss, which has as its purpose expanding access to public facilities for those of us whose hearing loss has made participation in those activities difficult.

PCPA is partnering with the Theatre Development Fund from New York City, which provides financial assistance for start-up captioning efforts. Such assistance is extended on the basis that the theater will continue captioning thereafter. The captioning is actually done by c2net, also from New York, which provides theater captioning at numerous venues around the country, including those Seattle theaters that now offer such performances.

The captions -- dialogue, song lyrics and other aural information -- are prepared in advance, then displayed by a live operator in synch with the pace of that evening's performance. The captions are displayed on a portable LED reader-board placed to one side of the stage. Seats are set aside in an area of the theater from which the caption board and the stage are in the same line of sight, minimizing the need to look back and forth as the patron reads along with the performance.

The captioned performances will all take place at 6:30 p.m. on the final Sunday of each production's run.

Tickets for the captioned performances may be ordered at the box office, 1111 SW Broadway, by calling 503-248-4335 or online at boxoffice@pcpa.com.

Here is the full season:

Mamma Mia! -- Sunday, Aug. 28

Shrek the Musical! -- Sunday, Sept. 18, 6:30 p.m.

West Side Story -- Sunday, Jan. 8, 6:30 p.m.

Beauty and the Beast -- Sunday, Feb. 19, 2012, 6:30 p.m.

Wicked -- Sunday, March 25, 2012, 6:30 p.m.

Million Dollar Quartet -- Sunday, May 27, 2012, 6:30 p.m.

Jersey Boys -- Sunday, Aug. 5, 2012, 6:30 p.m.

"OR-CAP is pleased PCPA is responding in such a positive way to our request for the captioning of live performances," said OR-CAP President David Viers. "This will greatly enhance the theater-going experience for the thousands of us with hearing loss in the Portland Metro area."

Washington theaters must show captioned movies, judge rules

John Waldo — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 10:31:22 -0800

Washington's Law against Discrimination requires movie theaters to install equipment to show closed captions, according to a ruling issued today by a King County Superior Court judge. AMC, America's second-largest theater chain, will therefore be required to install captioning equipment once it converts its theaters to digital projection.

The ruling by Judge Regina Cahan came in a lawsuit that the Washington State Communication Access Project (Wash-CAP) filed in 2009 against the corporate theater owners doing business in King County, which includes Seattle and the Bellevue area. I represented Wash-CAP in the case.

Our lawsuit was filed under Washington state law, not under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Our state law and regulations require businesses like movie theaters to undertake actions "reasonably possible in the circumstances" to make their goods and services "accessible," and further define "accessible" as "usable or understandable."

Despite that clear language, the theater defendants claimed that they had no legal obligation to provide captioning. Judge Cahan rejected that argument in 2010. She then scheduled a trial limited to the question of what each of the defendants could reasonably be expected to do. Prior to the scheduled May trial date, two of the major corporate defendants -- Regal and Cinemark -- essentially surrendered, and agreed to equip all of their King County theaters to show closed-captioned movies. Subsequently, they agreed to full captioning on a nationwide basis.

The May trial was submitted based on stipulated facts. AMC would not commit to any specific level of captioning, saying only that it would increase the amount of captioning offered at its Seattle-area theaters. Regal and Cinemark argued that because they had fully equipped all of their theaters, there was no remaining legal controversy, and the case against them should be dismissed. (We had dismissed the three smaller defendants for various reasons).

We argued that even though Regal and Cinemark had done what we asked, the court should still enter a ruling to the effect that all theaters have legal obligations to be accessible to people with hearing loss. That was important to us because that ruling becomes a precedent that may be useful in other parts of the state, and because it would give us the ability to ensure that those theaters both live up to their commitments and perhaps incorporate future improvements in captioning technology.

With respect to AMC, we presented financial information showing that AMC can readily afford the cost of equipping all of its theaters to show captions once they convert their theaters to digital projection. Moreover, she noted that because Regal and Cinemark are providing full captioning, AMC had to demonstrate why it couldn't do the same, but that AMC had not provided any evidence suggesting that it was not financially able to do so. Therefore, the judge ruled that within 90 days of converting to digital projection, AMC must equip enough theater auditoriums with captioning equipment to enable it so show in captioned form all movies that come with captions.

The judge made one other very important and welcome observation. Defendants had submitted evidence to the effect that very few people were using the captioning equipment that Cinemark has installed at its theater complex in Federal Way. That does not matter, the judge said. "The issue is not how many patrons have used the technology provided, but rather, whether an individual with a sensory disability has the legal right to have access to the movies when technology is now present to allow that access without impeding on other patron's experience and it is feasible for the defendant to provide it."

We hope that in light of this ruling, AMC will join Regal and Cinemark in making movies fully accessible to individuals with hearing loss throughout the country.

Regal, Cinemark commit to full captioning

John Waldo — Thu, 05 May 2011 11:40:06 -0800

Regal and CInemark, the nation's first and third largest theater chains respectively, have reaffirmed their commitment to full movie captioning, and have stated that the capability will be in place by the end of 2012.

Regal's announcement came in the form of a corporate press release dated May 4. That release appears to clarify what had previously been mixed signals. While Regal officials filed a declaration in our Washington lawsuit saying that Regal planned full captioning, the official corporate position articulated in official filings with the federal Securities and Exchange Commission had been that Regal was "considering its options." Evidently, that consideration led to a formal decision to provide full accessibility for patrons with hearing loss.

The announcement appears to apply to all Regal theaters, including those that Regal operates under the Edwards or United Artist nameplates.

The press release also noted that Regal will partner with Captionfish, the website that lists captioned and subtitled movies around the country, and which is becoming the go-to site for captioning information.

Regal is going to employ closed captioning, in which the captions are visible only to individuals that obtain and use a personal viewing device. In Seattle, the first market where Regal has completed installation of captioning equipment, Regal is testing special eyewear -- glasses that project the captions on the lens itself. Although somewhat ungainly lookling, the glasses have received very positive reviews from Wash-CAP members who have used them.

The closed captioning will substitute for the open-caption showings that Regal has offered at a few locations, and which some users prefer. The trade-off, though, is that instead of only a few locations and a few often-inconvenient show-times, the closed captioning will be available every day for all showings of all movies for which captions have been prepared by the studios.

Cinemark has also committed to full closed captioning. While Cinemark had already equipped all of the auditoriums at its Federal Way and Olympia multiplexes in Washington to show closed-captioned movies, the nationwide commitment came in the form of a press release issued last week. The press release announced the amicable resolution of a lawsuit filed in California by the Association of Late Deafened Adults and two individuals. I represented the plaintiffs in that action, in partnership with Disability Rights Advocates, a public-interest law firm in Berekely, California.

The captioning capability will be introduced as part of Regal and Cinemark's conversion to digital projection, in which traditional film ceases to exist, and the movies are reduced to digital data, transmitted either over the internet or on computer discs to the individual theaters. Captions can be included in that digital package. The captions are transmitted wirelessly from the projector/servers in each auditorium to the viewing devices.

Among the major theater chains, the holdout now is AMC, which has not yet committed to any particular amount of captioning. We think that will be a difficult position to maintain, especially in light of the commitments made by Regal and Cinemark. The first test of the legal soundness of AMC's position will come later this month, when we have final arguments in the lawsuit Wash-CAP filed against the major corporate theater chains in Seattle.

Regal Makes Seattle America's Most Accessible Movie City

John Waldo — Fri, 22 Apr 2011 11:51:30 -0800

Regal Cinemas, America's largest movie-theater chain, has made its first-run movie theaters fully accessible to people with hearing loss. Regal has equipped all auditoriums at its eight first-run King County multiplexes with the equipment necessary to show closed-captioned movies, and is now showing every movie for which captions have been prepared in captioned form.

By doing so, Regal has made Seattle America's most accessible city for movie-goers with a hearing loss such that they cannot understand the movie soundtracks even with the volume-enhancing assistive-listening devices that the theaters provide.

Unlike open captions, where the captions are superimposed on the movie print and visible to the entire audience, closed captions require patrons wanting the captions to pick up and use an individual viewing device provided by the theater.

Regal is experimenting with eyewear, special glasses that display the captions, which are sent to the glasses wirelessly. Wash-CAP members who have used the glasses have been very favorably impressed. They report that the viewer can match the depth of the captions to the viewer's place in the auditorium -- close, far or medium -- and at least for some movies can select a language other than English.

The glasses would seem to provide most of the advantages of open captioning, but because the captions do not alter the movie-going experience of other patrons, the captions are available for all showings. Regal had offered open-captioned movies in one auditorium at four of its King County multiplexes, but would only activate the captions for certain showings, which were generally at off-peak times. True, it's a minor hassle to pick up and return the glasses, and they are not fashion statements, but it's no bigger hassle than our hearing aids and CIs, which also open the world of sound to us.

Regal is taking the same approach to movie accessibility as Cinemark, the nation's third largest chain. Both have completed converting their King County theaters to digital projection, and after so doing, have provided full captioning capability. In so doing, those theaters have done everything Wash-CAP asked in a suit we filed in 2009 in King County Superior Court.

Regal and Cinemark have both stated publicly that they intend to make all of their first-run theaters across the country capable of showing captioned films. Cinemark has so equipped its only other Washington multiplex. Regal has not fully equipped its Washington theaters outside of King County, nor, to our knowledge, has it fully equipped many (if any) of its theaters outside of Washington, but we expect those companies will do so in the relatively near future.

While Regal and Cinemark have done what they can, that does not mean, unfortunately, that we can see every movie being shown at their theaters. For reasons we cannot understand, some studios still are not captioning all of their movies, even though the cost to do so runs as little as $2,000. Nor are 3-D movies captioned, even though the 2-D versions of the same movie may be. So the challenge now will be to persuade those reluctant studios to provide captions, especially with the likely proliferation of theaters equipped to use them.

Unfortunately, not every theater chain is following the lead of Regal and Cinemark. AMC theaters, America's second-largest chain, continues to take the position that it will equip some but not all of its theaters to show captions. We are currently in the process of addressing that question in our Seattle lawsuit, and would hope for a favorable ruling, a change in AMC's corporate position, or perhaps both.

We've waited a long time for our dream of meaningful access to movies to become a reality, but at least for Seattle audiences, it appears that the dream has come true.

Regal pledges full nationwide movie captioning

John Waldo — Sun, 20 Feb 2011 10:35:41 -0800

Regal Cinemas, the nation's largest movie-theater chain, has committed that as it converts its first-run movie theaters to digital projection, it will provide the necessary equipment to display closed captions for all showings of all movies for which the studios have provided captions. Regal began that process in the greater Seattle area, where it has made all the auditoriums at its Auburn, Thornton Place, Landing and Bella Bottega complexes caption-capable.

As of today (Feb. 20), Regal is showing seven captioned movies at the Bella Bottega complex in Redmond, seven captioned movies at the Landing complex in Renton, eight at its complex in Auburn and ten at its Thornton Place complex in north Seattle.

The captioning pledge came in the form of a declaration from Regal chief operating officer Randy Smith submitted as part of Wash-CAP's ongoing litigation in King County, Washington, against the corporate theater owners that operate in the Seattle area. The case had been scheduled to go to trial in March of this year. Regal sought to avoid the trial by making a commitment to provide captioning.

Notably, Smith's statement did not just apply to the Regal theaters that are involved in the Seattle lawsuit. What he said was that as Regal converts theaters to digital projection, it will provide captioning capabilities, including at its Seattle theaters. The Seattle area appears to be the first location where this commitment has been implemented, at least in part.

Regal has in the past shown open captioned movies at a small number of its theaters. Regal believes that open captions, visible to the entire audience, are distracting and undesirable to hearing patrons. Therefore, it activates the open captioning only for a very few showings, generally at less-than-ideal times.

Closed captions are visible only to patrons who request and use a viewing device. Because closed captioning does not interfere with the movie-going experience of others, the theaters are willing to engage the captions for all showings.

Regal is apparently using a new device to show closed-captioned movies. The viewing device is attached to a gooseneck that fits into the seat cupholder. Unlike the more familiar Rear Windows system where captions are displayed in mirror image on an LED reader-board fixed to the rear wall of the theater and viewed on a reflector, the captions are transmitted wirelessly. This has the advantage of making the system equally usable from every seat in the theater, and it is also not subject to interruption if somebody stands up behind the viewer. The disadvantage,though, is that unlike the transparent Rear Window reflector that can be superimposed on the movie screen, the viewing device is solid. That means it has to be placed below or to the side of the screen, which means the captions and the movie are in different lines of sight, or the viewing device blocks some of the picture, not unlike the captions we seen on television.

Eyewear that displays captions is in the development stage. It is currently not available commercially, but may be developed and marketed in the future, and that may provide a better viewing experience than the devices that are now available.

At present, there is no well-developed technology for showing captions with 3-D movies, so most of the movies without captions at the Regal complexes are 3-D. Captions are provided by the studios, not by the theaters, and while most of the major-studio first-run releases are captioned, some are not, most notably (and ironically), "The King's Speech." So it appears to me that the Regal theaters that have provided full captioning capability are showing closed captions for all the movies that have captions available.

Regal is tying the provision of closed captioning to its program to convert its first-run theaters to digital projection, where film is replaced by digital data packages. Regal has converted all of its first-run theater complexes in King County to digital projection, and evidently plans to add captioning capability to the complexes in Issaquah, Bellevue, Tukwila and downtown Seattle that presently lack it.

Regal is following the same path as Cinemark/Century, the nation's third-largest theater owner, which has equipped all of the auditoriums at its two Washington complexes -- one in Federal Way and one in Olympia -- to show closed-captioned movies. Cinemark has essentially done everything we asked for in the lawsuit, and it appears the Regal will do so as well. We haven't received any specific information that Cinemark plans to equip its theaters in other parts of the country to show captions, but we would be surprised if they don't do that, because it would be difficult to explain how it was economically possible to offer full access in Washington but not possible to do so in other areas.

Lincoln Square in Bellevue has also committed to provide closed captioning in all of its theaters. In the interim, it is showing many of its movies with open captions at selected times.

The holdout new in our Seattle case is AMC, the nation's second-largest theater chain. It is taking the position that it should only be required to do what the federal Department of Justice may direct as part of the ongoing rule-making process. We don't think that is a viable argument. DOJ's proposal to require captioning for only 50% of the movies being shown at a given location has come under withering fire, and DOJ has provided at least some circumstantial indication that it will either jettison that proposal altogether or, at the very least, defer to court interpretations of what it is reasonable to expect each theater chain to do.

I'm aware that many of us with hearing loss would prefer open captioning. Unfortunately, the federal Americans with Disabilities Act and the implementing regulations make it quite clear that private businesses like theaters can choose the kind of accommodation they wish to provide, and the theaters have not been willing to provide open captioning, at least not for every showing. But there does not appear to be any legally viable way to require open captions.

I don't give up hope completely -- we may be able to persuade at least some theaters to voluntarily offer occasional open-captioned showings, perhaps upon request from some number of patrons. But rather than lament the absence of open captioning, I think we should direct our energies to working cooperatively with the theaters on finding the most effective means of showing closed-captioned movies.

The dominoes appear to be falling, and universal access to the movies may be a reality in very short order.

Feds consider movie-captioning rule

John Waldo — Sat, 22 Jan 2011 15:37:40 -0800

As previously reported, the federal Department of Justice is considering adopting a regulation that would require movie theaters to show half of their movies with closed captions. Because Congress gave the DOJ the authority to adopt regulations interpreting the portion of the Americans with Disabilities Act that applies to movie theaters, a DOJ regulation would become the law of the land, and for that reason, getting it right is really important.

We were pleased to see DOJ finally getting involved with the critical issue of movie captioning. That said, though, we don't think the proposal for 50% access phased in over five years got it even close to right. In our opinion, there is simply no reason why the major corporate theater owners cannot equip every one of their theaters to show captions for all movies that have had captions prepared. We also think the five-year phase-in is unnecessary, since the major theater chains intend to fully convert to digital projection in far less time, and can easily equip their theaters to show captioned movies at the time they convert to digital.

DOJ held three public hearings on the movie-captioning proposal and three other proposals dealing with website access, access to 911 emergency services, and accessible furniture. The third and last hearing took place in San Francisco on January 10, and a number of us testified about movie captioning.

The hearing itself was a model of accessibility. All of the testimony was real-time captioned and ASL-interpreted. It was also streamed live over the internet.

I testified on behalf of a number of organizations to the effect that captioning should be required, but that rather than impose any sort of performance standard like 50%, theaters should be required to provide full accessibility unless doing so would constitute an "undue burden," which would need to be determined on a case-by-case, business-by-business basis. Other very good testimony came from the attorneys directly involved in the Harkins movie-captioning case, Rose Daly-Rooney of the Arizona Attorney General's Office and from J.J. Rico of the Arizona Disability Law Center.

(Both thevideo and a written transcript are now available on line. My testimony is at 271:02 of the video).

I spoke afterwards to John Wodatch, who presided at the hearing. What I found curious was that even though DOJ was proposing a rule to require only 50% captioning, it filed a brief in Arizona saying that the proper standard was "undue burden," and that determining what constituted an "undue burden" was a matter for courts rather than for the DOJ. He indicated to me that the 50% requirement was really nothing more than a starting point, but that DOJ was very seriously considering the arguments that "undue burden" must be determined on an entity-by-entity basis rather than being suitable for an industry-wide rule. He also said he was impressed by the testimony from witnesses like J.J. Rico and me concerning the financial ability of the major movie theaters.

Comments on the proposed rule are being accepted through Monday, Jan. 26. Here are the comments I filed on behalf of several organizations. Individuals wishing to comment can go online to , www.regulations.gov/#!documentDetail;D=DOJ-CRT-2010-0007-0001, hit the "submit comment" button and file their personal comments that way.

Cinemark creates nation's first fully accessible theater complexes

John Waldo — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 14:38:20 -0800

Without fanfare -- in fact, with almost no notice -- Cinemark/Century theaters have made that company's two Washington movie multiplexes completely accessible to people with hearing loss. Patrons with hearing loss such that they need captions to understand the dialog have eight different captioned movies to choose from at the Century Federal Way complex in Federal Way, and ten different captioned movies at the Century Olympia complex in that city's Capital Mall.

Cinemark, which operates under the Century brand name in Washington, is using relatively new closed-captioning display devices known as CaptiView. Viewers pick up a portable display unit mounted on a flexible gooseneck that sits in the theater-seat cup-holder. The dialogue and some additional aural information like "door slamming" is transmitted wirelessly, and displayed three lines at a time. A privacy screen minimizes the distraction to other viewers.

The captioning is available for every showing of every movie for which captions have been prepared. At the Federal Way complex, those movies include two brand-new releases, "Green Hornet" and "The Dilemma," and one 3-D movie, "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader." Additional captioned movies at the Federal Way comples are "Little Fockers," "The Fighter," "Black Swan," "Tangled" and "Country Strong." All of those movies are also available with captions at the Olympia complex, which is also showing "True Grit" and "Tron:Legacy" (2-D version) with captions.

Century has converted all of the theaters at both of those complexes to show movies using digital projection, in which film is replaced by digital information. The theaters do not caption the movies -- that is done under contract with the movie studios by a company affiliated with WGBH public television in Boston. The vast majority of major-studio movies are equipped with captions, but prior to digital conversion, very few theaters were equipped to display the captions

CaptiView has some advantages over both open captioning, in which the captions are visible to everyone in the audience and which hearing patrons sometimes claim is distracting, and over Rear Window Captioning, where captions are displayed in mirror image on a reader-board at the back of the theater and viewed to a reflector. Other patrons can't block the captions by standing up at the wrong time. Moreover, a central server can make all of the movies in a multi-screen theater accessible without the need for separate equipment in each individual auditorium.

CaptiView has raised some concerns, though, because using it does require patrons to glance away from the screen while reading the captions. Would that cause eyestrain and discomfort over the course of a full-length movie? No one really knows for certain, because the equipment has not been in wide use -- in fact, it appears that the Washington complexes may be the first in the nation to be equipped to show in captioned form all movies for which captions have been prepared.

Cinemark has been oddly quiet about this accomplishment. It has not advertised the availabilty of captions in its print advertising. Nor is the information readily available on line. If one goes to the general "Fandango" movie-time site, no captioning information is shown. One must either begin at the proprietary Cinemark website, or click on the theater name on the Fandango site to get to the page that mentions the captions. Unfortunately, that arrangement appears to prevent the Captionfish website, which tries to provide a full directory of captioned movies, from getting the information.

By making all captioned movies accessible in captioned form, Cinemark has provided exactly what Wash-CAP asked for in the lawsuit filed in early 2009 against Cinemark and five other defendants. While the case continues against the others, we are hopeful that some or all of those theaters will follow Cinemark's lead, and make their movies accessible to people with hearing loss.

More great coverage of the California captioning case

John Waldo — Mon, 06 Dec 2010 16:47:28 -0800

A column in this morning's San Jose (Cal.) Mercury News takes another sympathetic look at the lawsuit filed last week in Oakland by the Association of Late Deafened Adults (ALDA) and two individuals against Cinermark theaters.

Author Patty Fisher recounts the frustration people with hearing loss face when trying to go to the movies. Her conclusion: with 36 million Americans having some degree of hearing loss, and that number climbing rapidly, the theaters ought to be doing whatever is required to get people away from their DVD viewers and into the theaters.

Her conclusion mirrors mine. The movie theaters are doing everything possible to create an experience that can't be duplicated at home -- witness the push for 3D movies. Yet they ignore the needs of those of us who are at home with our captioned DVDs by necessity rather than by choice.

My office is representing the California plaintiffs in tandem with Disability Rights Advocates of Berkeley, a public-interest law firm that specializes in precedent-setting litigation to benefit people with disabilities. We are asking the California court to certify the case as a class action.

While America's two largest theater chains, Regal and AMC, show some captioned films, although often at odd hours, Cinemark, the third largest chain, has done little or nothing to make its theaters accessible to people with hearing loss. Cinemark failed to respond to DRA's letter asking for a commitment to provide captioning, and has so far evidently failed to respond to any of the reporters covering the story who have asked for comment.

While the complaint and the stories reference Rear Windows Captioning (RWC), what we are actually seeking is effective means of making aurally delivered information available to those of us with hearing losses -- the definition of "auxiliary aids and services" in the Americans with Disabilities Act. The ADA requires so-called "public accommodations" -- privately owned open to the public -- to furnish auxiliary aids and services where necessary to provide patrons with full and equal enjoyment of their goods and services unless the business can demonstrate the providing such aids and services would fundamentally alter the nature of the business or impose an "undue burden."

The ADA gives public accommodations the right to select from among any effective means of communication, and the theaters are looking at a variety of display devices. The captions are prepared by the Media Access Group at WGBH public television, and distributed free of charge to the theaters. The theaters must only purchase and install the equipment necessary to display the captions. RWC is an existing and viable means of displaying captions, but the theaters may be able to find and install other equipment.

Because closed captioning, where captions are visible only to patrons who request viewing devices, does not significantly interfere with the movie-going experience for others, we do not believe closed captioning can constitute a fundamental alteration. Nor do we think the cost imposes an undue burden. The quoted cost of $10,000 per theater represents a "worst-case scenario" cost of equipping an individuals theater -- volume discounts on equipment can cut that cost in half. Moreover, the theaters are spending well over ten times that amount to convert to digital display, where computerized data replaces celluloid film. And when those conversions are completed, the cost to provide captioning drops every considerably.

We continue to ask the question Judge Alex Kozinski of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals asked of counsel for the Harkins theater chain in a movie-captioning case out of Arizona -- why are the theaters fighting about this? In that case, the Ninth Circuit ruled in April in that case that ADA does indeed require theaters to offer auxiliary aids and services like closed captioning, yet Cinemark has so far done nothing in the way of either providing those services or even making a commitment to do so. We would hope that rather than continue to fight the captioning battle in many different areas of the country, the theaters would just do the right thing.

California movie-captioning lawsuit creates media buzz

John Waldo — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 14:25:29 -0800

A lawsuit to require movie captioning filed Nov. 30 by our office and a well-known disability-rights law firm in California has generated a welcome blitz of very sympathetic media coverage.

The case was filed in Oakland, California, on behalf of the Association of Late Deafened Adults (ALDA) and two individual plaintiffs against Cinemark Holdings, America's third-largest movie-theater chain that operates both the Cinemark and Century theaters. The class-action complaint asks that Cinemark equip its theaters in Alameda County, California, to show captioned movies.

My office is working in conjunction with Disability Rights Advocates of Berkeley, a prominent and experienced public-interest firm that specializes in precedent-setting litigation to advance the interests of people with disabilities. DRA litigation director Sid Wolinsky and senior attorney Kevin Knestrick are leading DRA's efforts.

The case comes in the aftermath of a decision in April by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals declaring that the Americans with Disabilities Act requires movie theaters to offer closed-captioned movies unless the theaters can demonstrate that doing so would constitute an "undue burden." Despite that holding, Cinemark, which has a very substantial presence in the Oakland-Berkeley area of California, continues to be the only major theater chain that does nothing to make first-run movies available to individuals with hearing loss. After Cinemark ignored a letter from DRA asking for a commitment to provide captioning, the suit was filed.

The San Francisco CBS-TV affiliate made the lawsuit the lead story on its local newscast that evening, and the ABC-TV station also provided substantial coverage. In both cases, the reporters interviewed one of the individual plaintiffs, who explained that they simply want to join the millions of Americans who enjoy movies every week, and one of the DRA lawyers. The lawyers explained that technology such as Rear Windows Captioning enables movie-goers who need captions to see them without interfering with the movie-going experience of the remaining audience. (Unfortunately, the television captions were lost when the story was put on the internet -- another story for another time -- although the ABC station posts a copy of the narrative).

The story also received print coverage in the San Francisco Chronicle, and the Associated Press wrote a short story, which has been reprinted in a number of outlets.

While we were pleased the the United States Department of Justice has announced plans to possibly require that at least some theaters be required to show captioned movies, implementing a requirement through regulations is time-consuming and uncertain -- a new federal administration could abandon the plan altogether. So we think it is important to continue involving the courts, particularly in states like California and Washington where state law is at least as powerful as federal law.

The California case is conceptually similar to the case Wash-CAP filed in 2009 in Seattle against all three major corporate theater owners and three smaller operations. While our case in Washington is based exclusively on our Washington state law, the California case claims violations of both California state law and the ADA.

Ferry System to Install Message-Display System

John Waldo — Thu, 11 Nov 2010 13:04:37 -0800

Washington State Ferries, the nation's largest ferry system, will shortly install a system to display visually the content of announcements made at its terminals and onboard its vessels. The system will be tested on board the two large boats serving the Seattle-Bainbridge Island crossing, and at the Bainbridge and Seattle terminals, for a six-month test, and if successful, will then be installed system-wide.

The ferry system makes a considerable number of announcements over public-address systems on its boats and at its terminals. While some are routine and relatively unimportant, others can be quite specific and very important, dealing with matters like lost objects, cars with lights or alarms on, vessel delays, or changes in loading or unloading procedures. Those announcements have often been inaccessible to riders with hearing loss.

Aurally delivered information can be made available to individuals with hearing loss by converting that information to written form and displaying it visually. That involves a two-step process, either of which can be problematic. First, the information has to be "captured" and put into written form. Second, the information has to be displayed in a manner visible to people who need to know what is being said.

For the ferry system, the display part was easy -- there are ample places to put television monitors or other devices to show announcements. The difficult issue was the "capture" -- discovering how best to put the messages in written form.

The firm with which WSF is contracting, Four WInds Interactive from Denver, is going to address that problem with a drop-down menu that will allow the crew to make the message specific without needing to do much, if any, keyboard entry. The standard boarding, welcome and safety messages will all be prepared in advance in written form. For variable messages like "car alarm," the program will display a menu of auto makes and colors, and can indicate the deck of the ferry on which the car is located. Similarly, the "lost object" menu can specify whether the item is a wallet, cell phone, keys, or other object.

The test system should be installed on the Bainbridge boats and the Bainbridge and Seattle terminals by mid-December, according to WSF officials. The timing is particularly appropriate, because those boats are often crowded with holiday shoppers even at mid-day, and the more crowded and noisy the boats, the greater the need for the information broadcast over the public-address system to be made visually accessible to people with less than perfect hearing.

Installation of the visual paging system is being done to resolve a lawsuit that the Washington State Communication Access Project (Wash-CAP) brought against WSF in 2008. The suit was quickly resolved in the form of an agreed order signed by the court. WSF has been working promptly and diligently to implement the terms of that order, and deserves our commendation and thanks.

Oregon Shakespeare Festival to Become Totally Accessible

John Waldo — Tue, 02 Nov 2010 13:24:26 -0800

The renowned Oregon Shakespeare Festival has developed plans that, when fully implemented, will make it the nation’s most accessible live theater for people with hearing loss. OSF will schedule 20 captioned drama presentations in the 2011 season, almost doubling its scheduled captioned offerings in 2010. But even better, OSF hopes to be able to offer open captioning on request (once the captions are completed) for any of its plays, given adequate notice.

Those plans were unveiled at a mid-October meeting involving OSF’s Executive Director Paul Nicholson, Access Coordinator Jim Amberg and Audience Service Manager Radawna Wallace, Oregon Communication Access Project (OR-CAP) Vice President Clark Anderson and me, representing both OR-CAP and the Washington State Communication Access Project (Wash-CAP).

OSF is located in Ashland, Oregon, a lovely but remote small town located almost equidistant between Sacramento, California and Portland, Oregon. It draws patrons from throughout the nation, but most come from California, Oregon and Washington. Unlike patrons at a typical live theater in a major city like Seattle, patrons don’t tend to go to Ashland multiple times during a season. Rather, they go for a long weekend or a full week, and see a number of plays, often two per day.

For the 2010 season, OSF prepared captions for nine of its 11 different plays, but only offered 11 total captioned showings sprinkled throughout the season. On behalf of OR-CAP and Wash-CAP members who wished to enjoy a “full-immersion” Ashland experience, we began communicating with OSF officials early in 2010, asking for an arrangement that would better suit Ashland’s unusual situation.

On our visit in October, we learned that OSF has brought the captioning function in house. All its scripts are available electronically. Once the director has put the play into final form, Amberg and Wallace get busy converting the production script into bite-sized captions, an exacting and labor-intensive process. When that is done, the captions are loaded into a computer, and an on-site operator “performs” the captions in synch with the pace of that particular performance.

As is the case with the captioned theater presentations in Seattle, the captions are displayed on an LED reader-board placed in front of the stage at one side. Patrons requesting captions are seated in areas from where both the captions and the stage are visible in the same line of sight. The seats are offered at the price of OFS’s least-expensive tickets.

The thrust of our discussions with OSF was about the obstacles, if any, to re-using the prepared captions for multiple performances. Our visit disclosed that OSF is thinking along the same lines, and is looking to hire additional technicians familiar enough with both the play itself and the captioning equipment to handle performance captioning. Once that is done, OSF’s plan is to offer captioning upon request any time after the captions are ready.

As usual, OSF’s 2011 season includes a number of Shakespearean plays, together with more modern dramas. An unusual feature for 2011 is the inclusion of a Gilbert & Sullivan operetta, the first time OSF has undertaken a musical presentation.

The scheduled captioned performances will be clustered in 2011 to provide patrons needing captions with the opportunity to enjoy multiple productions during their visit. More information about each play will be available when OSF formally announces its schedule and begins ticket sales.

Here is OSF’s announced schedule of captioned performances for the 2011 season:

March 31, 1:30 – Measure for Measure

April 1, 8:00 – The Language Archive

April 2, 1:30 – The Imaginary Invalid

May 18, 8:00 – Julius Caesar

May 19, 1:30 – To Kill a Mockingbird

May 20, 8:00 – The Imaginary Invalid

May 31, 1:30 – August: Osage County

July 21, 8:30 – The Pirates of Penzance

July 22, 1:30 – Ghost Light

July 22, 8:30 – Love’s Labor Lost

July 23, 8:30 – Henry IV, Part II

Sept 1, 8:00 – Henry IV, Part II

Sept. 2, 8:00 – The Pirates of Penzance

Sept. 3, 8:00 – Love’s Labor Lost

Sept. 4, 1:30 – The African Company Presents Richard III

Oct. 18, 1:30 – The African Company Presents Richard III

Oct. 19, 1:30 – Measure for Measure

Oct 20, 8:00 – Ghost Light

Oct. 21, 1:30 – Julius Caesar

Oct. 22, 8:00 – August, Osage County

Tickets are available by email, boxoffice@osfashland.org. Patrons purchasing tickets in the captioned section should state that they do need captioned seating. More information is available online at http://www.osfashland.org/plays/access.aspx.

OSF’s hope is that once one captioned performance of each play has been presented, subsequent performances may be available with captions upon request. Some advance notice will be required, because many of OSF’s performances sell out, and the seats set aside for those requesting captions will need to be released for purchase by others.

Because the additional display technicians are not yet selected and trained, OSF cannot formally commit to on-request captioning of unscheduled performances for 2011, but will attempt to make such performances available on a test basis in 2011. If that proves feasible, it would then formally offer on-request captioning in 2012, becoming perhaps the most accessible venue in America for people with hearing loss.

OSF will also present nine ASL-interpreted performances in 2011, on the following schedule:

May 27, 8:00 – Measure for Measure

May 28, 8:00 – August: Osage County

May 29, 1:30 – To Kill a Mockingbird

July 14, 8:30 – The Pirates of Penzance

July 15, 8:30 – Love’s Labor Lost

July 16, 8:30 – Henry IV, Part II

Oct. 14, 8:00 – The African Company Presents Richard III

Oct. 15, 8:00 – The Imaginary Invalid

Oct. 16, 1:30 – Julius Caesar

We are excited about OSF’s commitment to access, and look forward to joining audiences from throughout the West and across the nation in enjoying OSF’s outstanding offerings.

SAL will caption seven author talks

John Waldo — Fri, 24 Sep 2010 11:12:24 -0800

Seattle Arts and Lectures has announced that it will caption the presentations of seven authors this year, including an expert on affordable health care, two Pulitzer-Prize winning literary authors and a well-known children's author who will appear in his adult incarnation.

The captioned offerings begin Tuesday, Oct. 5, at 7:30 p.m. in Seattle's Benaroya Hall with T.R. Reid, a former journalist and radio commentator who will talk about the dysfunctional health care system in the United States, where we spend far more money on health care than any other nation but rank a dismal 37th in effectiveness. Reid has spent years examining the health-care systems of other nations that produce better results for far less money, and will share his insights into what those countries can teach us.

On Tuesday, Oct. 19, the speaker will be Sarah Paretsky, author of the best-selling detective works featuring female protagonist V.I. Warshawsky. A one-time community organizer in Chicago, Paretsky has written extensively about women's rights and social-justice issues.

On Tuesday, Nov. 9, Daniel Handler will appear. While Handler has written a number of literary books and short stories for adults, his best-known writing has been as children's author Lemony Snicket, whose 13-book "Series of Unfortunate Events" has sold more than 50 million copies.

On Wednesday, Dec. 8, Picasso biographer John Richardson will speak. His appearance coincides with an exhibition of Picasso masterpieces at the Seattle Art Museum.

On Monday, Jan. 4 (of 2011), Pulitzer-Prize winner Elizabeth Strout will appear. She was awarded the Pulitzer in 2008 for Olive Kitteridge, a series of interconnected stories set in small-town New England.

Prolific author Joyce Carol Oates will appear Monday, April 18. Oates has published over 50 critically acclaimed novels and dozens of short stories.

The captioned season concludes Tuesday, May 10, with an appearance by Richard Ford, who won a Pulitzer Prize for Independence Day, the middle volume of a trilogy chronicling the fictional life of Frank Bascombe.

The captioned presentations are all in the Mark Taper Auditorium at Benaroya Hall. Because the author discussions and question-and-answer sessions are unscripted, the captioning is done in real time by a highly skilled captioner. The captions are displayed on an LED board visible from throughout the auditorium.

Because the captions are available from all seats, no special area is set aside for patrons who need to see the captions. Tickets are available at their regular price, and may be ordered on line.

This is the second season that SAL has captioned some of its author appearances, an effort it undertook at the request of the Washington State Communication Access Project (Wash-CAP). We hope SAL will be able to expand their captioned offerings in the future to become fully accessible to people with hearing loss.

Seattle theaters announce schedule of captioned performances

John Waldo — Fri, 17 Sep 2010 13:09:04 -0800

Seattle's three largest live theaters will make a total of 18 different productions accessible this season to those of us who have a significant hearing loss but do not use sign language. The season begins this Sunday, September 19 at The Paramount, which apologizes for the short notice, and runs through July 31 of 2011, and includes old favorites like "Guys and Dolls" and "Oklahoma," and newer productions like the award-winning "God of Carnage."

The captions are displayed on an LED reader-board placed at the edge of the stage. Seats are set aside on the lower level near the stage, so that it is possible to see the reader-board and the on-stage action without excessive looking back and forth. The captions, including the dialogue and song lyrics, are prepared in advance, and displayed in synch with the pace of the production, enabling people with (and many people without) a hearing loss to understand exactly what is being said.

Best of all, the theaters almost always offer significantly discounted ticket prices.

Here is the schedule by theater:

The Paramount:

"Burn the Floor," Sunday, Sept. 19, 6:30 p.m.

"Hair," Saturday, Dec. 4, 8 p.m.

"Rock of Ages," Sunday, Feb. 13, 6:30 p.m.

"Billy Elliot," Sunday, April 3, 6:30 p.m.

"Mary Poppins," Sunday May 29, 6:30 p.m.

Tickets for the captioning area can be ordered on line. Go to the main page, click on the icon for the specific show, then go to the "read more" button following the description. Scroll to the end of that, and you will see the announcement of the open-captioned date and time. Continue following that link. When it takes you to the "purchase ticket" page, the only options that will be displayed are tickets in the captioned section.

Fifth Avenue:

"In the Heights," Friday, Oct. 8, 8 p.m.

"A Christmas Story," Sunday, Dec. 19, 7 p.m.

"Vanities," Friday, March 18, 8 p.m.

"Next to Normal," Wednesday, March 2, 7:30 p.m.

"Nine to Five," Wednesday, April 13, 7:30 p.m.

"Guys and Dolls," Sunday, June 5, 1:30 p.m.

"Oklahoma," Sunday, July 31, 1:30 p.m.

Tickets in the captioned section may be purchased on line by contacting the box-office email address, ticketing@5thavenue.org

Seattle Repertory Theatre:

"God of Carnage," Thursday, Oct. 7, 7:30 p.m.

"Dancing at Lughnasa," Thursday, Nov. 18, 7:30 p.m.

"The Brothers Size," Feb. 2 (2011), 7:30 p.m.

"Of Mice and Men," March 24 (2011) 7:30 p.m.

"The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs," May 5 (2011) 7:30 p.m.

Seattle Rep has devoted a special page to its captioned shows. Click on the ticket-order form, and it takes you to a diagram of the theater. When you then go to the button that allows you to see a diagram of the theater and select your seats, it limits you to only those seats from which the captioned reader-board is best seen.

This will the the third season that captioned live theater has been available in Seattle. The theaters have worked with the Washington State Communication Access Project and the Theatre Development Fund from New York to bring live theater to those of us whose hearing loss would otherwise prevent us from enjoying this art form.

Small local movie theater to institute captioning

John Waldo — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 13:42:32 -0800

Bainbridge Cinemas, a locally owned five-screen complex on Bainbridge Island, Washington, has agreed with the Washington State Communication Access Project (Wash-CAP) to begin showing closed-captioned films on a regular basis this fall.

Bainbridge Cinemas will equip one of its five auditoriums to show captioned films using the Rear Windows Captioning system.

Once Bainbridge Cinemas installs the necessary equipment, it will rotate its films through that auditorium, so that patrons will be able to see two captioned films per week. This rotation plan should mean that most if not all of the movies that Bainbridge Cinemas shows and for which captions are available will actually be shown in captioned form during the first two or three weeks of a film's release. All showings will be captioned.

The captions are contained on a computer disc furnished at no charge to the theaters. The captioning is actually done by the Media Access Group at WGBH public television in Boston, which developed and patented the Rear WIndows system. Roughly 80% of the first-run movies released by the major studios are captioned.

The Rear Windows system displays the written dialogue in mirror image on an LED board mounted on the rear wall of the theater. Patrons wishing to view the written dialogue pick up a reflector -- a transparent plastic panel attached to a flexible gooseneck on a heavy base that fits into the cupholder. The reflector may be adjusted so that the captions appear to the viewer either below or superimposed on the screen, like subtitles. Because the captions are not visible to other patrons who are watching the screen, they do not interfere with the viewing experience of others.

The theater will keep track of the number of people who request reflectors and their movie companions. We've devised a formula to estimate how much additional revenue the theater receives from installing the captioning equipment, and have agreed that until the theater has recovered the cost of the equipment and installation, we won't ask them to equip another screen for captioning.

The theater will indicate in all of its advertising and on its marquee which movies will be captioned, so that Bainbridge Island residents who want to see captioned movies can plan accordingly.

Personally, I'm delighted by this arrangement for a number of reasons. First and most obviously, I live on Bainbridge Island, and this means my wife and I can go to movies here rather than travel 30-40 minutes to a theater. On a broader scale, I think we've devised an accessibility formula that might prove workable for other small, independent theaters located in relatively isolated communities -- areas that the big theater chains don't serve. Lastly, I'm delighted and grateful that Bainbridge Cinemas is able to devote its limited resources to providing access rather than to a court battle.

Kany Lavine, Bainbridge Cinemas president, anticipates installing the equipment in time for the holiday movie releases that begin appearing around Thanksgiving. Prior to that time, we'll work with Bainbridge Cinemas to promote Bainbridge Cinemas generally and captioned movies specifically throughout our island community.

Feds to require movie, internet-video captioning

John Waldo — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 12:07:40 -0800

The United States Department of Justice today observed the 20th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act in dramatic fashion by announcing that it will require movies and many internet videos to be captioned, and thereby made accessible to people with hearing loss.

DOJ is proposing that within five years of the adoption of the regulations, at least 50% of all movie theaters must be equipped to show every movie in closed-captioned form. DOJ does not intend to require any specific form of caption display, but will leave that decision to the individual theaters.

Consistent with its past approach and with the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals decision in the Harkins case from Arizona, DOJ is going to require closed-captioned movies, where the captions are visible only to people who request display devices. The proposal states that if some theaters wish to show open-captioned movies, they may be permitted to do so, and in that case, would not be required to engage the captions for every showing. DOJ did state, though, that a theater that elected the open-captioned option would need to show some prime-time weekend evening movies with captions.

There is a lot to like here.

First, DOJ correctly stated that the obstacle to accessible movies has been the theaters -- that the studios prepare captions for the vast majority of first-run movies (this is actually done by the Media Access Group at WGBH public television in Boston), but that the theaters show only a tiny proportion of movies with captions.

Second, DOJ rejected the theaters' argument that no captioning requirement should be imposed until they convert from analog display using film to digital display. DOJ said the time frame for conversion is too uncertain, and has been promised for too long, to continue delaying making the movies accessible to people with hearing loss.

Personally, I think DOJ is biting off way too little by proposing captioning for only 50% of the screens, and by calling for a five-year phase-in period. While the general economy may be sour, times are good for the theaters -- 2009 was their best year since the Great Depression. I think they can afford to do a great deal more, and do it considerably faster.

DOJ's proposal to require captioned internet videos is even more audacious, because unlike movie theaters, it isn't clear that ADA regulates the internet, or that DOJ has the legal authority to impose these regulations. DOJ is basically taking the position that as more commercial activity goes on line, fair treatment for people with disabilities can only be achieved if they have reasonable access to the internet.

The two Advance Notices of Proposed Rulemaking were published July 26 in the Federal Register. That is the first step in promulgating regulations that will have the force of law nationwide. DOJ has posed a number of questions, and invites responses from interested individuals and groups for the next six months. it will consider those responses, then draft and propose final regulations, which will also be subject to a comment period. And after it adopts those regulations, affected parties can appeal to court. So DOJ's actions are only the beginning of a process that may take some time.

That said, this appears to be a huge leap forward for DOJ. After spending many years and millions of dollars dealing through regulation with the needs of people with mobility challenges, it's great that DOJ is now proposing to address the needs of the enormously larger population of people with hearing loss. So Happy Birthday ADA from us.