Although the below article tells us nothing that most of us don't already
know, I thought I'd pass this article along to show that the issue is being
covered.
Peter Seymour
Theaters Helping Deaf and Blind
>
>By CHAD ROEDEMEIER=
>Associated Press Writer=
> ATLANTA (AP) _ Connie Stratigos' passion for movies blossomed
>when she worked at her father's theater in Memphis, Tenn., in the
>1940s as ``box office girl, popcorn girl, candy girl, ticket-taker
>and usher.''
> But her fondness for the big screen faded when health problems
>caused her to lose most of her hearing more than 30 years ago.
> Relatively new technology called rear-window captioning is
>changing that, helping people with hearing or vision problems enjoy
>movies on the big screen without changing the way others see the
>films.
> The technology, which involves detailed descriptions for the
>visually impaired and a personal captioning device for those with
>hearing problems, has been installed in movie theaters in about a
>dozen cities, including Baltimore, Chicago, Seattle and Boston.
> Parkway Pointe, a General Cinema theater just north of Atlanta,
>installed the technology last year, making it the only conventional
>theater in the Southeast that uses the equipment.
> For the price of admission, people with hearing problems get a
>smoked Plexiglas panel attached to a gooseneck arm that fits into
>the cupholder. That panel reflects red-lettered subtitles, which
>are projected in mirror reverse from the back of the theater.
> The technology was developed by the National Center for
>Accessible Media, a joint effort of the Corporation for Public
>Broadcasting and the Boston public television station WGBH, which
>is spearheading efforts to make movie theaters accessible to the
>nation's 34 million deaf, hard-of-hearing, blind and visually
>impaired movie fans.
> Stratigos' first movie was ''8MM,'' a violent film _ not the
>kind she usually goes for _ but she was happy just to be back in
>front of the big screen.
> ``Wow, we were just really overwhelmed,'' said Stratigos, 66.
>``At first we had a hard time adjusting the gooseneck panel, but
>once we got it squared away, it was no problem at all. I love it.''
> At Parkway Pointe, the featured film changes about every month.
>The theater has already shown ''28 Days,'' ``The Green Mile,''
>``Random Hearts,'' ``Star Wars'' and most recently, ``The Patriot''
>starring Mel Gibson.
> The goal of the National Center for Accessible Media, however,
>is to offer visually and hearing-impaired movie fans the choice to
>see a movie at any time, instead of specific viewing times.
>Already, ``Charlie's Angels'' and ''102 Dalmatians'' are expected
>to feature rear-window captioning when those films are released in
>the fall.
> Rear-window captions display almost every word of dialogue in
>``The Patriot,'' including certain sound effects, such as groans
>and horse whinnies.
> Blind moviegoers get a special headset to listen to a
>description of the visual elements of a film. The fast-paced
>narrative, called DVS Theatrical, works in tandem with the
>dialogue, sneaking into the movie's natural pauses.
> During the final battle scene in ``The Patriot,'' the narrator
>says, ``Martin parries, then takes a hit in the back of the knee
>... Martin falls to his knees, his face contorted with pain.''
> It costs a theater about $15,000 to install the equipment for
>rear-window captioning and descriptive narration in a single
>auditorium. It costs WGBH another $2,000 to caption and $8,500 to
>describe a two-hour film.
> General Cinema, a subsidiary of Massachusetts-based GC
>Companies, has been the only theater chain thus far to test the
>equipment.
> But some activists are pressuring other national theater chains
>to use the technology. Eight people with hearing impairments filed
>suit in Oregon earlier this year to force several movie theater
>chains to install rear-window captioning, citing the Americans With
>Disabilities Act.
> And the Federal Communications Commission in November offered
>proposals on how to mandate video description services for
>television programming. The proposals are part of a broader FCC
>effort to make technology more reachable for people with
>disabilities.
> Cheryl Mauldin, facilities manager for Parkway Pointe, said
>General Cinema installed the system in Atlanta not because it's a
>moneymaker, but because it is ``the right thing to do.''
> Only a handful of people use the equipment regularly, but
>Parkway Pointe is trying to increase that number by sending out
>e-mail notices to a database of blind and deaf people every time a
>new movie is released, Mauldin said.
> Some advocates for the deaf and hard-of-hearing have criticized
>the rear-window captioning system as hard to use.
> ``I don't think I've seen a movie in years,'' said Jennifer
>Whitcomb, executive director of the Georgia Council for the Hearing
>Impaired. ``I tend to stay away from them because I don't want to
>deal with the captioning. I think it takes the fun out of it when
>we have to deal with that kind of stuff.''
> But Stratigos, a retired microbiologist who serves as an officer
>in hearing support groups, said there is no other way for the blind
>and hearing-impaired to be able to enjoy first-run movies the way
>they were meant to be enjoyed _ on the silver screen.
> ``People like me are thankful to get what we can get,'' she
>said.
> ___=
> On the Net:
> National Center for Accessible Media:
>http://www.wgbh.org/wgbh/pages/ncam/mopix/aboutproject.html
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>
>
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