"No theater should be exempted from providing captioning and description by saying it can't afford them unless that theater also is exempted, on economic grounds, from providing fire exits."
Addressed to the Disability Rights Section, Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice as comments to proposed rules for implementation of the Americans with Disabilities Act, these were the closing comments of Elizabeth D. Botts arguments.
The issues of providing "full and equal enjoyment" of services promised under the Americans with Disabilities Act by movie theaters is divisive. There are 1160 comments on the DoJ website, ranging from "Parent of a deaf person" to advocacy groups like the National Association of Theater Owners.
DoJ Site Link: The Docket Folder Summary; Nondiscrimination on the Basis of Disability; Movie Captioning and Video Description
Janice Doherty of the Spokane Fire Department commented:
Given current technology, all persons with hearing loss should be able to access public theaters for any performance. Governmental as well as private agencies have been too slow to comprehend the inequities that persons with hearing loss, the largest group of persons with a specific disability, must face on a daily basis. It is not right that individuals with hearing loss are systematically relegated to second class citizenship (or worse) when it comes to opportunity for participating fully in community and cultural conversations. The capacity for inclusive communication exists: it should be required.
This article is a stub that will be amended as time allows to get some of the more critical responses posted as attachments - the DoJ site is cumbersome (at best.)
Oral submissions can be found at the following link:
DoJ Transcripts: Battle Lines Drawn
The original Request for Comments that the answers refer to are at this link:
Request for Comments: DoJ: Movie Captioning, Video Description
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