Movie Help for the Deaf
Advocates for the deaf and hard of hearing didn’t get their way in a General Assembly House Judiciary Committee hearing Wednesday – but that doesn’t mean their pleas for more theaters to offer closed captioning technology weren’t heard.
Jordan Ramsey of Danville’s Kentucky School for the Deaf made his point without a spoken word by asking his interpreter to stop speaking while he continued signing. He signaled her to resume, then asked committee members, “Did you understand what I just said? No. So when I watch a movie and there’s no captions, I don’t understand that either.”
Randy Smith of Regal Cinemas, the nation’s largest chain, said he did understand Ramsey’s arguments, partly because he has a deaf child. But he said forcing movie theaters with five more screens to install expensive equipment that might not confirm with new digital movies, or offer a certain number of captioned movies per theater, could result in less profitable and thus fewer theaters.
“I don’t see limiting access is the answer to the question here. I simply don’t see it. It isn’t that simple — and right or wrong, we do operate our theaters for a profit,” he said.
A representative of the American Motion Picture Association said give us time – and flexibility.
“I know it’s a frustrating answer for the deaf and hard of hearing maybe at this point, but we’re getting there,” said Van Stephenson.
The committee substituted a measure requiring a study of the issue and a report by Nov. 1.
It wasn’t what Virginia Moore wanted to hear.
“They have been saying that since 1990 and I don’t believe from what we’ve been learned that the digital industry is going to catch up with this in the next year or two or three,” said the executive director of the Kentucky Commission on the Deaf and Hard of Hearing.
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