Captioned movies inquiry (2001)
Explore the 2001 inquiry report on cinema captioning in Australia and progress toward accessible movie experiences for people who are deaf or hard of hearing.
Summary
The introduction of cinema captioning in Australia has received recognition from the Australian Caption Centre and the WA Disability Services Commission in two separate awards.
Captioned movies
Page last updated 12 December 2001
Notice of inquiry
The Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission has received a complaint under the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 alleging discrimination by a cinema and cinema chain in lack of provision of subtitles or captions with English language films.
The Disability Discrimination Act makes discrimination unlawful regarding access to services (section 24), except where providing non-discriminatory access would involve unjustifiable hardship.
The Acting Disability Discrimination Commissioner sought submissions to
- assist her and the parties to the complaint to identify options for resolution of the complaint
- assist her to determine whether the power to decline the complaint under section 71 should be exercised (on grounds including that the act complained of is not unlawful or that another more appropriate remedy is reasonably available)
- assist her to decide whether the subject matter is such that it should be referred to the Commission for determination.
In particular submissions were requested on issues affecting the feasibility of implementation in Australian cinemas of the rear window captioning system of closed captioning developed in the United States, or other options for captioning of movies for the benefit of deaf and hearing impaired persons.
Submissions received
Australian Caption CentreAustralian Federation of Deaf SocietiesBridges CommunicationsDeafness Council Western AustraliaDeafness Council Western Australia additional submissionDeafness Forum of Australia (MS Word file) National Working Party on CaptioningPersonal Captioning Inc Personal Captioning Inc additional submission Village Roadshow : PDF or MS Word file Western Australian Deaf SocietyWGBH Boston
Resource Links
One of the aims of this inquiry is to provide information resources about solutions that improve access. Links will be added here as they become available. Please let us know if there is something you would like to see listed.
BL&S is the systems integrator for the MoPix theatre products. These currently include the Rear Window captioning system for the deaf and hard-of-hearing and products incorporating audio description of visuals for blind patrons. These products have been developed under a grant from the National Institute for Disability and Rehabilitation Research, a division of the U.S. Department of Education.
2. TRIPOD Captioned Films
TRIPOD Captioned Films (TCF) is a non-profit, community outreach project of the TRIPOD Model School Program in Burbank, CA. A Program for Deaf and Hard of hearing children and their families, TRIPOD has received support from the entertainment industry since its inception in 1982. TRIPOD arranges for recently released movies to be shown in open captioned format at select screenings.
3.Closed Captioning Web
This Internet site provides useful links to a number of sites dealing with the broader issue of captioning and a discussion of the options for making movie theatre accessible.
http://www.captions.org/theater.cfm
4.Australian Cinema Industry
For information about the cinema industry in Australia see:
Cinema and Theatre Historical Society Victoria Inc.:
Screen Network Australia: http://www.sna.net.au/