From:	Judith CLANCY 
Sent:	Monday, 7 December 2009 9:54 PM
To:	disabdis
Subject:	Exemption by the Film Industry for captioning

 Deaf and Hearing Impaired adults and children have the right to access contemporary media.  
As a group who are already marginalised and disempowered within many communication 
contexts, recreational activies and exposure to movies as part of an Educational Program should 
not be so difficult.
 
As a teacher of Deaf and Hearing Impaired students, access to captioned movies in cinemas 
provides critical exposure to elements of the curriculum which every student is entitled to access 
including English, Media, Drama, etc.  Deaf and Hearing Impaired students have equal right and 
access to media which informs their learning and adds value to their interpretation of the world 
and their place in the world.
 
It is a pointless and tiring exercise to try to interpret movies for students, the issue of divided 
attention - watching the movie or watching the interpreter, and the complexities of the interpreter 
needing to see the movie to understand which character is speaking, or the multiple complexity 
of need more than one interpreter for a movie is incredibly difficult from a Human Resource 
context but very confusing for a child who just wants to see the same movie for an English 
review or to hang out with friends.
 
Educators of the Deaf have had to work with this issue far too long and in the past have had to 
rely on clumsy efforts for equality.
 
Students, parents, and all members of the community should have access to captions.
 
I also advocate this for hearing people who have English as a Second Language. Access to the 
written word is a very powerful learning tool.
 
Please do not underestimate the power of the learning you can provide to the community with 
captioning for movies.
 
With respect and thanks
 
Judy Clancy  
Head of Special Education Services  
Vincent Special Education Unit