From: Di Erlichman [Di.Erlichman@annecto.org.au] Sent: Monday, 7 December 2009 10:55 AM To: disabdis Subject: VOICING OBJECTION TO EXEMPTION RE: the recent application made by Village Roadshow, Greater Union, Hoyts and Reading Cinemas requesting exemption from the Disability Discrimination Act for a period of two and a half years. This means that Australians who are Deaf, hard of hearing, legally blind and vision impaired, including older Australians, stand to lose their right to complain to the Human Rights Commission about the lack of provision of captioning and audio description services at ANY of the 125 cinemas (1182 screens) owned by these four exhibitors. If the exemption is granted, cinemas will provide captioning and audio description for a minimum of three (3) screenings in 35 cinemas around Australia. Obviously not in line with Rudd’s National Arts and Disability Strategy; ie Explore opportunities to enhance accessibility and inclusive practices in the film, television and broadcast industry. Or Human Rights policies Regards Di Erlichman Di Erlichman Marketing and Communications Coordinator | annecto - the people network | 81 Cowper Street, Footscray VIC 3011 | T. 03 9687 7066 | F. 03 9687 5621 | M. 0437 075 633 | E. di.erlichman@annecto.org.au | W. www.annecto.org.au | A gift from you today, is your gift for our tomorrow. To find out more or to become a friend of annecto call 03 9687 7066 or log on to www.annecto.org.au Please consider the environment before printing --------------------------------------------------------------------------- IMPORTANT - PRIVACY & CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE: This document is intended solely for the use of the person to whom it is addressed. It may contain proprietary, privileged or confidential information and be exempt from disclosure under applicable law. If you have received this message in error, please immediately delete it and all copies from your system, destroy any hard copies and notify the sender. WARNING TO RECIPIENT: For the recipient's own protection, the recipient should scan this email and attachments with anti- virus software prior to opening. We cannot guarantee that this is free of virus infection. IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER: No liability is assumed by annecto inc. for expressions of opinion in this communication that are other than the official opinion of the organisation and a communication of other than official opinion is not to be regarded as a communication from the organisation.