Deaf viewers fight for on-screen movie captions
A loose-knit group of deaf and hard-of-hearing people wants movie theaters in the Rochester area to more readily provide captions on-screen if patrons ask for them.
About 40 advocates took their cause to the Regal Henrietta Stadium 18 theater earlier this month, said Dean DeRusso, a Gates resident who is deaf and participated in the protest. Many people had difficulty using special captioning glasses provided by the theater or thought the devices were uncomfortable, while others found that there were not enough for everyone to use, he said.
DeRusso said he asked theater employees to activate on-screen captions instead, but was told that only upper management could do so.
In DeRusso's view, that means that the region's large deaf population is not getting equal access to the theater. An estimate by the National Technical Institute for the Deaf in 2012 said that more than 40,000 people who are deaf or hard of hearing live in greater Rochester — among the largest per capita populations with hearing difficulties in the U.S.
DeRusso said the theater should turn on captions for any movie when at least one deaf or hard-of-hearing person attends.
"Why can't I just walk in the theater and get a ticket like anyone else out there?" DeRusso wrote in an email on Monday. "I am forced to get a special device that might not be comfortable."
A manager at the Henrietta theater referred questions to its owner, Regal Entertainment Group. The company said in a statement that it is an industry leader in providing access to people who are deaf, hard of hearing or visually impaired.
The chain worked for more than 10 years to install systems in its theaters that offer glasses that display captions for the deaf and headsets that play descriptions of films for the visually impaired, wrote Randy Smith, Regal's chief administrative officer and counsel. However, these data files are available only when movie distributors offer them.
Most of Regal's digital theaters also provide seat-mounted captioning devices, Smith said.
The Henrietta theater offers on-screen captioned showings on opening weekends for all major films, he added.
"Moreover, if a large group of individuals, typically 10 or more, requests an open captioned show of any feature showing in one our theaters, and we are able to obtain the appropriate data file for same, we try to honor all such individual requests," he wrote.
But DeRusso said he had trouble finding times for captioned shows in Henrietta or got conflicting information about them from Regal. He also said that requiring groups to book special screenings makes it harder for deaf people to enjoy the movies they want to see, when they want to see them.
"I should be able to go to the theaters and enjoy them as if they are at home," DeRusso wrote. "I barely feel at home in the theaters."
David Sutliff-Atias, assistant director of advocacy at the Center for Disability Rights, said his group supports the advocates' request. Providing assistive technology to groups alone is unreasonable, he said.
"The technology is already there," he said.
Policies at other local theaters were not immediately available. The Little Theatre offers caption viewers that sit in seat cupholders and amplification headphones for viewers who are hard of hearing, said spokesman Peter Wayner.
He noted that outdoor screenings as part of the Movies With a Downtown View series, which the Little helped to produce, included closed captions. The theater is working on upgrades, he said.
"Part of this is researching the best way to accommodate our deaf patrons," Wayner said.
DeRusso said he believes most moviegoers, hearing or no, would not object to on-screen captions.
DRILEY@DemocratandChronicle.com