One Barrier at a Time (Disability Issues)

Every now and then, the long journey toward an inclusive Ontario gets just a bit shorter, and the following story illustrates how that can happen. It features two  protagonists, and at first glance the power imbalance  between  the two appears insurmountable. The first is the movie industry, with its deep pockets and battalions of corporate lawyers. The second is the Caption Movies Now Coalition,  an  equity-seeking organization  that champions the rights of individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing.

The coalition was formed in 2005 to help make a night at the movies with family or friends a real option for the deaf and hard of hearing.

Last year in this column I wrote about the barriers people  with disabilities face at movie theatres. Some are physical, such as buildings that do  not  accommodate  mobility  devices.  Some relate to the ways in which the movies themselves are delivered to the consumer. For some time, the  technology  has  existed  to  produce  video-described movies for patrons with visual impairments. Likewise, the means  exist to provide an accessible movie-going experience for those who are deaf or hard of hearing. Unfortunately, the movie industry has been slow to make these barrier-free screenings widely available.

There are two types of movie captioning. One is  open  captioning, whereby captions are  displayed on the bottom of the screen. The other is closed, rear-window captioning (RWC), whereby captions are projected onto Plexiglas devices thatfit into a movie patron’s cup holder. Though this latter technology has been around for a decade, it has been made available at only a small number of  screenings. Even when moviegoers had access to one of the rare theatres with the right equipment, their choice of movies was extremely limited.

Three Ontario residents, Scott Simser, Nancy Barker  and  Gary  Malkowski,  eventually  took their case to the  Ontario Human Rights Commission.  Though  the  complaint  was  initially launched in 2000, it was referred to the Human Rights Tribunal only in 2004. Subsequently, the coalition worked diligently on the complainants’  behalf, publicizing their case and garnering the financial and political support of individuals and organizations – ETFO among them.

This July, a settlement was reached with Alliance  Atlantis  Cinemas,  AMC  Entertainment International, Cineplex Entertainment, and Rainbow Centre Cinemas. It mandates new closed- captioning systems in multiple Ontario theatres. New technology is currently being developed that will eventually make it possible for captions to be displayed on handheld personal digital assistants. Should the new system not become commercially available, the  companies  have  agreed  to  RWC installations or open captioning at a number of theatres. This arrangement will be phased in over time. Since some  remaining companies within the industry are not part of the settlement,  the litigation continues.

This  is  a  victory  that  will  resonate  across the country. Though the settlement covers only Ontario, it has  widespread future implications for  social  justice. The  campaign that  made  it happen is an example of  political action at its finest, and we all owe the complainants, and the Caption Movies Now Coalition, a debt of gratitude.