“BEST THING SINCE SLICED BREAD! They could use some tweaking but

technology is always advancing!! Can not wait to see the evolution of these things! Thank you for allowing me to fully understand the movie in the theater.”

Different Paths; …and Finally, Results

Delays were requested in Australia, and lawsuits were filed in the US. The lawsuits usually resulted in broadened implementation plans, until finally two different sets of judges in 2009 and 2010 were convinced that the newly introduced and implemented technology had crossed the line to, 

1) “reasonable accommodation” and
2) which didn’t cause undue hardship or change the nature of the business. 

Within a month, several large US chains made announcements that went far beyond the judges rulings – announcing that they would implement access equipment in all of their auditoriums and push the providers of materials – movies, trailers, advertising – so that they would be consistently delivered with captions and enhanced audio. Much of this implementation occurred in the US by year-end 2012.

In 2008, Australia’s 4 largest exhibitors request for a temporary implementation delay of a previous agreement was denied in late April of 2010. In mid-July 2010 the Cinema Access Implementation Plan (CAIP) was announced. This program between the Australian Government’s Department of Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs and four major exhibitors promised $470,000 in grants against the projected $2.2 million cost of captioning and audio description equipment, plus installation. 

The implementation began in 2010 with some coordination and implementation problems, as the equipment was new and there was little time for staff training. CAIP ends in 2014 with 3 accessible screens in complexes with 13 or more screens, 2 in complexes of 7+ screens, and 1 screen for complexes of 6 or less. The end result will put captions and audio description in a minimum of 242 screens in 132 Australian complexes. 

One lesson learned from this Australian arrangement is that a facility with only one “accessible screen”, but with the option to give priority to 3D movies, will take that screen off the accessibility grid if these movies don’t have captions or narrative tracks. This is often the case since Captions and 3D require a new technology that floats the captions on the plane of the picture’s focus point. (Otherwise, viewers can get physically nauseous.) Descriptive Narration tracks are not yet part of the standard workflows of smaller producers and distributors. Until they are truly commonplace, there is room for the complaint from the communities needing these capabilities. Some say they were better off with 3 guaranteed open caption showings, even if only one movie per week and not everywhere.

Implementations in the US have been smoother since they started later – in 2012 when there were more options available. Exhibitors could exhort their suppliers to deliver every trailer, ad and movie with the proper access tracks. 

ISDCF and SMPTE is still working on nuanced details of caption timing and the transition to SMPTE compliance, which is expected to start in 2013 now that the final details for accessibility equipment for inclusion of the blind, deaf, hard of hearing and partially sighted is working. 

Advocacy groups for these groups in the rest of the world appear to be taking the more nuanced, grass roots approach, with very slow results. After great effort, the EU ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities as EU law. Other countries are in process of passing similar statutes. This process allows advocacy groups the right to presume inclusion instead of asking to negotiate each access from each supplier, one at a time. Cinemas have not been on top of the list of early agendas though, focusing instead on living conditions and transportation rights. Access to jobs (including eAccessibility) is expected to be the next focus. Perhaps the next breakthrough in the cinema world will be more staff who know how to demonstrate and maintain access equipment since they are also users.