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Hello. I'm Roger Claussen. I am the chair
of the nation-wide captioned movie theater survey.
As I travel and meet many deaf and hard of hearing people,
during conversation sometimes they've said,
"Hey, I saw a great move last night or last week" and we'll chat about it.
I ask them, "What kind of captions did they have?"
One might reply, "Caption glasses." Another would answer,
"CaptiView or Rear Window Captioning (CV/RW)".
I ask if they had captioning on the screen and their response is that
open captioning availability is drastically dwindling.
I ask, "Were you satisfied with caption glasses or CV/RW?"
Most say, "Sure, yeah, I don't mind. A hearing person hears the movie,
I read the captions (with the glasses or CV/RW). It's fine!
No big deal, it's all good! I'm happy with it."
I look at them and tell them. "You are out of your minds,
are you kidding yourself? What you're saying makes no sense."
They usually look at each other in surprise and ask, "Why,
what do you mean?" I reply, "I'll explain." Now, I'll explain it to you,
the viewer. Now, watch me, I'll clear everything up for you.
Imagine you're walking into the movie theatre to buy a ticket.
You put down your $10.
A hearing person walks up about the same time and buys his ticket.
You are thinking, cool, both of us are getting a ticket.
You're feeling good and confident!
The hearing guy goes on in.
You say to the person at the counter, "I'm deaf".
That hearing guy is long gone. Hearing - 1, Deaf - 0.
He's free to go. Me? I'm still waiting at the counter.
Soon the person at the counter brings the CV/RW.
Cool! Now I can go. But wait, the person behind the counter says,
"Not so fast, Give me your driver's license."
You think how annoying that is, but you hand over your driver's license.
Hearing - 2, Deaf - 0. No need for him to give over his driver's license.
So, with the CV/RW in tow, you head in.
You notice people looking at you and realize you are a bit
conspicuous carrying the CV/RW and it's obvious you're deaf.
"So what," you think to yourself and keep on going.
You think about buying some popcorn and a soda or something.
Awkwardly you place the CV/RW under your arm
in order to carry your popcorn and soda.
4-0
Oh well. You go on in and look for a seat.
You put the popcorn in one holder,
the soda in the other and then realize you have to put
the CV/RW in the cup holder so you take the soda out.
It is all incredibly awkward and clumsy.
Hearing people have nothing to worry about it.
5-0
So you have the CV/RW set up and realize you have to
put the popcorn on a floor and put the drink between
your legs since there is not a free cup holder.
That hearing guy doesn't have to do that.
6-0
You struggle to get the CV/RW in place but it keeps
falling over, what a cheap piece of junk!
You keep at it until finally it balances.
In the struggle, you get soda on your leg.
Great, now my pants are wet from the soda!
The movie is ready to start!
You are good to go.
The action begins and you look at the screen,
then at the CV/RW. Back and forth.
Screen, CV/RW, screen, CV/RW.
The distance is a bit much so I have to slide myself
down to adjust the height to make my view at
CV/RW closer to movie screen.
That hearing guy doesn't have to deal with that. 7-0
Suddenly you are perplexed. On the screen you see jets flying
and bombs dropping, but the captions don't match.
You realize you are receiving the captions from
the cartoon movie next door.
You make an adjustment and finally get the
right channel back. 8-0
A little further into the movie, you need to go to the restroom.
You think, "Should I leave the CV/RW? No way,
suppose someone steals it. The theatre will keep my driver's license."
So you take it with you. Hearing - 9, Deaf - 0.
You return to your seat. The movie is still in progress.
You get the CV/RW reset. It's a bit of a struggle
but you get it right. 10-0. Oh well, you think.
You continue to watch the movie.
A few more minutes into the movie, a hearing person
sitting nearby says "excuse me" and wants to pass.
He's a big guy and as he goes by
he knocks the CV/RW over. Are you kidding me? You struggle again
adjusting to get it in place. All the while missing
more of the movie. In fact, all throughout the movie
you have missed parts of the story. Finally you get
it set up and continue to watch.
Pretty soon the movie is finished. Whew!
That was a lot of work! You take the CV/RW down
and walk out of the theatre. The hearing people
are taking off going out the exit. They quickly disperse.
But you have to walk back up to the front
to turn in the CV/RW.
11-0.
You set it down and wait for your DL.
Finally they bring it and it is the wrong one.
You show the girl behind the counter and she says oops.
You finally get the right one. 12-0.
So, really? Are you telling me you enjoyed that movie?
That it was just cool and perfect? I say that is ludicrous.
It's not right. Now, you want to know
what is a truly equivalent situation? I'll tell you.
You and the hearing guy both buy a ticket,
both walk right in, both get popcorn and soda
and find a seat, get comfortable with your snacks.
The hearing guy is sitting over there doing the same, we're all good.
The movie begins and the hearing guy listens to it.
Me? I'm watch the captions right there on the screen.
We both sit back and enjoy ourselves
for the duration of the movie.
We exit the theatre at the same time.
THAT's perfectly equal access. That's what I want.
Not glasses, not CV/RW. Those suck!
So, how do you help to improve things?
You complete the survey. I'll explain. It's simple.
You can do it using a hard copy paper survey or
online using the link and it sends the results to me.
If you have 15 deaf or hard of hearing people in your family.
brothers, sisters, grandparents, aunts and uncles, anyone,
you can count them all towards your number of people.
Even if you list 15 people on your survey, it only counts as one result
so if you want, share it with those family members so everyone sends a survey.
As for the hard copy, you can print it off from the link,
list your 15 family members, complete the form,
pack it up and mail it to me. I'll verify everything and
send it to my committee who will compile it all.
The committee will send your 15 times for you.
15, 50, 100. It doesn't matter.
If you've only got a few copies and want to send it yourself,
that's fine, go right ahead.
Now, how can you get this survey? I'll show you.
It's important that deaf and hard of hearing people
not just stay angry and agitated and pissed off.
You shouldn't be. The hearing aren't.
Your submissions CAN change America.
Deaf people have been oppressed enough.
The movie industry thinks that Deaf/HH people are happy.
And that the current captioning solution is perfect.
That's what they THINK! We have to tell them "No!
That it is unacceptable."
Often when there are technical problems and
we complain their response is to give out a free ticket.
Sometimes they give 2, 3 4 5 as many as 6 tickets. Why?
They just want you to accept it.
They think Deaf people don't know how to file a complaint.
But now is time for us to take action.
We must show them that we mean business.
That enough is enough.
Another reason, I care about our deaf, hard of hearing, CI children.
Do you really want the children to deal with the hassles
and aggravations of the CV/RW or Captioning Glasses.
It is crazy and insane! It's unfair for the children.
Captions on the screen are better for the children.
If they have the chance to watch movies with captions
and take that in, it will improve their English.
That's important!
I want our children to have better English than this generation.
Now if you are thinking, "Wow, he's right!"
I've really overlooked this! It needs to improve, but how?"
Fill out the survey. Go ahead. Fill it out.
Some people never go to movies anyways, that's fine, fill it out anyways.
Explain why you don't go to the movies: lack of captions.
Thank you very much.