#subtitledcinema

Disclaimer: I’m neither deaf or hard of hearing. I struggle with hearing some things, but I am Hearing. Please let me know if any of my wording is incorrect. Additionally, I am someone with sight. If my image ID’s could be improved, please do inform me.

TL;DR: Cinemas do not provide appropriately timed captioned showings of films. Please show support for caption-needing people by signing this change.org petition [link] created with the intention of encouraging UK Cinemas to correctly cater to the D/deaf and hard of hearing, as well as those with English as a Second or Foreign Language, sensory issues, or processing disorders.

A list of links to the sources I’ve used in-line is also available at the end of the post for accessibility.

Here’s some examples of films having little to no subtitle showings in UK cinemas, from two Cineworld cinemas I visit frequently:

[Image Description: A list of the showing times for Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald at Ashford Cineworld cinema on Sunday 18th November. The only time listed with subtitles is 14:50. There are twelve 2D showings and five 3D showings of this same film on the same day, without subtitles. End description.]

[Image Decription: Another list of the showing times for the same film at the same cinema, Monday 19th November. The only time listed with subtitles is 17:10. There are, again, twelve 2D showings and five 3D showings of this same film on the same day, without subtitles. End Description.]

The Ashford cinema has 12 screens. These showings are during the first week of this film’s release (The film came out today, Friday 16th November). On the Sunday, there are a total of 15 films being shown. On Monday, there are 11 films in total.

Now, let’s look at Dover:

[Image Description: A third list of showing times for Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald at the Dover Cineworld cinema, Wednesday 21st November. The only time listed with subtitles is 16:10. There are 4 2D showings and one 3D showing of this same film on the same day, without subtitles. End Description.]

Dover Cineworld is a 6 screen cinema. Again, this is the first week of this film’s release. This one subtitled time-slot is the only one this cinema has in the first week. This cinema is showing 6 films on Wednesday 21st.

Every single showing at these two Cineworld cinemas (I’m not sure about other ones) has Audio Description via a headset given to those who request one.

Here is what the Cineworld website likes to say about Audio Description:

[Image Description: Part of a screenshot of the Cineworld website, listing the features of each cinema. Audio Described is shown, with a tooltip that reads “Special service for blind and visually impaired cinema goers which doesn’t affect other spectators”. End Description.]

This implies that subtitles are “affecting” hearing people, or those who don’t need subtitles for other reasons, hence why captioning is not available in every single showing, or at least, a larger percentage.

The issue with these times is that they are largely unreasonable for both deaf adults and deaf children. Primary and Secondary schools in England let up around 3pm, sometimes 4pm. College is usually 9-to-5. Work is also 9-to-5 for many people. The times given in the first week of release - 2:50pm, 4:10pm, and 5:10pm - are really unacceptable and inaccessible for deaf people who work or are in education.

As is the ableist society we live in, there will always be people who legitimately believe Open Captioning - captions which are fixed on the screen and cannot be removed by the viewer - is ugly and unnecessary. There is however, a call for cinemas to cater better to their caption-needing patrons.

I just finished watching a video by the wonderful Jessica Kellgren-Fozard [@jessicaoutofthecloset - Tumblr] who brilliantly explains her experience as a deaf girl and cinema-goer [Click to view], in which she also provides a link to a petition created by Deafie Blogger [Twitter link] to encourage UK cinemas to show more appropriately timed viewings with captioning. This petition [link] is important as the result will be that films will be more accessible for more people. Jess suggests in her video one “appropriately timed” showing with captions a week, but I feel we could do a lot better than that.

Jess also mentioned “caption glasses”, which I decided to research. It would seem that the National Theatre (which hosts stage performances) has begun using a Google Glass looking headset which shows Closed Captions to individuals, rather than Open Captions to the whole audience (which would be a bit tricky with stage performance). I would like to see this technology being implemented in cinemas, and my interest is particularly piqued by the fact that I’ve not seen cinemas look into this technology which “wouldn’t affect” other viewers, since they - Cineworld at least - seem to tout that the Audio Description headsets’ non-invasive use is one of its best features.

The reason that this is an issue because The Equality Act 2010 states that:

“The Equality Act 2010 covers all service providers in all sectors, which means you must do what the equality law states in relation to your staff training and awareness, operational functions, processes, information and facilities. In order to do this, you may need to make some reasonable adjustments, which means possibly changing the way things are done, providing aids and additional services and making changes to overcome barriers created by the physical features of your premises. What is considered reasonable in law depends upon the effectiveness of the change, the building’s status (e.g. Listed Building) and the physical practicalities and financial implications.”

If we specifically compare the phrases I bolded -“reasonable adjustment” and “providing aids and additional services” - with the evidence of very few subtitled screenings and no assistive aids for non-subtitled screenings, alongside the express opinion of the D/deaf community, we can infer that what cinemas currently do, does not completely satisfy this element of The Equality Act 2010. This petition intends to encourage cinemas to be more open and inclusive, tending to their disabled patrons more efficiently, as well as prompting them to listen to the voices of the disadvantaged.

Thank you for taking the time to read this post.

List of links:

Petition link: http://bit.ly/2QwzgXv.

Cineworld: http://www.cineworld.co.uk.

Jessica’s video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6NP4kAPdgTQ.

Deafie Blogger’s blog: http://www.deafieblogger.com.

Deafie Blogger’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/deafieblogger.

National Theatre’s Caption Glasses: https://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/your-visit/access/caption-glasses.