Sunday night I went with my sister to AMC Woodlands to see Alice in Wonderland. I looked up the movie on CaptionFish. I guess I should have paid closer attention to the icons. Being an “inexperienced” deaf person, I assumed that the movie would be open captioned with the text on the screen.
When we purchased our tickets at the window, my sister told the guy that I needed the theater with captions. He did not say anything, just handed her the tickets. When the movie started, we were both confused when we did not see captions…were we in the wrong theater? My sister went into the lobby, found an employee and told him the problem. His response was, “Oh, the captioning is not working, they are fixing it.” My sister came back and sat down.
Fifteen minutes later, we were still wondering what was going on. My sister went back into the lobby and found another employee (my sister thinks he was a manager). She said he snapped at her, “What is the problem?!” My sister again asked why the captions were not working. She told me that he rudely explained that the movie was Rear Window Captioned and handed her an acrylic panel.
On the way out, I went to the desk and politely said, “May I make a suggestion? Maybe the theater could figure out a way to let hearing impaired people know that they need to ask for the acrylic panel in order to be able to see the captions.” I explained that I had not been deaf that long and didn’t know better. I said, “There are many hearing impaired people and you can’t assume that they know what to do in order to see the captions”. The man told me that since they can’t tell who needs the captions, there is no way to direct people. I suggested putting a sign on the door of the captioned theater or training the ticket sales people – when someone requests tickets for the captioned movie – to ask if they know how rear window captioning works. The man replied that they would look into it, but his tone of voice did not convince me that he was being sincere.
Is it enough that a theater offers captioning? Or should they make sure people know how to take advantage of it?
What upsets me is that the first employee my sister went to for help obviously had no clue how the captioning worked. If he had, he would have been able to inform my sister and I would not have missed the first 25 minutes of dialogue. And the second employee, who may have been a manager, was rude about explaining the captioning!
When we purchased our tickets at the window, my sister told the guy that I needed the theater with captions. He did not say anything, just handed her the tickets. When the movie started, we were both confused when we did not see captions…were we in the wrong theater? My sister went into the lobby, found an employee and told him the problem. His response was, “Oh, the captioning is not working, they are fixing it.” My sister came back and sat down.
Fifteen minutes later, we were still wondering what was going on. My sister went back into the lobby and found another employee (my sister thinks he was a manager). She said he snapped at her, “What is the problem?!” My sister again asked why the captions were not working. She told me that he rudely explained that the movie was Rear Window Captioned and handed her an acrylic panel.
On the way out, I went to the desk and politely said, “May I make a suggestion? Maybe the theater could figure out a way to let hearing impaired people know that they need to ask for the acrylic panel in order to be able to see the captions.” I explained that I had not been deaf that long and didn’t know better. I said, “There are many hearing impaired people and you can’t assume that they know what to do in order to see the captions”. The man told me that since they can’t tell who needs the captions, there is no way to direct people. I suggested putting a sign on the door of the captioned theater or training the ticket sales people – when someone requests tickets for the captioned movie – to ask if they know how rear window captioning works. The man replied that they would look into it, but his tone of voice did not convince me that he was being sincere.
Is it enough that a theater offers captioning? Or should they make sure people know how to take advantage of it?
What upsets me is that the first employee my sister went to for help obviously had no clue how the captioning worked. If he had, he would have been able to inform my sister and I would not have missed the first 25 minutes of dialogue. And the second employee, who may have been a manager, was rude about explaining the captioning!
-- Cindy R.
4 comments:
Can feel the irritation! yes a sign at ticket both is an easy fix, don't know abt you but wh en we go to movies usually arrive with little time to spare. Im now motivated to start listing movies in our newsletter again. look for them next month. how did u like the RVcaps ? I prefer them now as the open captions blend into the screen.
I like captions on the screen. I guess I need more practice on adjusting the acrylic panel so it's easier to read.
Yes, we are still second class citizens despite the EEOC and other legislation. They really wish they didn't have to accomodate us, but now they have to. They don't really like it and it still shows yhrough when they do. Not every movie has captioning available wither, so you are at their mercy of the dates and times of showings that will have it. It is not like other showings that don't offer captioning becasue for people who don't need, it is never a worry about that option being readily available.
In the past we were always talking it up so much that we all knew what to expect when we got to the movie house. That's a good idea that THEY should post that information.
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