From: Kate Locke Sent: Tuesday, 8 December 2009 2:56 PM To: disabdis Subject: My grudging acceptance of the cinema exemption Oh *sigh*. My heart is hurting as I do this. I grudgingly accept the recent application made by Village Roadshow, Greater Union, Hoyts and Reading Cinemas requesting exemption from the Disability Discrimination Act for a period of two and a half years. The reason why it is a grudging acceptance is this. I feel concerned that this exemption means that Australians who are deaf, hard of hearing, blind and vision impaired stand to lose their right to complain to the Australian Human Rights Commission about the lack of provision of captioning and audio description at any of the 125 cinemas (1182 screens) owned by these four exhibitors. The guidelines set out in the exemption don't seem fair. If the exemption is granted cinemas will provide captioning and audio description for a minimum of three screenings in 35 cinemas. That equates to .3 % of the more than 30,000 films they screen each week. The proposed exemption is also out of touch with the demographic reality of an ageing population. I realise that people like me have very little power to oppose this, and have been receiving advice from left, right and centre to accept the exemption because we can't do anything else. But I think that even if I do accept the exemption, I want to voice how very upsetting it is that the cinemas are trying to get out of giving access to the people who so sorely want and need it. In this acceptance I am reluctant, unwilling, hesitant, unenthusiastic, half-hearted.. but I feel as an individual, and a deaf working professional living in Australia I have no choice. It makes economic sense to offer captions and audio-description so that the people that are currently blocked from visiting cinemas can access them. The reason so few people visit cinemas with captions now is because they are only captioning crap movies at crap times, and not advertising them either. The National People With Disabilities and Carer Council believes the strategic priorities of the Rudd Government s National Disability Strategy should include increasing the social, economic and cultural participation of people with disabilities and their families, friends and carers . Read the report here The Cultural Ministers Council National Arts and Disability Strategy priority projects include 9. Film, television and broadcast industry: Explore opportunities to enhance accessibility and inclusive practices in the film, television and broadcast industry. This may include programs in Auslan and efforts to increase captioning and audio-description services. See the strategy here The request for exemption is also at odds with the intent of the Federal government s Media Access Discussion Report which invites submissions on potential improvements to audio description and captioning levels in Australia for free-to-air and subscription television, DVDs, films in cinemas and audio-visual content on the internet. Read the Media Access Discussion Report here In light of how little power I have to make the cinemas improve their level of captioning, I grudgingly accept the exemption, but would like to make it clear to the cinemas that the fight is not over until we get equal access for people who are deaf and blind. Thanks, Kate Kate Locke Online Content Manager Marketing Zurich Financial Services Australia Limited Level 11, 5 Blue Street North Sydney NSW 2060 Australia +61 2 9995 1300 (direct) (Please note: I have a hearing impairment - this is a TTY phone, so the Relay Service will type as you speak. To learn more visit www.relayservice.com.au) +61 2 9995 1208 (fax) www.zurich.com.au ---- This email is intended for the named recipient only. It may contain information which is confidential, commercially sensitive, or copyright. If you are not the intended recipient you must not reproduce or distribute any part of the email, disclose its contents, or take any action in reliance. If you have received this email in error, please contact the sender and delete the message. It is your responsibility to scan this email and any attachments for viruses and other defects. To the extent permitted by law, Zurich and its associates will not be liable for any loss or damage arising in any way from this communication including any file attachments. We may monitor email you send to us, either as a reply to this email or any email you send to us, to confirm our systems are protected and for compliance with company policies. Although we take reasonable precautions to protect the confidentiality of our email systems, we do not warrant the confidentiality or security of email or attachments we receive.