Some Good News, for a Change
It’s nice to be able to end this generally awful year with some good news.
On December 15th, New York’s City Council passed a bill that requires movie theaters to provide daily showings of movies with open captions.
That means no more struggling with individual cupholder-anchored, gooseneck caption screens, or with captioned glasses that weighed heavily on your nose. Once the bill is signed into law, you will be able to see which movies are showing with open captions and at what time. You can walk into the theater, sit down with your popcorn, and watch a movie with captions running right on the screen.
Details are yet to be worked out, but the law requires that every theater offer every movie with open captioned showings on weekdays, weekends and in evenings. The ratio will probably be one out of every four showings.
You probably won’t be able to see captioned trailers or ads, but that might change eventually. I’ve always wondered why ads on TV don’t have captions – don’t the advertisers realize that people who use captions also have money to spend? Why do they ignore such a relatively large market?
If neither the outgoing mayor, Bill De Blasio, nor Eric Adams, incoming, gets around to signing the bill, it becomes law on January 15, 30 days following its passage. Theaters then have 120 days to begin complying with the open-captioned regulations.
The bill was co-sponsored by outgoing City Council Member Helen Rosenthal, who has been behind a number of bills supporting the interests of people with disabilities over her eight-year (term-limited) tenure. Thank you CM Rosenthal.
Supporters of the bill, including HLAA members who testified at the City Council hearing where the bill was debated, point out that captions benefit far more people than simply the deaf and hard of hearing. Jerry Bergman, of HLAA, who has been working with theater owners on open captioning, said: “We believe that open captioning will benefit seniors with moderate age-related hearing loss, children learning to read, and immigrants for whom English is a second language.”
In the movie “True Grit” (2010) actor Jeff Bridges was so difficult to understand that parodies appeared suggesting various hilarious interpretations. Think how much even those with perfect hearing would have gained by actually understanding Bridges, who was nominated for an Academy Award in spite of his mumbling. The winner, ironically, was Colin Firth for “The King’s Speech,” in which King George VI learns to overcome a speech impediment.
Abycats' Thoughts 
Thanks for reposting!
LikeLiked by 1 person