[access-uk] Cinema comes alive for blind fans
- From: Jonathan <digitaltoast@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sat, 17 Jul 2010 17:34:53 +0100
From Australia, but coming here soon?
http://www.theage.com.au/national/cinema-comes-alive-for-deaf-blind-fans-20100717-10fce.html
IT is as big as a woman's purse, sits in a seat drink-holder and has
the potential to bring cinema alive to hundreds of thousands of deaf
or hearing-impaired movie buffs.
The four main cinema chains, representing about 70 per cent of the
screens in Australia, yesterday unveiled the portable wireless
closed-caption technology, Captiview. The technology, still in the
prototype stage, along with audio description devices for the visually
impaired, will be rolled out to 24 screens this year, with up to 242
screens expected to have the devices within four years. The chains had
previously resisted calls for widespread captioning in cinemas and had
failed in their attempt to get an exemption from anti-discrimination
laws.
The Parliamentary Secretary for Disabilities and Children's Services,
Bill Shorten, who launched the plan, said the move would make captions
and audio description possible in every cinema operated by Hoyts,
Village, Greater Union, Birch Carroll and Coyle and Reading
International by 2014. The Captiview device sits in a drink holder
attached to the cinema seat. Viewers can position it so that captions
appear either just below their screen view or to the side.
The Deafness Forum of Australia's Nicole Lawder said while some people
felt the technology could stigmatise users, overall the forum was
pleased with the outcome.
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