Coalition for Movie Captioning (CMC) Announces Restructuring

The Coalition for Movie Captioning (CMC) has formalized as a bona-fide coalition with officers and bylaws. Representatives from national organizations serving frustrated moviegoers who are deaf, hard of hearing or late-deafened, who have long been underserved and neglected by the entertainment industry, have approved CMC's bylaws and elected new officers to serve for calendar year 2002.

The new CMC officers are:

    * Cheryl Heppner, Association of Late-Deafened Adults (CAN) -Chair
    * Timothy Creagan, Self-Help for Hard of Hearing People (SHHH) -Vice Chair
    * James House, Telecommunications for the Deaf, Inc. (TDI) -Secretary/Treasurer

CMC evolved from an earlier Movie Access Coalition (MAC), a subcommittee of the National Association of the Deaf. Twelve years after the Americans with Disabilities Act was enacted, opening up doors everywhere for 53 million Americans with disabilities, many theaters are now accessible to patrons using wheelchairs. Many of those same theaters, however, have refused to make their showings accessible to those with sensory disabilities such as hearing loss or blindness.

"The cost to caption a feature film is a drop in the bucket compared with the total multimillion-dollar production budgets of recent blockbusters," said Cheryl Heppner, CMC Chair. "It is time for the theaters and the movie industry to address the potential audience for which text is as crucial as audio."

After several months of collaboration, CMC is preparing to launch a website with information and advocacy tips for people who want to be able to watch movies at their neighborhood theater. Included will be CMC's position paper, fact sheets, links to online movie captioning resources and other useful information for people who are interested in supporting the cause of equal access to movies.

CMC needs your support to achieve its goals. The new membership categories are:

    * Regular $250 - National consumer organizations serving deaf, hard of hearing or late-deafened members.
    * Associate $500 - Industry stakeholders
    * Affiliate $50 - State or local consumer organizations serving deaf, hard of hearing or late-deafened members.
    * Individual $25 - Individual supporter.

Only the regular members may attend meetings; they have one vote per organization. Associate members may have a voice in meetings but no vote. Affiliate and individual members will be placed on our mailing list to receive news about CMC activities.

If you are interested in supporting CMC, send your name, mailing address and e-mail along with a check payable to "TDI/CMC" to:

Jim House
CMC Secretary/Treasurer at TDI
8630 Fenton Street, Suite 604
Silver Spring, MD
20910-3803

About CMC: The Coalition for Movie Captioning (CMC) is a coalition of major national organizations that addresses the theater access needs of 28 million consumers who are deaf, hard of hearing, late deafened, and deaf-blind. The charter organizations are: Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf and the Hard of Hearing (AGBell), American Society for Deaf Children (ASDC), Association of Late-Deafened Adults (ALDA), Cochlear Implant Association, Inc. (CIAI), Consumer Action Network (CAN), Deaf Seniors of America (DSA), League for the Hard of Hearing (LHH), National Association of the Deaf (NAD), Self Help for Hard of Hearing People (SHHH), and Telecommunications for the Deaf, Inc. (TDI).