NAD Comments On Movie Theater Captioning

On December 1, 2014, the National Association of the Deaf (NAD) filed, on behalf of several deaf and hard of hearing consumer groups, a Comment responding to the Notice of Proposed Rule-Making (NPRM) from the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) on movie theater captioning. This Comment seeks that movie theaters provide both closed captioning which the DOJ proposes as well as open captioning. The NAD had joined with some consumer groups and the National Association of Theater Owners (NATO) in a Joint Recommendation filed with the DOJ on November 21, 2014 which promotes that 100% of movie theaters will have captioning capability no later than two years from when the DOJ publishes its final rule on this issue.  The December 1st Comment asks the DOJ to also require open captioning in addition to what is included in the November 21st Joint Recommendation.

When the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was passed in 1990, the only form of captioning available for deaf people to view in movie theaters was to get reels of movies that were specially imprinted with open captioning. As legislators discussed the ADA before passing it into law, they stated that open captioning was not required for movies. Several courts since then have not mandated open captioning in movie theaters, and only recently required closed captioning in such theaters. In its recent NPRM, the DOJ focuses on closed captioning requirements.

The NAD has long advocated for captioning including asking the DOJ to mandate open captioning in movie theaters. In this December 1st Comment, the NAD continues its advocacy for open captioning even as it works with NATO and others to ensure that every digital movie theater in the country will have closed captioning available on every screen. As part of this advocacy, NATO has agreed to recommend to its theater members to provide open captioning when there is an advance request from large groups.

The NAD is keeping a close watch on what the DOJ will publish in its final rule on movie theater captioning, and at that time, will share what the new rules require.

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The National Association of the Deaf (NAD) is the nation’s premier civil rights organization of, by and for deaf and hard of hearing individuals in the United States of America. The advocacy scope of the NAD is broad, covering a lifetime and impacting future generations in the areas of early intervention, education, employment, health care, technology, telecommunications, youth leadership, and more – improving the lives of millions of deaf and hard of hearing Americans. The NAD also carries out its federal advocacy work through coalition efforts with specialized national deaf and hard of hearing organizations, as well as coalitions representing national cross-disability organizations.