The Australian Human Rights Commission has rejected requests by cinema chains to be exempt from having to provide captioned and audio described films to deaf and blind patrons. By Nastasia Campanella.

Only 16 cinemas in Australia provide captioned and audio described films. Image: Looking Glass

In late 2009, Hoyts Corporation, Greater Union Organisation, Village Cinemas and Reading Cinemas requested a 30 month exemption under section 55 of the Disability Discrimination Act [1992].

The exemption would have allowed the cinema chains to refuse to provide services to help the deaf and blind community access films.

Disability Discrimination Commissioner, Graeme Innes said the Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) refused the request because they felt the cinemas were being unreasonable.

“We didn’t feel it was a step forward for those with a disability,” Innes said.

“We want advancements for people with disabilities and when we looked at the requests we decided the service they have been providing isn’t much to ask.”

Captioned and audio described films were introduced into cinemas four years ago.

Currently, 12 large cinemas as well as four independent ones provide such services within Australia.

Submissions made by the cinema chains gave various reasons for wanting the exemption including that screenings were poorly attended and the advent of home entertainment and illegal downloads meant a loss of profits.

Alex Jones is hearing impaired and is also the Chairman of the Deafness Forum of Australia.

He said there were a few reasons for poor attendance.

“Limited films are captioned and audio described, there are only three days and time slots that you can view films and session times aren’t advertised,” he said.

“The key things that would encourage more people to attend captioned and audio-described films at the cinema are wider variety of films and more sessions.”

Captioned films are shown Wednesdays at 10.00am, Fridays at 6.00pm and Sundays at 3.00pm.

Cinemas also said providing these services in order to resolve individual disability discrimination complaints leads to ad hoc provision of these services, usually in the complainants’ local cinema, rather than an even distribution of screens capable of providing captioned and audio description films.

Jones said after many years of negotiations with movie chains, their requests were disappointing.

“If there were more films at cinemas in Australia that were captioned and audio-described, it would mean that deaf and blind people would not be cut off from this source of socialising,” said Jones.

“It is about social inclusion – one of the worst things about being deaf or blind is being isolated, not being able to go out with the rest of your family and friends when they go to the movies, or not being able to discuss the latest film with your friends.”

Bill Shorten, Parliamentary Secretary for Disabilities, said people with disabilities have the same right to enjoy a movie like everyone else.

“I am acutely aware of the difficulties faced by people with a hearing or vision impairment in getting access to a cinema,” Shorten said.

“They often have to travel for long distances or are restricted to certain sessions at a cinema.”

Captioned films are now only shown at three session times. Image: Jacek Sniecikowski

He said requiring patrons with a hearing impairment to attend a Wednesday matinee during work hours should not be considered meaningful access.

According to Shorten, less than 0.3 per cent of cinema sessions in Australia provided services to cater for people with vision of hearing impairments.

“The cinema industry has made some progress in providing better services for both hearing and vision-impaired customers in recent years, but it needs to recognize that it has a responsibility to cater for the entire community.”

Information obtained by Accessible Arts, the peak arts and disability body in NSW, showed cinemas screened 41,370 sessions each week nationally.

105 of these are captioned or audio described in select outlets.

Chair of Accessible Arts, Maryanne Ireland, commended the AHRC’s decision.

“This decision sends a very strong message that complying with the Act is not an optional extra for companies,” said Ireland.

“We hope that in turn, this sends a broader message that access is a human right all the time, not just when it’s convenient.”

According to Deafness Australia, there are three million Australian’s living with some form of hearing loss.

“The Australian population is aging and hearing loss is likely to become more common,” said a company spokesperson.

Submissions made by the cinema chains said in return for the exemption, they would make a further 23 cinemas accessible during that time.

“Submissions also read that they’d ensure information regarding session times were accessible and advertising was better. The cinemas should already be doing this,” said Innes.

Jones said cinemas in the UK and America already have a significantly higher number of captioned films as compared to Australia.

“We are finally catching up to other countries and we don’t want to be left behind.”

Reportage Online attempted to call all cinemas involved in the exemption requests, but none were willing to comment on the issue.