To whom it may Concern:
We are writing to lend our whole-hearted support to the human rights action being brought forward by Gary Malkowski, Nancy Barker and Scott Simser to make captioning in movie theatres universally available.
The Western Institute for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing (WIDHH) exists to address the needs of Deaf, Deafened and Hard of Hearing Individuals in British Columbia by providing services that work towards ensuring accessibility to their environment which is equal to that of the Hearing public.
It is consistent with the values of inclusion and full participation in society to make captioned movies accessible to Deaf, deafened and hard of hearing people.
The ability of all citizens to have access to cultural, social and recreational activities is an expectation in a civil society. We define our society by stories we share.
Movies, television, DVDs and the Internet are the major vehicles for story telling in North America. Our culture is defined by the media around us and to exclude any one on the basis of a disability is unacceptable.
The television and DVD industry have made huge strides in providing captions as a matter of course. Movie theatres and web based media must follow their examples by providing captioning as part of normal operations.
The technology exists as well as the duty to accommodate. The arguments put forward regarding costs to provide captioning ignore the business case for providing the service. Research done by the Canadian Hearing Society shows that almost one in four adult Canadians reports having some degree of hearing loss. As the population ages, the number of people who will benefit from captioning at the movies will grow dramatically.
Ensuring equal access to movies not only makes good business sense, it promotes the value of inclusion and full participation for Deaf, deafened and hard of hearing citizens.
The Western Institute for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing fully endorses all legal efforts to secure captioning in movie theatres to ensure full and equal access for deaf, deafened and hard of hearing people.
Sincerely,
Susan Masters
Executive Director
Western Institute for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing