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This past week had a moment that, in deaf and hard of hearing circles, should result in rejoicing. On January 13th, the first hearing in the Arizona vs. Harkins Theaters case before the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals was heard.
And it was a doozy.... With a judge telling the theater attorneys their clients were "acting like jerks" for not providing more captioned access, and that their arguments against being made to provide equal access were laughable. It was a red letter day, a day that the walls that the theater industry had used to insulate themselves against providing equal access to captioned movies for the deaf and hard of hearing came tumbling down like the biblical walls of Jericho.
The deaf and hard of hearing community's continual marching around the theater and movie studio industries with their message of equal access and equal enjoyment blaring loud and proud like a blast from the trumpets around Jericho's walls have had the effect of crumbling that wall constructed of lies; that there was no obligation to provide equal access because it would alter the content or services, that there was no obligation to provide for the 36 million Americans with a hearing loss because it would catastrophically bankrupt the theater industry, and so forth and so on.
A flimsy wall, built on smoke and mirrors, that has stood for these many years because of a lack of common sense in the judicial system, the immorality of money buying influence when the ADA was being drafted (thanks for nothing, Jack Valenti), the continuing heavy-handed lobbying of the MPAA and NATO, and a general apathy of the consuming public to be educated about the TRUTH. But no more. As the judge told the attorneys representing the theaters in this case "people are going to laugh at your arguments someday".
That day is now. Now is the time for the hearing loss community to go to their legislators and say "We want HR 3101 to be passed in Congress. We want our captions in theaters, we want to be afforded the same opportunity as everyone else, PERIOD." But you know what? They aren't going to know that if you are not telling them. Write your Congresspeople, call them, let them know about the issues near and dear to you and let them know you are watching and voting. Don't expect immediate answers, be persistent. Don't sit back and wonder what other people are doing for you, start helping them help ALL of us. Follow Caption Action 2, mention it when you talk to others and your elected officials, and so on.
Take a few minutes and visit the website at this link to read more details about the Arizona vs. Harkins hearing results and then take a minute and EMAIL THE PEOPLE AT THAT WEBSITE AND THANK THEM FOR GOING TO THE HEARING AND RELAYING WHAT HAPPENED THERE TO YOU. If it weren't for them, and others like them, this kind of news would get buried.
Here is the link:
http://www.hearinglosslaw.com/
Thanks,
Eddie
And it was a doozy.... With a judge telling the theater attorneys their clients were "acting like jerks" for not providing more captioned access, and that their arguments against being made to provide equal access were laughable. It was a red letter day, a day that the walls that the theater industry had used to insulate themselves against providing equal access to captioned movies for the deaf and hard of hearing came tumbling down like the biblical walls of Jericho.
The deaf and hard of hearing community's continual marching around the theater and movie studio industries with their message of equal access and equal enjoyment blaring loud and proud like a blast from the trumpets around Jericho's walls have had the effect of crumbling that wall constructed of lies; that there was no obligation to provide equal access because it would alter the content or services, that there was no obligation to provide for the 36 million Americans with a hearing loss because it would catastrophically bankrupt the theater industry, and so forth and so on.
A flimsy wall, built on smoke and mirrors, that has stood for these many years because of a lack of common sense in the judicial system, the immorality of money buying influence when the ADA was being drafted (thanks for nothing, Jack Valenti), the continuing heavy-handed lobbying of the MPAA and NATO, and a general apathy of the consuming public to be educated about the TRUTH. But no more. As the judge told the attorneys representing the theaters in this case "people are going to laugh at your arguments someday".
That day is now. Now is the time for the hearing loss community to go to their legislators and say "We want HR 3101 to be passed in Congress. We want our captions in theaters, we want to be afforded the same opportunity as everyone else, PERIOD." But you know what? They aren't going to know that if you are not telling them. Write your Congresspeople, call them, let them know about the issues near and dear to you and let them know you are watching and voting. Don't expect immediate answers, be persistent. Don't sit back and wonder what other people are doing for you, start helping them help ALL of us. Follow Caption Action 2, mention it when you talk to others and your elected officials, and so on.
Take a few minutes and visit the website at this link to read more details about the Arizona vs. Harkins hearing results and then take a minute and EMAIL THE PEOPLE AT THAT WEBSITE AND THANK THEM FOR GOING TO THE HEARING AND RELAYING WHAT HAPPENED THERE TO YOU. If it weren't for them, and others like them, this kind of news would get buried.
Here is the link:
http://www.hearinglosslaw.com/
Thanks,
Eddie
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