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State: Cinema discriminates against deaf
Attorney general files complaint against Regal for refusing to install captioning equipment
Thursday, September 16, 2004
BY TED SHERMAN
Star-Ledger Staff

The state attorney general gave two thumbs-down yesterday to the largest movie theater chain in the country, charging the company with discrimination over its refusal to install equipment that would make the films it shows more accessible to the deaf and hard-of- hearing.

Four other multiplex cinema operators, meanwhile, agreed to offer captioning in nearly 40 movie screens across the state before the end of the year.


The complaint against Regal Entertainment Group and Regal Cinemas -- which owns and operates 152 screens at 12 locations throughout New Jersey -- was an issue of fairness, Attorney General Peter C. Harvey said.

"The concept is simple," declared Harvey. "We are not going to allow companies and governmental agencies to treat people with disabilities as if they're outsiders."

Advocates for the deaf say while an increasing number of first-run Hollywood movies now are available with embedded captioning, the failure of many theaters to install the technology to display that dialogue has meant that for too many, the only way they can see a movie is to wait for it to come out on DVD.

"There's a big difference between seeing a film on the big screen and on DVD," complained Scott Christern, 42, of Montvale, who is profoundly deaf, and is limited to just three theaters in New Jersey where he can watch a movie with captioning.

Earlier this year, the Attorney General's Office began discussions with several New Jersey multiplex theater owners on accessibility, but Harvey said only Regal refused to make any accommodation to the state.

"We got excuse after excuse," he said.

The state lawsuit, filed in Superior Court in Mercer County under the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination, seeks an injunction that would force Regal to provide captioning, or other systems for the hard-of-hearing. It also demanded unspecified punitive damages and attorneys' fees.

Regal, based in Knoxville, Tenn., did not return calls for comment.

The legal action by the Attorney General's Division on Civil Rights marked the first time the state used its Law Against Discrimination as film critics.

Under the statute, the state said movie theaters are "places of public accommodation," and therefore must comply with the law's prohibition of discrimination against the deaf and individuals with hearing impairments.

Several lawsuits elsewhere in the country have been brought in the past under the federal Americans with Disabilities Act, with varying degrees of success.

Four years ago, three deaf men in Washington, D.C., filed a national class-action lawsuit accusing two other cinema chains of failing to make captioned, first-run movies available to deaf and hard-of-hearing patrons, and three other chains -- including Regal -- were similarly sued in Portland.

Earlier this year, the American Multi-Cinema (AMC) and Loews Cineplex chains, under a court settlement, agreed to provide captioning in 12 Washington area theaters.

However, the Portland suit was dismissed, according to the plaintiffs' attorney, Dennis Steinman, after the courts ruled that the movie theaters could not be compelled to install new technology if it could not be done at a reasonable cost. Last year, a federal judge in Houston ruled that under the Americans with Disabilities Act, movie theaters were not places of public accommodation.

In New Jersey, Harvey said the state law mandates access.

"Every adult and child, regardless of her or her ability or disability, should be able to fully enjoy going to the theater and experiencing a movie," the attorney general said. "For too long, this area of out popular culture has been virtually closed to the deaf and hard of hearing, but we are changing that."

Under the terms of four separate settlement agreements announced yesterday by Harvey, AMC, Loews Cineplex Theaters, Clearview Cinemas and National Amusements will either equip theaters with closed-caption technology, or expand the number of theaters it is already in use.

The state will have 39 theaters equipped for captioning by year's end.

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I'm sorry, but this is not a matter of denying someone based upon disability, but forcing theatres to alter their way of doing business to cater specifically to a disability.
 

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Posted by David Stambaugh (Member # 1102) on 09-17-2004, 12:38 PM:
 
Regal runs an open-captioned film here each week, 2 shows each on Tues and Weds I think. I wonder if something like that would satisfy the state, or if they would complain that these "special shows" do not go far enough.
 

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Posted by Tim Reed (Member # 137) on 09-17-2004, 12:55 PM:
 
Oh, for heaven's sake! I've been waiting for this happen, this PC crap is making pansies out of everyone and everything. We actually joked about this several years ago, with the ADA stuff going down, but didn't think it would actually come to pass.

Guess there's no end to what lengths they'll go, or to what depths they'll sink.
 

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Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 09-17-2004, 01:36 PM:
 
I guess we need to board up the Grand Canyon and all the other scenic wonders of America, because if blind people can't see it, dammit, then NOBODY should be able to see it!
 

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Posted by Steve Guttag (Member # 268) on 09-17-2004, 05:57 PM:
 
Someone needs to learn the difference between Discrimination and Accomodation. To not accomodate, does not necessarily mean you discriminate. As such a law on discrimination should not apply. The ADA, however, also goes into reasonable accomodation...define reasonable!

Steve
 

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Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 09-17-2004, 07:36 PM:
 
The next time I am in a hospital recouperating from whatever, I demand for a large theater chain to have an auditorium equipped with all of the necessary emergency room equipment and staffed by professional doctors, so I can lay in my bed recouperating with my IV and a movie. We all know it is the theater's responsibility to provide this service to me!!!

It's nonsense like this that make me detest everything "PC" more and more with each day. It's already turning into it's own language in the corporate workplace, where people babble and babble on endlessly with all sort of nice chit chat, yet hours later they haven't said a damn thing. Of course they *think* they are providing valuable input in a good debate, but in reality most people I know just want to see how hard of a swing it would take to split these "PC people" open with an axe to the head.

For those of you who haven't visited it, this really is the best page in the universe.
 

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Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 09-17-2004, 09:46 PM:
 
By concentrating soley on the deaf and hard of hearing community, they are completely ignoring and discriminating against the blind. They deserve to see first run movies just as much as anyone else! I can't believe they would only fight for the deaf. Someone needs to file a suit on behalf of the blind.

I say we should detract the enjoyment of each and every show of a movie, making it captioned and EVERYONE has to deal with it, deaf or not. Captions on everything! We simply MUST please everybody, or the world will explode.
 

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Posted by Steve Kraus (Member # 476) on 09-17-2004, 10:39 PM:
 
Are they suggesting there is a legal obligation to install every bit of equipment that comes along that might be of assistance to the disabled?
 

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Posted by Steve Guttag (Member # 268) on 09-17-2004, 10:46 PM:
 
Put away your worries there Joey..."Descriptive" service is there for the blind so they won't be left out of the "opening night experience" either.

Next...descriptive service on "adult films."

Steve
 

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Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 09-18-2004, 12:03 AM:
 
What about people who are both deaf and blind? I SUPPOSE THEY DON'T COUNT? WHY IS EVERYBODY SO DISCRIMINATORY? GOD DAMN IT!
 

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Posted by Kyle McEachern (Member # 2250) on 09-18-2004, 02:23 AM:
 
Nah. Rig up an OCR setup that converts the text it reads to a portable braille "display" for people!
 

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Posted by Pravin Ratnam (Member # 1417) on 09-18-2004, 07:54 AM:
 
Considering the crappy presentation quality in many theaters, how about the government suing theaters on behalf of those that can actually hear. The presentation as it stands now, seems to cater more to the deaf and blind.
 

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