From:	Curtis, Kim 
Sent:	Wednesday, 2 December 2009 4:10 PM
To:	disabdis
Subject:	Submission from Kim Curtis - Application for Exemption under the DDA 
Section 55; Cinema Captioning and Audio Description 

To Whom this may concern, 
 
I would like to thank you for the opportunity to provide feedback in respect of an exemption application 
on behalf of Hoyts Corporation, Greater Union Organisation, Village Cinemas and Reading Cinemas. 
 
Congratulations to Media Access Australia and the Cinema Chains of Hoyts, Village, Greater Union and 
Reading on the expansion of their accessible cinema program.  I welcome the expansion 
including country and rural communities would be great so that access could be provided to all, not just 
those who live in the city.  
 
I feel strongly that my human rights have been violated if the Cinema's in Australia are given an 
exemption this exemption is just allowing them to not provide our community with a service.  We the 
Deaf Community are a part of Australian life and the cinema is part of our lifestyle, we have as much 
right as other hearing people who use the cinema services to access the same service at the same 
standard as others.  As Dean Barton-Smith stated "Australia has a an international reputation of falling 
well behind with it's International counterparts in regards to provision of full access across various areas 
...media" is one of them and an example of Australia falling behind in providing only prime time 
captioning on TV compared to America and Canada who provide their viewers with 24 hours of 
captioning access.   Another example of Australia falling behind is that Rear Projection Window 
Technology is the latest Digital Technology in Cinema viewing and this has been very successful 
overseas,  we should be looking at using this technology in the new expansion program.   If given this 
new technology we can watch a film anytime and at any cinema the same as the mainstream community.  
 
The Rudd Government is looking at  "inclusion" in the National Disability Strategy for us (the Deaf 
Community) to be included into everyday life events within our community is a trip to the cinema is 
regarded a a community event with friends on the weekend.  This is a service the Cinema needs to 
provide for the Deaf/hearing impaired and Vision impaired community to be included under the Australian 
National Strategy Plan. The Australian Bureau of Statistics has stated that 43% of the cinema clientele 
have a disability while 65% of the elder population who attend the cinemas are over sixty years of age 
compared to 65% of all Australian 15 years and over.  That's a large quite a large clientele coming from 
our community therefore we require a commitment due to our aging population and the decrease in 
hearing loss many are going to continue to demand better access to captioned films.
 
I live in NSW and have a cinema 10 minutes away but I am unable to access the cinema and I drive 3.5 
hours to go to the Cinema in Newcastle - Glendale.  If I am visiting Sydney I attend the cinema and I have 
noticed on a few occasions that the cinema staff do not see us (the Deaf) as clients we are certainly not 
high on their list for making sure we have access to the caption films.   My experience this year I have 
been very disappointed with the standard of service and I have made a number of complaints to 
the Cinema Manager;
 
Some problems I have experienced
1. Films were not advertised at the correct time so I was told sorry the ad was incorrect. 
2. One film I was watching did not display the captions when the film started I had to go out and discuss 
why the captions were not working and was told the guy in the projection room forgot to turn them on!!! 
3. Another time I attended the Cinema it was full advertising  and I was told by the Manager that the disc 
did not arrive to display the captions. 
4. The loop systems at various cinemas have been put in many years ago are no working effectively and 
they do not take responsibility to repair them. 
5. Lack of Provision of Captioning - Advertising and Previews are not captioned - making the whole 
Cinema experience not really 100% accessible captioning should happen when the films starts.  I sit in 
my seat the advertising begins there is no captioning if I watch the TV at home the ads are captioned.  
When the previews of future films start again there is no captioning. For the whole Cinema experience to 
be captioned it must begin when the first ad starts including all preview why is this not done?   This again 
demonstrates we are not given the same standard as hearing customers maybe we should ask the 
Cinema turn the volume off and see how many complaints they receive  Here again we are lagging 
behind as Google now has automatic Captions on the Web.
 
 
In Submission Point 2 
Deaf people need access to screening more than 3 times a week such as Tuesday's when the tickets are 
on special however the problem is there is no caption screening shown on that day.  If provided with the 
Rear Projection Window Technology there would be unlimited access to any session on any day.
 
Access to G and PG
During the holiday periods in each state they do not seem to run any special screenings for children.  I 
have a daughter who is not Deaf and I would like to take her to the Cinema during the holidays and there 
have been a lack of children's programs on during this period.
 
Employment of Deaf Promotion Co-ordination Officer
The Cinema need to consider how they will market and promote this new service more effectively I 
believe the Cinema should consider employing a Deaf Promotion Co-coordinator to take the Cinema into 
the next decade with a strong Marketing program someone with skills who can problem solve the various 
issues that are happening now to improve the quality of service that the current Cinemas are not 
providing.  The person would be able to engage stakeholders, Media Access and community groups to 
help solve all issues with the Cinema chain and produce one of the best practise in Australia which could 
be a great model for other services overseas.  This person would need to have strong marketing skills 
and an understanding of customer service to enable them to find solutions for the internal problems 
within each Cinema and this will provide a way to provide service and point of contact for the clients 
wishing to give feedback and make complaints. 
 
In addition each Cinema should a consider the need to provide employment to a Deaf person worker 
someone who can sign to assist with communication with new clientele
 
As you can see giving the cinema an exemption is only given them the opportunity to delay provisions 
of  service to our community and enabling them to ignore our complaints when we are given the worse 
customer service in the country.   
 
 
Yours sincerely, 
 
Kim Curtis 
Teacher/Consultant for the Deaf