From:	Tony Nicholas 
Sent:	Friday, 4 December 2009 7:33 AM
To:	disabdis
Subject:	Application for exemption under DDA section 55: Cinema captioning 
and 	audio description

I am opposed to the submission from Hoyts Corporation, Greater Union Organisation, Village 
Cinemas and Reading Cinemas (the applicants) for a Temporary Exemption under section 55 of 
the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 (DDA) from complaints in relation to the provision of 
captions and audio description in cinemas operated by the applicants. 
 
The four major cinema chains in Australia banding together  for an exemption from the Disability Discrimination 
Act for 2.5 years, while only providing minimal cinema captioning and audio description in this time, and beyond.  
If granted, this exemption will effectively render any complaints about accessibility void in this period. 
 
This is a serious backwards-step in the scheme of progress and improved access, although the collective cinema 
chains  have decreed they will increase the number of cinemas with accessible technology in this 2.5 year period, 
they have made no show of commitment to actually improving accessibilty at all those cinemas beyond the 
minimum of *three* accessible screenings a week (these generally are of one feature film per week at the following 
times: Wednesday morning, Friday very early evening, and Sunday mid-afternoon - thus no real mainstream 
access).   
 
At present, not all feature films shown at the cinemas concerned are provided with open captions/audio description, 
and those that are, are only shown for one week.  It makes it hard for those of us who like to see films with our 
hearing friends, sometimes the DVDs of these films come out before the captioned screenings themselves (or the 
friends have all already seen the film)! 
 
 
Deaf and hearing impaired people will miss out even more under this proposal, and continue to 
miss out. 
 
--  
Tony Nicholas 
Producer-Writer-Artist 
 
Deaf Man Sign Productions 

www.deafmansign.com/ www.tonynicholas.com 
 
G & T Bookkeeping 
www.g-t-bookkeeping.com 
 
My Blog: Radio666FM: www.radio666fm.com