The Association of Late-Deafened Adults and two hearing impaired individuals are suing Cinemark movie theatre chain in Alameda County for discrimination against the Deaf and hearing impaired.
“We just want the opportunity to go to the movies with our friends and family like everybody else,” said Rick Rutherford, one of the plaintiffs in the case. 36 million American adults report some degree of hearing loss.
85% of first run movies in America are captioned and compatible with the existing Rear Window technology when delivered to theatres, yet according to the lawsuit, Cinemark is not providing these services.
US theatres use the Rear Window system, in which an LED screen is mounted at the back of the theatre, projecting captions onto small individual plastic panels for hearing impaired patrons. This differs from Australian cinemas where open captions are projected onto the screen for the cinema audience.
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