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Deaf, blind 'Harry Potter' fans can enjoy new film | Washington Examiner
Hearing- and sight-impaired fans of the "Harry Potter" movies will be able to enjoy the latest blockbuster about the boy wizard and his friends at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry even more on opening weekend at two Virginia theaters.
Showings of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1" will feature on-screen captions and audio headsets for deaf and blind moviegoers at Regal Cinemas' Virginia Center Commons in suburban Richmond and Norfolk's MacArthur Center.
This follows an agreement between Regal Cinemas and the Virginia Office for Protection and Advocacy in response to deaf citizens' complaints, Colleen Miller, the agency's executive director, said Thursday. The two theaters will include captioning and audio-narration devices at various showings Friday and through the weekend.
Curt Decker, executive director of the National Disability Rights Network, said "Harry Potter" likely marks the first time cinemas have offered opening-weekend captioning for a blockbuster movie. He praised the two Virginia theaters and hoped other companies follow suit.
"Deaf advocates have been asking this for some time," Decker said Thursday. "Instead of resisting and going on a lengthy court battle, these theaters said, 'We understand we have to do this, and we will.'"
A telephone message left Thursday for Regal Entertainment Group counsel Raymond Smith Jr. at his Knoxville, Tenn., offices wasn't immediately returned.
Harry Potter fans Deandra and William Wood plan to take their 12-year-old daughter, Kassandra, and a friend to see "Deathly Hallows" on Friday night in Norfolk. The Woods are deaf and the girls aren't, so they are thrilled to enjoy a movie together — an experience she says non-deaf families might take for granted.
"It's exciting to be able to share the same experience," Deandra Wood said in an e-mail. "This way, we can see the movie with our hearing daughter and her friend and be able to actually understand and enjoy the movie in its glory!"
Miller said the disability-rights agency and Regal officials agreed that providing on-screen captions and "descriptive audio" headsets for "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" would reach the broadest possible audience, as Harry Potter fans span all age groups.
"There's a fair amount of risk involved for (the theaters), and we appreciate that they're willing to step out and be ahead of those across the state," she said.
Some theaters offer captioning at selected showings of movies, but it's often during weekdays when people who work can't see them without taking a day off. Thus Wood said Friday night will offer her and other deaf friends a chance to fully immerse themselves in the seventh and penultimate film based on J.K. Rowling's books.
Nationwide, several state attorneys general have sued entertainment companies on behalf of people with visual and hearing impairments under the Americans With Disabilities Act, claiming that the lack of captioning and other accessibility aids discriminates against those with disabilities.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in April in an Arizona case that theaters may be required under the ADA to provide captioning and audio descriptions to patrons. It reversed the U.S. District Court's ruling in favor of Harkins Amusement Enterprises, and sent it back for the district court to determine whether supplying such services would pose an undue burden on Harkins, which operates 21 movie theaters.
Some companies have argued that the requirements of 20-year-old civil rights law are unfeasible.
But Decker thinks making movies more accessible to people with disabilities ultimately would benefit theater owners.
"What we want to do is spend our money, and they're not letting us," he said.
"That is a silly business model."
Hearing- and sight-impaired fans of the "Harry Potter" movies will be able to enjoy the latest blockbuster about the boy wizard and his friends at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry even more on opening weekend at two Virginia theaters.
Showings of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1" will feature on-screen captions and audio headsets for deaf and blind moviegoers at Regal Cinemas' Virginia Center Commons in suburban Richmond and Norfolk's MacArthur Center.
This follows an agreement between Regal Cinemas and the Virginia Office for Protection and Advocacy in response to deaf citizens' complaints, Colleen Miller, the agency's executive director, said Thursday. The two theaters will include captioning and audio-narration devices at various showings Friday and through the weekend.
Curt Decker, executive director of the National Disability Rights Network, said "Harry Potter" likely marks the first time cinemas have offered opening-weekend captioning for a blockbuster movie. He praised the two Virginia theaters and hoped other companies follow suit.
"Deaf advocates have been asking this for some time," Decker said Thursday. "Instead of resisting and going on a lengthy court battle, these theaters said, 'We understand we have to do this, and we will.'"
A telephone message left Thursday for Regal Entertainment Group counsel Raymond Smith Jr. at his Knoxville, Tenn., offices wasn't immediately returned.
Harry Potter fans Deandra and William Wood plan to take their 12-year-old daughter, Kassandra, and a friend to see "Deathly Hallows" on Friday night in Norfolk. The Woods are deaf and the girls aren't, so they are thrilled to enjoy a movie together — an experience she says non-deaf families might take for granted.
"It's exciting to be able to share the same experience," Deandra Wood said in an e-mail. "This way, we can see the movie with our hearing daughter and her friend and be able to actually understand and enjoy the movie in its glory!"
Miller said the disability-rights agency and Regal officials agreed that providing on-screen captions and "descriptive audio" headsets for "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" would reach the broadest possible audience, as Harry Potter fans span all age groups.
"There's a fair amount of risk involved for (the theaters), and we appreciate that they're willing to step out and be ahead of those across the state," she said.
Some theaters offer captioning at selected showings of movies, but it's often during weekdays when people who work can't see them without taking a day off. Thus Wood said Friday night will offer her and other deaf friends a chance to fully immerse themselves in the seventh and penultimate film based on J.K. Rowling's books.
Nationwide, several state attorneys general have sued entertainment companies on behalf of people with visual and hearing impairments under the Americans With Disabilities Act, claiming that the lack of captioning and other accessibility aids discriminates against those with disabilities.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in April in an Arizona case that theaters may be required under the ADA to provide captioning and audio descriptions to patrons. It reversed the U.S. District Court's ruling in favor of Harkins Amusement Enterprises, and sent it back for the district court to determine whether supplying such services would pose an undue burden on Harkins, which operates 21 movie theaters.
Some companies have argued that the requirements of 20-year-old civil rights law are unfeasible.
But Decker thinks making movies more accessible to people with disabilities ultimately would benefit theater owners.
"What we want to do is spend our money, and they're not letting us," he said.
"That is a silly business model."