Imagine paying for a movie ticket, only to not be able to access and enjoy the movie like everyone else. Yes, this is a thing in 2021, now coming into 2022. While the crowd is abuzz with excitement after a good movie, Deaf people are left disappointed, left out, with eye strain and a headache. Currently at EVENT cinemas, Deaf people are offered a CaptiView device. These CaptiView devices were part of an accessibility rollout from 2010 using the “latest digital technology” at the time. Over a decade later, even after countless complaints and unsatisfied customers, this same outdated technology remains unchanged and unimproved. CaptiView is unreliable, sometimes dies midway through the movie, and is a PAIN to set up. It also currently isn’t offered for Gold Class, V-Max and at some locations. It is just not good enough. It is a tiny box with green LED writing on a flexible stand that sits in your cup holder. I’ll spend a good 5-10 minutes trying to wrangle the CaptiView stand so that it is horizontal, lines up nicely underneath the screen, and is at my eye level. If I wish to shift my seating position for comfort, I have to redo the whole set-up while simultaneously trying to watch the movie, read the captions, and not bother the people sitting around me. The CaptiView stand is often too floppy so that it never actually stays where you need it or is sitting crooked and unreadable. Sometimes it just straight up dies halfway through the movie, or has connection problems. I end up leaving the cinemas with eye strain, a headache and a stiff neck from having to sit still and change my depth perception between the CaptiView in front of me and the screen behind it for the entire duration of the movie. This is my experience with CaptiView as a healthy 23 year old, and it would be even harder for others who; have limited mobility or other disabilities, poor eyesight, young children, and the elderly. 

The solution is a no-brainer: simply display the captions on-screen, or at least offer specific screening times throughout the day that have on-screen captioning. At a time where huge platforms such as Netflix, Television, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook and TikTok are working harder to offer captioning, why aren't cinemas keeping up? 

The cinema is the perfect place for Deaf people to enjoy a movie as it is LOUD and we can feel the vibrations… but we need proper and accessible captions. Not only us, but many hearing people, non-English speaking people and those with sensory processing disorders love captions too. Cinemas NEED to offer ON SCREEN captions. Accessibility is important. To Event Cinemas, as the most popular cinema chain in Australia, you can be pioneers of real change and set an incredible example for others to follow. 

I would love to easily catch a movie with my hearing partner, friends or my Deaf family. There are 3.6 million people with some form of hearing loss/Deafness Australia-wide who would agree with me. If you also agree, please sign and support this petition.