[Nfbofsc] FW: [NCSAB Members] Justice Department Releases Final Rule Requiring Movie Captioning and Audio Description

[David Houck]

To: NCSAB Membership

 

From: Fred Schroeder

 

Subject: Justice Department Releases Final Rule Requiring  Movie Captioning
and Audio Description

 

Date: November 25, 2016

 

 

Below is an announcement from the Department of Justice (DOJ) concerning the
release of revised ADA Title III regulations requiring closed movie
captioning and audio description for people with disabilities. The final
rule requires movie theaters to have available and maintain the equipment
necessary to provide closed movie captioning and audio description so that
it is delivered to a movie patron's seat and available only to that patron.
Movie theaters are also required to notify the public about the availability
of these features and have staff available to assist movie patrons with the
equipment.  

 

Here is the announcement:

 

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 

 

JUSTICE DEPARTMENT REVISES REGULATIONS TO REQUIRE CLOSED MOVIE CAPTIONING
AND AUDIO DESCRIPTION FOR PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES

 

WASHINGTON - The Justice Department today announced an Americans with
Disabilities Act (ADA) Title III regulation to further clarify a public
accommodation's obligation to provide appropriate auxiliary aids and
services for people with disabilities.  The final rule provides that public
accommodations that own, operate or lease movie theaters are required to
provide closed movie captioning and audio description whenever showing a
digital movie that is produced, distributed or otherwise made available with
these features.  

 

Title III of the ADA requires public accommodations to furnish appropriate
auxiliary aids and services, where necessary, to ensure effective
communication with people with disabilities, and the department has long
held the position that captioning and audio description are auxiliary aids
required by the ADA.  Despite this obligation and the widespread
availability of movies with these features, the department received numerous
reports from the disability community indicating that neither closed movie
captioning nor audio description is universally available at movie theaters
across the United States.  

 

The department initiated this rulemaking on June 10, 2010, with the
publication of its Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM) and then
published its Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) on Aug. 1, 2014.  In
total, the department received over 1,500 comments on the ANPRM and the
NPRM, including a comment on the NPRM that was jointly submitted by advocacy
groups representing individuals with hearing disabilities and the movie
theater industry.  The department intends to publish the final rule in the
Federal Register in the near future, and the rule will take effect 45 days
after publication.  

 

"The disability community and movie theater industry provided comprehensive
insight on this important regulation," said Principal Deputy Assistant
Attorney General Vanita Gupta, head of the Justice Department's Civil Rights
Division.  "The Justice Department's regulation establishes a nationally
consistent standard and ensures that, in theaters across the country, people
with hearing and vision disabilities can fully enjoy watching movies with
their families and friends." 

 

The final rule requires movie theaters to have available and maintain the
equipment necessary to provide closed movie captioning and audio description
so that it is delivered to a movie patron's seat and available only to that
patron.  Movie theaters are also required to notify the public about the
availability of these features and have staff available to assist movie
patrons with the equipment.  

 

The requirements of this rule do not apply to any movie theater that shows
analog movies exclusively.  Additionally, the compliance limitations under
Title III of the ADA apply to this rulemaking, and thus, the rule makes
clear that movie theaters do not have to comply with the rule's requirements
if compliance would result in an undue burden or a fundamental alteration.

 

For more information about this rule or the ADA, please visit the
department's ADA website <http://www.ada.gov/>  or call the ADA Information
Line (1-800-514-0301 <tel:%281-800-514-0301> , 1-800-514-3083, TTY).  Once
the final rule is published in the Federal Register, a copy will be
available on the Federal Register's website.

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usually treatable. Has an ophthalmologist diagnosed you or a loved one with
cataracts? Do you need cataract surgery but can't afford the cost? If you're
a SC resident and U.S. citizen not covered by Medicare, Medicaid or other
insurance; and have cataracts in both eyes, we at the SC Commission for the
Blind may be able to help. Give us a call at 888.335.5951 or find us online
at www.sccb.state.sc.us 

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