Regular movie-goers may not be surprised to hear that often, audio description for blind individuals doesn’t work. According to the ADA, places of public accommodation must ensure that services such as audio description are readily provided when available, and yet often enough, major theater chains fail to deliver. That’s why firms such as DRA are now looking for individuals across the country who have had such negative experiences, to hear their stories. Here’s the official announcement from DRA and RBGG:
Disability Rights Advocates, a national nonprofit legal center based in Berkeley, California, and Rosen Bien Galvan & Grunfeld, a law firm based in San Francisco experienced with disability rights issues, are investigating complaints from blind individuals who have been unable to use audio description services at American Multi-Cinema, Inc. (“AMC”) movie theaters. We are interested in speaking with legally blind individuals who have encountered problems when attempting to use audio description services at AMC theaters.
Audio description refers to recorded audio that provides synchronized descriptions of a movie’s key visual details during natural pauses in dialog during the movie. Many popular films are released with the audio description feature. Movie theaters provide access to audio description by issuing upon request wireless handsets and headphones that play the audio description track during the movie. This configuration allows blind customers to listen to both the dialog and sound effects in a movie and descriptions of the visual aspects of the film.
If you are legally blind and you have been unable to access audio description services at AMC theaters because the audio description equipment was malfunctioning, because AMC staff did not know how to configure the audio description equipment, or for any other reason, we would appreciate speaking with you about your experiences. To share your experiences, please contact Charlotte Landes by phone at (415) 433-6830 or by e-mail at clandes@rbgg.com or Julia Marks by phone at (510) 665-8644 or by e-mail at jmarks@dralegal.org.
