CaptionFish: Helping Moviegoers Find Accessible Films
For persons with vision or hearing loss, enjoying a movie played in a movie theater can be a challenge. Fortunately, an increasing number of movies are being released that include features designed to make the movie more accessible.
For viewers with hearing impairments, movies may be made more accessible with the use of open captioning or rear window captioning. In open captioning, the movie’s text is superimposed directly over the screen images. In rear window captioning, the captions are projected onto an acrylic panel attached to the individual viewer’s seat so that the captions are visible only to that viewer. Viewers with visual impairments may be provided special headsets that offer descriptive video narration that describes the parts of a movie that lack dialogue or other helpful sounds.
Not all movies released have these features, and not all theaters have the ability to provide them. A website called CaptionFish, available at http://www.captionfish.com/, lets you find movie theaters in your area that are playing movies equipped with these accessibility features, shows you what kind of features are being offered, and when the accessible films are playing. The website also tells you when new movies with accessibility features are being released, giving moviegoers something to look forward to!
