Caption Glasses and the ADA

[rolanni]

So, last week, I was introduced to the notion of "caption glasses," as an assistive technology to help deaf and hard-of-hearing folk to enjoy movies for their dialogue and not just for the pretty pictures.  And I called the Flagship Cinemas in Waterville to ask if they had "caption glasses," and the reply came back in the negative.

Now, I currently have Book Brain (manuscript due in oh, right close to 30 days), so I don't have a lot of Think Power left over to consider Real Life, but it did occur to me sometime yesterday that, doggone it, hasn't the ADA* had some kind of input here?  I mean, considering the sheer number of people who are deaf or heard-of-hearing?**

I shelved that thought for Life After Book, but Irene Harrison was busy doing the legwork on a parallel track.  She provided the information that the ADA required theaters with more than 50 seats to have assistive technology available, and that the government would give those theaters that installed this technology support in the form of a tax break.

Steve followed up on this for me, and came up with the Hearing Loss Association of America website (here's the link), on which we find the following (note the date):

Dec 6 2016

On June 10, 2010 the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) published an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM), “Nondiscrimination on the Basis of Disability by Public Accommodations – Movie Theaters; Movie Captioning and Audio Description.” Six-and-a-half-years later, the DOJ has issued a Final Rule on the ANPRM.

In their Final Rule, the DOJ requires movie theaters to:

• have and maintain the equipment necessary to provide closed movie captioning and audio description at a movie patron’s seat whenever showing a digital movie produced, distributed, or otherwise made available


• provide notice to the public about the availability of these features, including on communications and advertisements at the box office, and other ticketing locations, on websites, mobile apps newspapers and via telephone. Third party websites are not required to provide that information.


• ensure that theater staff is available to assist patrons with the equipment before, during, and after the showing of a movie with these features.

Full article here.

So, what it looks like is that, for 6.5 years, the assistive technology rule has more or less been a guideline, and now, it is law.

In the meantime, just for fun, I have written to Flagship Cinema Corporate (owner-operators of theaters in Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Florida), inquiring into the existence of assistive hearing devices in their Waterville location, and seeking guidance on how to ask for this device at the ticket counter.

So, that.

Back to work.

__________________
*ADA = Americans with Disabilities Act

**Actually, there is a Societal Thing where we pretend that being deaf or hard-of-hearing isn't really a disability.  Insurance companies routinely pretend that hearing aids are some sort of luxury item, which you may buy out of your funds, or do without; and my insurance carrier, at least, has stopped covering hearing tests.  Of course, my insurance carrier has stopped covering treatment for depression, but only for women. Because, my ghod! If we covered all the depressed women or hearing impaired people in the world, the stockholders wouldn't get their profit.  But I digress.

Comments

[reedrover]

Of course, my insurance carrier has stopped covering treatment for depression, but only for women.

::boggle::

Only men get depressed? How... awkward...

[rolanni.livejournal.com]

No, only women are expensive when they're depressed.

A friend explained it thusly, and I don't say she's wrong: Teenagers kill themselves when they're depressed, and men drink. Women report that they're depressed, and seek treatment.

[reedrover]

I'm not sure I agree about the teenagers, but yes, unfortunately, most gents of my acquaint who get/are depressed don't seek treatment. I can only think of two out of the many who sought professional help, and not from a bartender.

[badgermirlacca.livejournal.com]

>>only for women

And they say we don't need a Equal Rights Amendment. AAAARRRRRGH.

[deor.livejournal.com]

Surely covering a condition for one gender but not the other must be in violation of some kind of law!

[thewol.livejournal.com]

There's something called "n-acetylcysteine" that you can get over the counter in stores that sell supplements and "health" stuff. It has helped me, not only with depression but with an OCD spectrum disorder. You might want to investigate it. It's a natural occurring amino acid, and it's what they give you for an acetaminophen overdose, so if you're allergic to aspirin, taking it limits the over-the-counter pain relievers you can take to ibuprofen. It has many other uses as well. Might be worth looking into as it does not require a prescription and compared to the side effects and the cost of most psychotropic medications used to treat depression, it's cheaper and way less toxic. You can even buy it off Amazon.
Since it's not a medication, there are no drug interaction concerns. The one "untoward" side effect is that it can cause nausea if you take it on an empty stomach -- but that's an easy fix.

[rolanni.livejournal.com]

Um.

If it's an herb or a vitamin, there are "drug interaction concerns." For instance, Steve takes heart medicine and is forbidden from drinking grapefruit juice, or eating grapefruit, or even being in the same city with grapefruit, because of potentially deadly interactions between the drug and the good-for-you, high-in-beneficial-Vitamin-C fruit. Everything you put into the machine interacts with everything else. Just because something's "natural" doesn't automatically mean it's "safe."

Case in point -- I used to use pennyroyal to make my Extra Superlative Flea Bags (along with lavender and something else that I don't recall at the moment). "Used to" is the operative phrase because pennyroyal, "natural" as it is, is an abortifacient. Which is why it was so effective in flea control. It was Every Bit as Effective for humans, as the midwives back In The Day knew very well -- and that's why it was removed from shelves.

[thewol.livejournal.com]

It's neither an herb nor a vitamin. It's an amino acid. This is not one of those "folk medicines" or "new agey" or "herbal" things. There have been a number of medical studies done on n-acetylcysteine and its use in treating psychiatric illnesses such as bipolar disorder and major depression, and there is a considerable body of medical literature out there in accredited medical journals reporting the results. You don't hear a lot about it because the drug companies can't get anything proprietary out of it , so they can't make any money off it.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acetylcysteine#Psychiatry

I invite you to compare the side effects of n-acetylcysteine to psychotropic medications commonly prescribed, like Anafranil and clomipramine, or some of the SSRIs like Paxil, Zoloft, ad Prozac.

And it's not that you can't take acetaminophen when you take n-acetylcysteine, it just doesn't do any good, because the n-acetylcysteine neutralizes it. It's the treatment of choice for acetaminophen overdose as it keeps the acetaminophen from eating up your liver.

[badgermirlacca.livejournal.com]

Seems to me that if you're limited to ibuprofen, that's a big red flag for drug interaction concerns.

It's not just prescribed medications that can lead to interactions. That's kind of like thinking that "it's natural so it can't hurt you"--but things like lead, arsenic, and cyanide are all "natural" things, and they can all kill you.

[amm-me.livejournal.com]

Not at all saying that this amino acid isn't valuable. Just - not calling it a drug doesn't mean there aren't interactions. They just don't have to be listed on tte label.

[dancinghorse.livejournal.com]

As noted earlier, I have never seen caption glasses. What we have here is a different device. So in raising the Powers to get assistive tech to Waterville, you may want to be more general in your terminology. Ask for Closed Captioning. That gives them more options as to what they come up with for solutions.

Here's what we have: https://www.google.com/search?q=movie+closed+captioning+device&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj3mbOA2oPRAhVCy2MKHZNwC9IQ_AUICCgB&biw=852&bih=468#imgrc=AwqWsUDDGRTNbM%3A

I will try to remember to ask my brother in Carmel if there are theaters in the general area that accommodate hearing issues. He's Deaf and has had a decent amount to do with administering the ADA in Maine. Is teaching ASL classes at the U down in Portland this year. He's my go-to guy for what's new, current, and pending in the field.

[rolanni.livejournal.com]

Yes, I heard you say that. Or read you say that. Or whatever.

I stuck to "assistive hearing devices," and asked them to tell me if (1) such devices were in fact available to viewers at the Waterville cinemas, and (2) if such devices were indeed available, what should I ask for at the ticket counter so that there would be no unfortunate misunderstandings.

As I mentioned earlier, the Regal Cinemas in Augusta have recently installed "caption glasses," which are apparently some hot new thing developed by Sony Entertainment, in their theaters. I'd really rather not drive 50 miles to see a movie, if I can get something helpful in the immediate neighborhood. Given what I've read about the Sony glasses, I'd rather the LED caption thingy. Seems the Sony glasses put the caption Right In Front of You, no matter where you look, which means that you have to choose whether you want to see the movie, or read the caption.

[dancinghorse.livejournal.com]

I like the Wall-E thingy. Nobody else can see your captions, or even realize you have them unless they're directly behind you. And you get the option of not having them glaring in your eyeballs.

[tuftears.livejournal.com]

I haven't seen caption glasses out here yet, but y'never know, it may be just a matter of time. Our theaters have devices like the one you linked. They work pretty well, except when the theater personnel messes up setting up the broadcast in some way.

Glad to Help: Hearing

[ireneha.livejournal.com]

I was glad to do a bit of searching for Hearing Assistance.
I also talked it up with one of my friends, who, I think, is hearing impaired (but has a totally invisible aide). He reports that his church has headsets, and a couple of small theaters in my area.

The Americans with Disabilities Act - has the theater providing 'some' assistance - but not necessarily those nifty caption devices.

Another web site said that hearing impaired people should not HAVE to ask for a device, nor be holding/wearing/showing anything that would make them look different..but the whole room should be wired to allow their own hearing device (probably hidden) to pick up the electronic signals.

I am slowly becoming my mother. I hate it. BUT..
I finally picked up a "Hearing Impaired" button at WorldCon several years back. What the button did was display that I had 'admitted to' hearing problems, and gave me a front row seat in discussion rooms.

[gerald heaton (from livejournal.com)]

Men get depressed? Where's my Jack Black?

My son is MILDLY bipolar (thanks to 3 trips to the sandbox (Iraq)) and he now has to pay 50% of his treatments/meds out of pocket.
And his insurance is considered among the top tier. The VA doesn't recognize the problem, which considering the state of the VA is probably a good thing.
I'd hate to see what a fully bipolar person has to pay.

We are limited the a "well care" physical to every 18 months, our cholesterol screening to once a year.

I have noticed that most insurance carriers have either reduced or dropped "well care" for women since obamma care came into being.
What were considered "normal" treatments" are now "optional, not medically necessary"

Yet a person can get subsidized health care for obesity, and a medical tax deduction for Weight Watchers (et al), NOT the foods, just the classes.
Go figure.

[deor.livejournal.com]

Those of us with vision issues often find that glasses / contacts aren't covered either, nor are trips to ophthalmologists for purely vision issues (as opposed to medical issues such as cataracts or glaucoma). Not even if you literally can't see anything but a blur past the end of your own nose.

I wonder how large the font in those assistive hearing devices is for folks with both hearing and vision issues.