Captioning Comes to Paramount in Seattle
Seattle's huge Paramount Theatre will offer a captioned performance of A Chorus Line in August of this year. That's a step in the right direction, even though it may be small and somewhat half-hearted.
When we get the exact date, we'll post that information on this site, and prod Paramount to post it on its website as well. Nothing will do more to spread the availability of captioning than a good turnout from the hearing-loss community.
Paramount's offer came in response to correspondence I have been conducting over the last several months with Paramount and with other Seattle theaters. I've been trying to make then aware of the unique needs of those of us in the hearing-loss community who do not use sign language, and especially those of us non-signers whose hearing loss is such that Assistive Listening Devices don't let us fully understand dialog and song lyrics.
I've referred to this group as the Significantly Hard of Hearing or SHOH, and I define that group specifically as those who don't gain full enjoyment of a performace through ALDs, but who do not sign, and therefore derive no benefit from ASL-interpreted performances. I've said that the SHOH require captioning in order to enjoy a theatrical performance.
The news from Paramount is not all good. Paramount says that it will seek feedback on the captioned performance from "the deaf and SHOH community." Paramount still makes the basic mistake of looking at us as one unified community. While we may have similar interests and similar sensory challenges, the accommodations we require are very different.
As I have pointed out to Paramount, asking those groups what they want is a waste of time. I'm absolutely certain that when you ask the culturally Deaf what accommodations they need, the answer will be, "ASL-interpreted performances," and if you ask the SHOH, the answer will be "captions." Just as it makes little sense to ask the SHOH to comment on the quality of an ASL-interpreted performance, it also makes little sense to ask the Deaf about the quality or adequacy of captions.
Ever the optimist, I'm hopeful that Paramount's response comes from naivete rather than from a deliberate effort to pit to groups against each other. In any event, the offer of a trial captioned performance is a step in the right direction, even if it might be a small and half-hearted step.
Rather than continuing to advocate as an individual for access to public facilities, my future work in this area will be undertaken in cooperation with the Washington State Communication Access Project, or Wash-CAP. I invite you to learn more about Wash-CAP, and join our efforts to open Washington's public places to those of us with hearing loss.
