On July 23, 2014, the Attorney General signed the Department's Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) proposing to amend the Americans with Disabilities Act title III regulation to provide closed movie captioning and audio description to give persons with hearing and vision disabilities access to movies. Closed movie captioning refers to captions that are delivered to the patron at his or her seat and are visible only to that patron. Audio description enables individuals who are blind or have low vision to enjoy movies by providing a spoken narration of key visual elements of a movie, such as actions, settings, facial expressions, costumes, and scene changes. Audio description is transmitted to a user's wireless headset. The Department is proposing to provide a consistent nationwide standard for movie theaters to exhibit movies with closed movie captioning and audio description for all showings of movies that are available with closed movie captioning or audio description. This proposed rule would impose no independent obligation on movie theaters to add captions or audio description to movies that are not already available with those features.
Gainesville Sun
When Marion Debusk applied for a job as a receptionist, the employer was hesitant. Debusk is blind, and the employer worried about how she would handle certain situations.
For instance, Debusk was asked how she would know to press an alarm button if a gunman came in. She didn’t know how to answer the question, and she didn’t get the job.
Psychiatric News
Whether the Department of Justice continues to extend the reach of the Americans With Disabilities Act may depend on whether states choose to fight or settle class-based ADA claims.