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Inflight Movies for the deaf passengers

Inflight Movies for the deaf passengers

Old May 12, 2004, 12:08 pm
  #61  
 
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Originally Posted by Dovster
I flew Tel Aviv to Milan this week on Alitalia. I was very surprised that they showed a movie on board (they generally don't) but it was in English and Italian only.

I guarantee you that there were more Hebrew speakers on this flight than most flights have deaf people. The great majority of them could not understand the movie -- but was Alitalia really required to provide Hebrew subtitles?
They could have flown an airline that had them. Deaf people do not have that option. So your analogy fails.
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Old May 12, 2004, 12:11 pm
  #62  
 
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I'm not late-deafened. I was born deaf and I use ASL as my primary communication. I am with the others in ganging up on people who choose to plaster "Victim" on their foreheads. I'm a top-tier elite with UA, but I don't expect them to provide me DVD players or sign langauge interpreters on all of my flights.

I'm glad I found this thread - I am constantly amazed at this "gimme" mentality. When I go thru a drive-thru, I have never had problems getting my order by skipping the microphone and driving for the window. They will try their best to accommodate me and I'm appreciative of that.

Having Arby's in Irvine actually place a keyboard on the drive-thru was absolutely ridiculous and they found that nobody was using it. It was eventually taken out and I'm glad they didn't get sued again for that! Taco Bell did the same thing - and eventually took it out too.

I am NOT hearing who is not getting it. I am DEAF who is NOT getting it!

Last edited by Wiggums; May 12, 2004 at 1:13 pm
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Old May 12, 2004, 12:15 pm
  #63  
 
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They already caption the safety videos. They do it in Spanish and other foreign languages. That's safety-related.

Try asking for a massaging chair because your back hurts on a long flight. It's not expensive, about $2,000.

Also, the tapes that are supplied by the movie studios do not have captioning in them. It's not up to the airlines to provide captioning - why don't you complain to the movie studios? They are the ones providing airlines the 8mm casettes.

Originally Posted by DeafFlyer
As stated, I do not have a problem. I'm just talking about captioning on IFE. Your examples are way off the point. Captioning is very cheap to do. What's the big deal?
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Old May 12, 2004, 12:15 pm
  #64  
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Originally Posted by DeafFlyer
Pretty typical for everyone to gang up on those with disabilities and deny them equal access...
That's a pretty low blow and a dang weak response to some legitimate arguments. There is no gang attack happening here, simply people (with and w/o disabilities) stating the fact that some requests are unreasonable. It's not a gang attack to say that when you have a disability there are simply some things in life that you will not be able to enjoy. That's not an attack, and life is not always fair, but it is a reality not caused by other people.

You know many of us non-disabled people have spent thousands of hours assisting those with disabilities and asked for nothing in return. The least you can do is take a look at our opinions and not attack us as being insensitive, or worse, not caring. I'm not one to be easily offended, but that statement was d@mn offensive.
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Old May 12, 2004, 12:28 pm
  #65  
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Demanding that airlines provide close-captioned movies simply because it provides movies at all seems to me to resemble an argument that airlines must provide an infinite variety of special meals to accomodate ALL pax dietary needs just because the airline chooses to provide food acceptable to the vast majority of pax.

Yes, airlines usually provide an assortment of special meals, but they don't cover ALL passengers' special needs, just most of them.
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Old May 12, 2004, 12:28 pm
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On a flight between the U.S. to Europe, I am fairly certain there'd be far more of the following compared to deaf people:

Japanese-speaking
Chinese-speaking
Hebrew-speaking
Spanish-speaking
French-speaking
Portuguese-speaking

Let's also accommodate these poor folks and clutter the screen with various subtitles so that they can also enjoy the movie!
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Old May 12, 2004, 12:39 pm
  #67  
 
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Originally Posted by DeafFlyer
Pretty typical for everyone to gang up on those with disabilities and deny them equal access.

[snip]
No it isn't.

As somebody with a "disability," I can tell you that it is not typical, and this thread is not an example.

Most people simply learn to live with disabilities, doing their best not to let it limit them.

A very few look for every opportunity to be slighted.
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Old May 12, 2004, 1:05 pm
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Well said. I have learned how to work my way around it. Too bad some would just scream foul when not properly taken care of.
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Old May 12, 2004, 4:01 pm
  #69  
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Lightbulb Advocate or Activist?

I just got back to my office from a very interesting meeting. We were having a workshop to discuss funding for county supported programs in the next fiscal year. The chairman of the commission that protects the rights of the disabled (he's in a wheelchair, paralyzed from the waist down) was giving us a report on what they needed in operating revenue and what they planned to receive from outside donors. He said that their biggest communications challenge (with the community/business owners), and internal struggle, is the "activist vs. advocates" situation.

I've seen this occur in other civil rights/human rights organizations as well. The activists serve a great roll in raising awareness, however they can really damage the credibility of a situation by making unreasonable demands. These outrageous demands (like DVD players for all) can cause a backlash and delay for other reasonable and urgently needed accommodations.
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Old May 12, 2004, 4:19 pm
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That is very true.

Once the American with Disabilities Act was made law, I was told of some deaf people travelling across the country and deliberately staying in small Mom & Pop motels that were less likely to be informed of the law.. then suing them.

ADA required that hotels provide typewriter-like devices that enable deaf people to communicate on the phone, known as the TDD. I think it's moot nowadays since deaf people are far more likely to use their two-way pagers. In fact, my TDD is covered in dust.. haven't used it for 2 or 3 years!
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Old May 12, 2004, 10:09 pm
  #71  
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Originally Posted by DeafFlyer
They could have flown an airline that had them. Deaf people do not have that option. So your analogy fails.
Only one airline has Hebrew subtitles: El Al. El Al does not fly from Europe to the US. Hence, if a deaf person wants to stop in Europe (as I am doing for a week) before continuing on, he can not take El Al.

The analogy is exact: A Hebrew-speaker (or an Arab) can not understand a movie in English any more than a deaf person can.
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Old May 13, 2004, 6:20 am
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Well, the analogy's not exact. Pretty much anyone who has the capacity to learn to understand Hebrew has the capacity to understand English and the ability to remedy their own situation. If someone can't hear, or see, or whatever, they have no capacity to completely remedy their own situation.

I don't think airlines should be required to subtitle films either, but it would clearly be a nice gesture to have it as an option on seatback IFE.

Let's not get too far afield on this one, eh?
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Old May 13, 2004, 8:39 am
  #73  
 
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Originally Posted by Wiggums
Also, the tapes that are supplied by the movie studios do not have captioning in them. It's not up to the airlines to provide captioning - why don't you complain to the movie studios? They are the ones providing airlines the 8mm casettes.
This doesn't make sense. The airlines get their own, often highly censored, versions of movies. UA's have a little "UA" that appears on them from time to time. The airlines are clearly getting their movies altered to their requirements already, so getting a captioned version for some passengers shouldn't be a big deal.
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Old May 13, 2004, 11:25 am
  #74  
 
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It actually costs money to caption films. Clipping movies is easy, but placing subtitles on it is not. I know for a 30 minute film, it cost my company $22,500 to caption it. The UA logo is an easy 5-minute job, but typing word by word definitely does not take 5 minutes. Does that make sense? Also, have you tried reading the captioning on a tiny 9 inch screen that plops down from the ceiling on an Airbus?

Why don't we make them all plasmas so those with poor eyesight could also see the movie? Oh, what about those who are deaf and with poor eyesight? Let's cover the screen with text. Do you see where I'm getting at?
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Old May 13, 2004, 12:15 pm
  #75  
 
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Originally Posted by JeremyZ
I don't think airlines should be required to subtitle films either, but it would clearly be a nice gesture to have it as an option on seatback IFE.
That is exactly what I have been saying. I don't expect anyone to require captioning. However, it is the right thing to do.
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