Hey, I am Victoria. This video discusses Open Captions. A few months ago, maybe two, MD passed a bill requiring open captions be provided for the first three weeks a new film is in theaters. Exciting! This topic is interesting because in my home, personally, we are hearing, but, we often use closed captions. It helps us understand the words better. Especially with the action and noises, sometimes the words are soft, but the action is LOUD. I know other people's opinions about captions- they can find it distracting and find themselves just watching and reading the words and not paying attention to the film. Honestly, that is a personal problem for them, yet I do understand. For me, it's fine.
In reference to the "who, where, why, how,"
I think more bills passing OC laws would benefit everyone, not only the Deaf. Understanding the dialog in a film is so important. With a theater screen being so big, perhaps they can provide a small and less distracting font and place it lower on the screen to make it less distracting. That does make me wonder if downloading the film, the printed font would be the same.. Hmm.. again, I do not care since the cc never bothers me, and I prefer having it. I understand people's opinions on the matter are varied. Having that option in theaters is CHAMP, providing accessibility for many different people. I have also read that some places offer special glasses that have captions on the glasses for theater films. How interesting! Sometimes changes in culture (entertainment culture) is hard, I get it. But that aside, once it becomes more commonly seen/available, I think it will be more widely accepted. OC benefits everyone, hearing, hard of hearing, and deaf alike. Sometimes, films are distracting, we miss spoken words, and the captions are helpful. I do not think having the OC will negatively influence a film's success. Hoping more states pass similar legislation. There are a lot of d/Deaf people in our area, so ofc it would be beneficial and I hope it happens here in VA too. So the "how", I need to do more research and figure that one out. But signing petitions, sending public surveys, and getting the discussions going in the community is one way. Anyway, in my opinion, OC benefits everyone.