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Legislative Council - Fifty-Second Parliament, First Session (52-1)
2010-05-26 Daily Xml
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ACCESSIBLE CINEMA

The Hon. J.A. DARLEY (15:44): I rise today to speak about accessible cinema. In February I was asked to introduce a brief session about accessible cinema at the Australian International Documentary Conference, which was held in Adelaide. I must admit that my knowledge of accessible cinema was next to nothing before being asked to be part of this event; however, I believe it is important to share with others what I learnt that day.

While many may dismiss accessible cinemas as merely an issue for those with a disability, accessible cinemas also provide access to films and documentaries for older Australians who have deteriorating hearing or vision, a service which is particularly important in a country with a growing ageing population. I learnt that currently one in five Australians is unable to experience a cinema session, an activity which too many of us take for granted.

Accessible cinema began in 2001 in Australia after a complaint was lodged with the Australian Human Rights Commission by Dr John Byrne. Dr Byrne lodged a complaint under the Disability Discrimination Act 1992, alleging discrimination by a cinema and a cinema chain as they did not provide captions or subtitles for English language films.

Following an inquiry by the Human Rights Commission, an agreement was reached to provide for one accessible cinema per capital city. Screen Australia, which is a federal government agency, has required that all feature films it finances be captioned. For the deaf or hearing impaired, accessible cinemas provide captioning, which many people may already be familiar with, given the prevalence of flat screen televisions in public locations, particularly in family friendly dining establishments.

For the blind or visually impaired, accessible cinemas provide an audio description, which is delivered to either individual headphones or personal listening devices. Currently there are only 11 accessible cinemas across Australia. These cinemas only provide captions and do not offer the audio description facility. Whilst I am heartened by federal government funding, which will provide an additional 12 locations, Australia still falls far behind the US, with over 830 accessible cinemas, and the UK with over 300.

The average cost to install an accessible cinema system is $20,000, which, although it may seem like a large capital outlay, especially for small independent cinemas, delivers a potential increase in patronage, which should dispel any hesitation against the system. Also asked to contribute to the session on accessible cinema was Alex Jones and Gerrard Gosens. Alex Jones is an Australian actor, theatre director and ambassador for the International Day of People with Disability and has been deaf from birth. He is also current chairperson of the Deafness Forum of Australia, one of Australia's peak bodies for deafness, and he does not believe that being deaf is a challenge—the challenge is learning how to educate people about deafness.

Gerrard Gosens is congenitally blind and, whilst probably best known for his appearance on Dancing with the Stars, he is also an adventurer who has climbed to 7,300 metres on Mount Everest, run 2,000 kilometres from Port Douglas to the Gold Coast and from Cairns to Brisbane, represented Australia at the Sydney and Atlanta Paralympic Games and co-piloted an ultra light motor glider around Queensland three times. Gerrard has competed in many competitions and, although he has never seen the finish line, he lives by the motto 'Success is a journey, not a destination'. Both Alex and Gerrard spoke about their experiences with accessible cinema and the need to increase the number of accessible cinemas across Australia.

Going to the movies is a social experience that many people enjoy, starting from childhood and extending through to their later years. Missing out on such an experience can lead to feelings of isolation and exclusion, and accessible cinemas will allow a greater number of people to enjoy cinematic experiences.

Time expired.

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