Deaf teen says movie theaters failed to provide operating captioning devices
by Ariana Lubelli, SBG San Antonio Thursday, May 30, 2019
Enjoying the movie theater is something many of us do, but for hearing-impaired individuals, it can be a stressful experience. It’s extremely difficult to understand the movie without the proper, operating captioning devices.
Kaylee Lartigue, 16 and creator of Deaf Girl Evolution, says she’s been facing obstacles in San Antonio movie theaters. In a series of different incidents, she says captioning equipment has been broken, not properly charged or unable to fit into the designated cup-holder.
She says the most recent dilemma occurred when she went to see the new Avengers movie at Silverado.
“We were so excited and ready to watch it and we got the caption equipment, went in, then when the movie started, there was nothing showing, no captioning,” said Kaylee Lartigue.
Her dad hustled out of the theater to grab her a new device.
“It wasn’t turning on at all so dad had to run and grab it, went back and come back with another one. The movie had just started and it was working for a few minutes and then it just kind of went blank,” said Lartigue.
Unfortunately, she says this is something that has occurred on multiple occasions.
“I would love for my child to be able to go to the movies and have the same experience that I do or as close to it as possible,” said Kaylee’s mother, Linda Lartigue.
Lartigue says she has had many conversations with theater managers about the problem. She says they have offered her solutions, but none seem to fix the problem of detective captioning devices.
“He continuously offers free tickets and compensation for the fact that they don’t have proper equipment, but those free tickets don’t do me any good when their equipment is still not working properly and my daughter still can not go and enjoy a movie,” said Lartigue.
A spokesperson for Santikos Entertainment said they have made upgrades through their theater and review all equipment on a daily basis to make sure it’s operating correctly.
The statement said quote:
At Santikos Entertainment we review all guest feedback daily. Our goal every day is to deliver the best entertainment experience to everyone. After learning of a defect with a piece equipment, we quickly ordered brand new equipment company-wide and updated our internal process for reviewing all equipment daily. We offer a wide range of viewing options to ensure the whole community may enjoy the movies. We have always been 100% ADA compliant and will continue to monitor and upgrade our technology as necessary. Supporting the community was a passion of John Santikos and we strive every day to help several cause areas in our community through the John L. Santikos Charitable Foundation.
SOURCE:
https://news4sanantonio.com/news/local/deaf-teen-says-movie-theaters-failed-to-provide-operating-captioning-devices