Sara Kendall: Cinemas should do more to bring in deaf audiences

As Deaf individuals, we all have our barriers to break through, especially as a minority in society but at end of the day, we shouldn’t be treated like second class citizens, correct?

What do I mean by this? Well, we want to go about our lives like everybody else, but there are certain differences to what we are able to do with our time.

For example, we cannot decide on the spur of the moment to go to the cinema whenever we fancy.

We have to check when there are subtitled screenings (usually at inconvenient times like on a weekday at 2pm when most of us work). We then plan our day around it, so we arrive on time, buy the tickets and find our seats.

BUT there are often hindrances to this process…. can you guess? Hmm yes, when the film starts, surprise(!), no subtitles!

Or, when we arrive, we discover the subtitled slot was cancelled to make way for a private party and are told that we can come back tomorrow to watch it. Hmm, come back to watch it without subtitles? No thanks. (This has actually happened to me and my friend for the record.)

OR, worst of all, they decide to take the subtitles off almost halfway through the film because someone has complained about the subtitles being ‘too distracting’.  Any of this sound familiar to you?

BUT what about the other entertainment opportunities out there? For instance, OUTDOOR cinemas? When I saw an event on Facebook, as a ‘millennial’ I naturally wanted to try it out. So I emailed the company that was hosting the event and enquired which of their screenings had subtitles.

The response I got was not too much of a surprise to me. They said they had regrettably sold out their only subtitled screening and thanked me for emailing them.

I responded back asking if they could put subtitles on another screening, considering they only provided one screening with subtitles in comparison to their other 20 screenings without subtitles?

They refused, saying that it would be difficult to do so but out of courtesy, they would send two tickets for me to go to the subtitled screening.

I still persisted and asked whether there were any plans to have more subtitled screenings in the foreseeable future? They said no, it was not likely to be more than one screening every now and then.

* Sighs*

So I go on google and gather the email addresses of other outdoor cinemas companies. One company emailed saying that they did not provide subtitles but what annoyed me was their abrupt response, with nonexistent efforts to liaise with me further.

I replied back outlining why they should consider making their events more accessible and pointed out that they needed to make reasonable adjustments.

They finally responded back in a milder manner saying that they would be happy to try to screen subtitles as long I made sure there was a minimum of eight Deaf individuals attending.

I was not sure whether I should laugh or be astonished at this response. Why should we as Deaf individuals have to make sure a certain number of Deaf people attend, when our hearing peers do not need to do this?

Lastly, another email arrived in my inbox from a different outdoor cinema company and they stated they do not offer subtitled screenings but that they have tried to do this in the past by looking to partner with a hearing loss charity. They said there was little interest in it so therefore they did not pursue it further. I am still liaising with them concerning this so I cannot comment on this company as of yet.

The responses to my emails left me in a state of despair. As for the tickets I received, I went to the screening which I enjoyed immensely (and would recommend to anybody if they have the chance to do so) but I also felt a bit deflated that they chose to screen the subtitles on a Monday night.

The outdoor cinema was part of a winter festival but the rest of the festival was closed on a Monday and was open from Tuesday to Sunday. So we couldn’t enjoy the rest of the festival.

Moreover, I was slightly disappointed to see there were only four Deaf individuals in attendance other than me and my partner because this meant a lot of my Deaf peers missed out on this screening, due to all the tickets being booked up quickly.

What I found interesting is that the fact the rest of the audience was hearing showed that subtitles couldn’t be too much of a hindrance for them – despite what we are constantly told about subtitled screenings being unpopular with hearing audiences.

I posted some photos of the screening on my Instagram and straightaway, a few of my friends replied saying they tried to buy tickets but it was sold out very quickly. Some were not aware that there was a subtitled screening on offer in the first place.

Clearly, more of us need to be emailing these companies to reinforce the importance of them providing subtitled screenings more often. Remember there are is strength in numbers! And the companies need to reserve some tickets for Deaf customers.

At the end of the day, companies like those discussed in this article SHOULD also be doing more to make sure there are more subtitled screenings with a variety of times and to provide screenings frequently throughout the week.

OR better yet, invent something that will enable us to watch them anytime we want to!

Sara Kendall describes herself as “a wanderluster who loves exploring different countries, cultures and food! I am a newly qualified post-14 teacher with a soft spot for international development sector also. I have a not so secret guilty pleasure of watching five episodes of Neighbours in a row while scoffing Jaffa cakes!”