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What's the difference between Open Captioned (OC) and Closed Captioned (CC)? #AskHoward

File a complaint with your local movie theater if your CC experience was not good: Link


VIDEO DESC & TRANSCRIPT: Howard A. Rosenblum is sitting at his desk. The NAD logo appears on bottom right corner as a watermark.

HOWARD: We all love going to the movies, right? For deaf and hard of hearing people, there are currently two different kinds of access at movie theaters. One is "Open Captioned" (OC) which means the words are shown on the screen for anyone in the theater to see without having to bring in any kind of device. The other kind is "Closed Captioned" (CC) which means that I cannot see the captioning without some sort of device, such as a captioning box with an arm that I have to stick in my cup holder or wear glasses with captioning or use my phone. There is a reason for the two different kinds of captioning. Federal law requires that movie theaters provide captioning through CC. Many years ago, the NAD did ask the Department of Justice (DOJ) to add OC requirements in addition to the CC requirements so that both would be required. The DOJ refused to add OC requirements and decided that CC was good enough for access. But many of you are frustrated with CC because the CC technology isn't perfect: sometimes the CC devices miss some lines, the glasses aren't comfortable, the captions were wrong for the movie used, the CC device gets disconnected, or the battery dies. All these issues are good reasons why many of us want OC at the movie theaters. For that reason, the NAD recognizes and commends Hawaii for being the first state to pass a law requiring OC showings of movies at movie theater in 2015. However, later in 2017, legislators in Hawaii amended the bill to allow movie theaters to provide either OC or CC with movies. This meant OC usage decreased. The deaf community in Hawaii shared their concerns with the legislators to change the bill back to requiring movie theaters to show movies with OC. This did not mean no CC, only that people can have both OC and CC. Hawaii isn't alone in this effort, there is also a push in the DC legislature to require OC movie showings at movie theaters. A few other states are doing the same. We encourage all of you to advocate for your state legislatures to pass laws for what we want -- OC movies on a weekly basis in movie theaters! Fight for more options not just weekday morning movie times. For those who live in states that do not have OC requirements and can only watch movies at movie theaters with CC, you have a right to file a complaint about your CC experience if you are not able to understand the movie. The law requires equal access so if the movie theater's CC equipment isn't working -- they are not complying with the law. You can file a complaint using the NAD's online form; find the section for movie theaters and fill out the form. Once you fill out the form, it will be passed on to the movie theater chain. We can only achieve equality if all of you advocate for your rights. Thank you.

Video cuts to grey background with the NAD logo quickly changing in different bright colors from teal to white to black to hot pink to green to orange to teal to yellow to purple to finally the official NAD logo with copyright text underneath “The National Association of the Deaf (c) 2019 All Rights Reserved”.