Steve and I usually do not go out to movies for obvious reasons (to a deaf person). We wait for the movie to come out on DVD. As far as I know there is one open captioned theater in Salt Lake City at the Ritz in West Valley City. We get our information from http://www.uad.org/cmoviesutah/ The Megaplex 20 in South Jordan has this new technology where a person can read the closed captions through a viewer.
Since Steve and I enjoy the Pirates of the Caribbean and his birthday is June 1, I decide to treat him to dinner and a movie. I purchase the tickets online with reserved seating for the 12:50 p.m. showing today, and call a restaurant that looks interesting, Spaghetti Mama’s. They don’t need reservations.
We leave for the theater an hour before it starts and we still get there late because of the long drive and road construction. At the ticket counter, we pick up our tickets and one viewer for Steve. The counter person requires a driver’s license to secure the viewer and I give him mine. We hand our tickets to the girl at the theater entrance and head off to auditorium 3. She says “Enjoy the movie.” even though it’s obvious that Steve is holding a viewer because he is deaf.
Fortunately, the movie is just barely starting so we are not late after all. I am unable to see in the dark the row number on the tickets but Steve manages to find the right seats. We are in the middle of the row and try not to step on any toes as we make our way to our seats. Two girls sitting next to Steve are also deaf and have the viewers set up on their seats. Steve sets up his viewer. The movie starts and soon there is dialogue. I ask Steve in signs if his viewer is working. He is looking disgruntled and says “no”. He moves it around but there is nothing. There is more dialogue and still he sees nothing. I tap the girl next to him and ask in signs if it is working for her. She signs that it is not. They have to turn on the captions or something. I am getting ticked off, but eventually the captions show up and I can sit back and enjoy the movie.
I feel something soft against my leg and it moves. What is that? My mind immediately creates a mental picture of sitting in church and some kid is crawling under my feet to get a toy he dropped. I am thinking this is a kid with his head rubbing against my leg. I reach down and feel something wet. Now I’m a little freaked until I realize this is someone’s hearing dog with a wet nose. It must belong to one of the girls sitting next to us. Now I’m thinking what a sweet dog this is to sit with his companion for three hours in the dark and blaringly loud noises. Except he wasn’t with his companion. He was under my feet. I rub his head with my foot a few times and then he moves over to where he belongs.
Steve and I enjoy the movie even though my butt is getting sore from sitting for so long. When it’s over, Steve tells me the viewing system was not that great. The captions are almost too small for his old eyes and you have to keep looking down below the screen to read them. In the open captioned theater, the captions are part of the picture in the same way subtitles are in foreign films. He missed a lot of the picture because his eyes were focused on the tiny captions. So it looks like we will be waiting for the DVD after all.
We take the viewer back to the ticket counter so I can retrieve my driver’s license. The counter person asks Steve, “What is your name?” Ok, let’s think about this a second. The man is returning a viewer because he is deaf. He cannot hear you asking him for his name. As usual, it is my responsiblity to answer the question because I can hear. I would be interested in knowing how the two deaf girls retrieved their driver’s licenses.
It seems to me and to Steve that if the theater is going to provide this special technology for the deaf, they should train their employees on how to use it (turn it on when the movie starts) and on how to communicate with deaf people. Oh well, it was a new and interesting experience but I think we will stick with waiting for DVDs.
Our experience at Spaghetti Mama’s is uneventful except for eating yummy food. The waiter gives Steve a free and very rich dessert since it is his birthday. He looks at it and says he would rather I buy him a gun. I eat half of his dessert and let him drive the car home because I’m sleepy from eating too much.
Filed under: Communication Issues, Service Dogs
Well, if nothing else, at you least you had each other’s company to enjoy for his special day. I’m sure no matter what happened, he was glad for that.
Dennis
Hi Julie — I enjoy your blog every time you post something… Just a couple of comments about your theatre experience. First, captioned movies in the regular theatres has been (in my opinion) a complete bust. The technology is full of bugs, and the people at the theatres are usually clueless. I know some people really enjoy going to the Big Screen and seeing first run movies, but in most cases, its a total waste of time (and money). For the amount you spent on dinner and a movie (especially if you bought snacks), you could easily afford the DVD when it comes out (and then sell it on EBAY after you’ve watched it, assuming you don’t want to keep it).
Second comment has to do with your relationship. You seem to be trying your best to make things “better” for Steve, but it seems your efforts usually end up with you being frustrated. Steve is (from all I’ve read) a perfectly bright and capable man, and I would hope he can advocate for his needs when he feels the need to do so. If he’s feeling “left out” at the captioned movies, he should be the one to express frustration with the management or staff… If he’s feeling left out at the Ward, he should be the one to sit down with the Bishop or Elders Quorum Pres, or whoever, and explain his needs. If necessary, he should bring an interpreter (not his spouse, who is emotionally involved in these issues) to make things totally clear to the other people.
I’ve worked with Deaf people my entire professional life, both in and outside the Church, and I’m sure it will be a huge relief to both of you if he assumes the responsibility for advocating for himself…
Just my humble opinion
abc
Dennis, we both enjoyed each other’s company for the day. It’s always an interesting experience.
abc, I appreciate your comments and agree with them. I am trying to develop a more deaf centered relationship with Steve, but old habits die hard. He is very good at self-advocating when I am not around, and everyone looks to me for help when I am around. I should have pretended I was deaf also at the theater. I keep forgetting to do that and I’m not sure why. It’s more fun and relaxing when I pretend I am deaf also.
As far as Church goes, tell the people in the ward. I would be perfectly happy to not go to Church but they won’t have that. So I end up being an advocate for Steve’s church attendance.
We were told last Sunday that they are going to try voice recognition software that the ward has. I explained that I tried that several years ago and it didn’t work, but they seem to think it will work. Maybe they have better software. It should be interesting to see what happens with that.
I’m not sure that things will ever be totally clear to our hearing friends in the ward.
Will hearing people ever get it? You are right, captioning on the screen works a lot better than any captioning that is separate from the screen.
And most churches are no more “with it” than other hearing people. If attendance is to be required, sharing can only be satisfying if they learn sign themselves and practice it till they can make it meaningful. Voice recognition software?? Oh, my, my, oh, my.
Keep us posted on your adventures with the clumsy attempts hearies try to make in meeting the two worlds! Steve certainly can tell them a thing or two, as we all do…with varying results.
I agree that the viewer isn’t the way to go and I get such a bad headache from constantly shifting my eyes from the movie to the viewer and vice versa for 2 or 3 hours. I’ve found either subtitled/closed captioned movies or DVDs are the way to go.
I was very lucky. Spiderman 3 was shown in open-captioning from opening day onward. I didnt go because by the week I wanted to go it was only playing at like 9:45am and 9:30pm. but hey, progress is progress!