ࡱ> <>;%` bjbj"x"x ."@@ \ \ \ \ x  {{{$ghT"{{" 7,www  JwwwV @bw\  n6c<v,# %H# # {vTwED|{{{""m {{{8 $8   Monday, December 7, 2009 Commissioner Graeme Innes 鱨վ Castlereagh Street Sydney NSW 2000 Submission to Cinema Exemption Application Dear Commissioner, I am writing in response to the request by Hoyts Corporation, Greater Union Organisation, Village Cinemas and Reading Cinemas (the applicants) to apply for a Temporary Exemption under section 55 of the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 (DDA) from complaints in relation to the provision of captions and audio description in cinemas operated by the applicants. The application is for a period of 2 years from the date of granting of the Temporary Exemption. Spinal Cord Injuries Australia (SCI Australia) believes that any granting of an exemption to the DDA by the 鱨վ (AHRC) can only serve to marginalise people with hearing impairments and does not support this application. . Although this application provides details of the proposed schedule of improvements for inclusion for people living with a disability, generally and historically, individual cinemas and cinema chains have been reluctant to provide accessible services and facilities at their venues. Change is often only forthcoming towards universal access after conciliation of a disability discrimination complaint. I understand that these four cinema companies have a total of 125 cinemas equating to 1182 screens, however, the proposal would only: Increase the number of screens in cinemas operated by the applicants capable of delivering captions to 35 over the next 2 years following the granting of any Temporary Exemption Provide audio description capability in all those 35 screens, including a retro-fit of the current 12 cinemas offering captioning to include audio-description SCI Australia believes the above-mentioned proposal of 3% of all cinema screens is an inadequate percentage. This can only act negatively on people living with a disability and on our aims as a fair and decent society towards social inclusion for all people. In this instance specifically those who have a hearing impairment, or vision impairment or who are blind. SCI Australia understands the negative impact from the lack of access to services and facilities for people living with a disability and calls on the 鱨վer to reject the exemption application, and its list of proposals, and if possible, request the cinema companies to be proactive and substantially increase the percentage of cinemas and screens with captions and audio description capability. Thank you very much for providing SCI Australia with the opportunity to make this submission. Yours sincerely, Sean Lomas Greg Killeen Policy department Spinal Cord Injuries Australia l   u ʶscccScScGhH1CJOJQJ^JhCJOJQJ^JmH sH h\FCJOJQJ^JmH sH hoNCJOJQJ^JmH sH hH1CJOJQJ^JmH sH hbACJOJQJ^JmH sH $hb@,hCJOJQJ^JmH sH 'h*CJOJQJ^JmH sH h; G-\F8 \<"K"#H9&j&X )U^*H1261;m;? s?O)BC0CD[DRGVJLN9S