[Missouri-l] [leadership] Fw: Discriptive Videe Devices at Movie Theatres

[peter altschul]

---- Original Message ------
From: "John Vernon" <WhyNot48 at comcast.net
Subject: [leadership] Fw: Discriptive Videe Devices at Movie 
Theatres
Date sent: Thu, 25 Jun 2009 00:27:24 -0500


----- Original Message -----
From: John Vernon, President,  The New Jersey Councilof the Blind
To: John Vernon
Sent: Thursday, June 18, 2009 12:11 PM
Subject: Discriptive Video Devices at Movie Theatres


Hi All,  Yesterday I went to a movie theatre and was able to use 
for the first time for me descriptive video earphones.  For those 
who are not blind, these are earphones provided by some theatres 
for a limited number of movies.  These earphones allow a blind 
person to hear a description of what is going on visually on the 
screen.  Since this is accomplished by the use of earphones, it 
does not bother others in the same theatre.  It was the first 
time in over fifteen years where I could follow a movie without 
the help of whomever took me to the theatre.  The staff at this 
theatre was very helpful and kind.  they put new batteries in the 
device and made sure that I knew how to turn it on and off and 
how to adjust the volume.  I must admit that the movie that I 
"saw" was rather silly and even stupid.  I do not recommend Land 
of the Lost to any adult.  The movie that I "saw" the day before 
was Angels and Demons.  This movie had many spaces without any 
dialogue.  The problem was that it was not video described at 
that particular theatre.  Therefore, I missed much of the movie, 
and could not follow what was going on.  This was a good movie 
which I would have enjoyed "seeing" with this fairly new 
innovation.

For those of you who are sighted, are you bored yet?  Did you 
just say to yourself, "who gives a damn"?  Believe me when I say 
that I understand.  Twenty years ago, I might have been saying 
the same thing.  However, I am proof that you never know what the 
future holds.  Even more importantly, imagine that one of your 
children or grand children might become blind.  Wouldn't you want 
them to be able to "see" the same movies as their sighted 
friends?  Are you now asking yourself, what do you want me to do 
about it.  What I would like you to do, is the next time you go 
to a movie, say to the ticket agent, or even better the theatre 
manager, I have a brother, or uncle, or friend who is blind.  I 
support the development of video described movies.  I wish that 
you could provide this technology for all of your movies in each 
of your theatres.  The blind community is only one percent of the 
population.  We need your help in providing support for our 
"viewing" enjoyment.  I thank you in advance for your assistance.  
If you could pass this email on to some of those on your email 
list, it would also be appreciated.

All the best!  John

Regards,

John Vernon