Local Governments Make Interpretations
State ADA Legislation
Poses Threat To Exhibs
by Steven John Fellman
NATO Washington Counsel
For the past six years, the Access Board and the Department
of Justice have been working to amend the federal Americans
With Disabilities Act (ADA) Guidelines but so far no final
new regulations have been published. Frustrated by the
failure of the federal government to act, disability rights
groups are now turning to state legislatures in an effort
to get expanded state regulations regarding disability
access issues. Often state legislatures have short sessions
and bills are introduced and brought to the floor quickly.
Since disability rights issues are politically sensitive,
legislators may be prone to pass new disability access
laws without giving full attention to the issues presented.
As an example, a recent bill was introduced
in the Connecticut legislature. “Raised Bill No. 6429” is entitled “An
Act Concerning Preservation of Disability Rights.” The
proposed law would do much more than “preserve” existing
disability rights. The proposed legislation provides a
greatly expanded view of what disabled persons are entitled
to when they visit a public accommodation, such as a movie
theatre.
The ADA was designed to ensure that
persons with disability have access to public accommodations.
The proposed legislation
in Connecticut goes beyond the concept of “access” and
focuses on the concept of “equality.” If passed,
this act appears to require that a motion picture theatre
take affirmative steps to ensure that all persons with
disabilities have an equal opportunity to enjoy a motion
picture. The statute specifically states that facilities
such as motion picture theatres must have sign language
interpreters available upon request of deaf patrons. It
appears that the statute also requires that motion picture
theatres show captioned films. It is possible that strict
implementation of this type of legislation would require
that distributors only distribute captioned films in the
State of Connecticut.
The statute would also apply to blind patrons. There
is no specific language that describes what a motion picture
theatre would have to do to meet the needs of a blind
patron,
but it could be assumed that the statute would require
that blind patrons be provided with an enhanced version
of the soundtrack that would include descriptive terminology
as well as dialogue. Again, this would have a direct
effect not only on exhibitors but also on distributors.
A final concern with this legislation involves an emphasis
on the need to integrate disabled persons within the
public facility and not provide disabled persons with
access in
a non-integrated environment. Under the federal ADA,
wheelchair locations in theatres of under 300 seats
can be placed
in a single row. Under the proposed Connecticut legislation,
an issue is raised as to whether providing wheelchair
locations in a single row is truly integrating the
wheelchair locations
throughout the auditorium regardless of whether that
row is in the front, back or middle of the theatre.
State legislation moves so quickly that it is imperative
that NATO Regional affiliates, especially those with
state lobbyists, keep a high level of vigilance with
regard to
disability rights proposals. As soon as there is
any indication that new legislation will be introduced,
NATO should be
advised. NATO is coordinating its efforts with the
Motion Picture Association of America to ensure that
whenever
legislation of this nature is introduced, the motion
picture theatre industry has an opportunity to present
its views
and make sure that legislators fully understand all
sides of the various issues involved.
If any NATO member or regional affiliate learns of
any proposed new ADA legislation on a state or
local level,
they should contact Mary Ann Grasso at the NATO
headquarters as soon as possible.
