Community group protests about access at George St Cinemas
Action on Cinema Access, a newly-formed community group, will protest in Melbourne, Brisbane, Hobart, Sydney, Perth and Adelaide, on Saturday 13 February at 11:00 am, to demonstrate disapproval at Village Roadshow, Greater Union, Hoyts and Reading Cinemas, who have applied for an exemption from the Disability Discrimination Act for two and a half years.
Millions of Australians are being denied the opportunity to go to the cinema because more than 99 per cent of screenings are inaccessible. If the exemption is granted to these cinemas, a minimal amount of captioning and audio description will continue.
Action on Cinema Access is a group of of concerned citizens who are working together to improve access to cinema for people with disability. Less than 0.3 per cent of all cinema sessions are accessible to people who are deaf, hard of hearing, legally blind or who have vision impairments. This means 4 million Australians are excluded from going to the cinema.
The community group is calling for action from anybody who has an interest in improving access to the cinema and is asking people to write to the Attorney General, the Minister for Communications, the Parliamentary Secretary for Disabilities and the Minister for the Arts. For more information on how to lobby these members of Parliament visit the Arts Access Victoria website.
Sydney Community Protest
When: 11:00 am Saturday 13 February 2010
Where: George Street Cinemas, 525 George Street, Sydney. The nearest train station is Town Hall Station. This is an accessible train station.
Who: General Public with an interest in making cinema accessible to all.
Contact: Dean Barton-Smith dbartonsmith@optusnet.com.au, Paul Madden tel: 0419 313 518 or Arts Access Victoria tel: (03) 9699 8299
Website: Action-On Cinema-Access on Facebook
Access: The nearest train station is Town Hall Station. This is an accessible train station.
