Movies in movie theaters are not for deaf or blind people

Movies in movie theaters are not for deaf or blind people, according to a judge in federal court in Arizona. More on this poorly reasoned decision can be found here.

This judge said that adding captions or descriptive services for the blind would fundamentally alter the nature of the product, i.e. the movie, and so, the ADA does not require them to be captioned or furnished with descriptive narration for the blind. According to the ruling, since the movie theater premises are accessible to everyone, meaning that anyone can enter them and sit in the presence of the movie, even if they can't hear or see the movie, the ADA requirements are fulfilled.

I can see nothing in this opinion to prevent captions already presented to be withdrawn, and it doesn't seem unreasonable to extend the decision to other areas of deaf/blind accessibility either. By this reasoning, adding captions and providing descriptive narratives for television programs also alter the nature of the product and also do not fall under the ADA provisions either. There go a lot of jobs! Bye-bye broadcast captioners and realtime writers/voicewriters. Deaf and blind people don't need to see movies or TV anyway, do they?

Well, yes. The general public (namely people who are not deaf or blind apparently) get all sorts of vital information via television, from news and emergency updates to information on what kinds of people they're being asked to vote for for public office. Maybe this information is not intended for the deaf or blind either, and providing access for them would fundamentally alter the nature of the product.

This decision opens the door to challenges from all sorts of industries that are currently providing access for the disabled. If movies in theaters don't have to be captioned, why shouldn't other industries petition the courts for exceptions too? We'll take a giant step backward to the days when people in wheelchairs had to drag themselves up several flights of stairs to attend mandatory court proceedings.

The country that I'm proud of is a country that strives to include everyone. I don't want my country to start paring away whole groups of people because including them is inconvenient to some.

Black and Decker = horrible service

I bought a Black and Decker CCS818 electric chainsaw to clean up some trees in my front yard. This purchase has been a nightmare. The thing arrived sometime in May. I called the 888 number to ask about the wrench that was supposed to come with the thing and was told that they were very sorry but they didn't have any more of those so they couldn't send me one. I had an Allen wrench set and found one that fit. I found the instructions, which may be perfectly obvious to someone with power tool experience, to be nearly indecipherable. Nonetheless I finally was able to get the chain on and the screws tightened as instructed.

I used it for 30 minutes after which the chain slipped off. Apparently this happens with chainsaws for the first couple of hours of use; you have to keep putting the chain back on and retightening it. Unfortunately, one of the screws fell out and disappeared. I doubt it's prudent to operate a chainsaw without both screws holding the chain down. Since this happened on a Friday night, after B&D's business hours, I had to wait till after the Memorial Day holiday to get an agent on the phone, who promised to send me the appropriate screws. I was unable to figure out which screw was the one I needed or I'd have ordered them from Service.net, B&D's parts outlet. The agent gave me the part number and offered to send me one free and said it would arrive in 7 to 10 business days. I had written an email and that agent also offered to send me a free screw and that it would arrive in 7 to 10 business days.

10 business days later, I called back and spoke to someone who checked and with no explanation as to what happened, offered to really send me a couple of replacement screws in 7 to 10 business days. 3 days after that, I called the 888 number and spoke to a crisp young woman who said that the order had been placed and that it would arrive in 7 to 14 business days. I explained that 3 other people had said 7 to 10 business days and she said that they were wrong; you only get it in 7 to 10 days if you are buying the parts; it's 7 to 14 for free replacements. I went to Service.net to order the damn screws myself (for $0.66 a screw and nearly TEN DOLLARS shipping). Sheesh. I put 10 of them in my shopping cart and saw the message: backordered until June 28th.

Now, the City of Phoenix has told me I have to get these trees trimmed. I don't think they'll wait 7 to 14 business days following June 28th, so now I'm in a bind. And will not be buying anything from B&D again.