As soon as Marlee Matlin found out about Netflix's plans to mark the 70th anniversary of the movie The Wizard of Oz by streaming it on demand for free on October 3rd, she began tweeting that she wanted Netflix to caption this special showing of The Wizard of Oz. Netflix is obviously hoping for a major public relations bonanza from this. If Netflix does not caption the Wizard of Oz so that deaf and hard of hearing people can partake in this free screening, they may soon find themselves with the opposite of a public relations bonanza...a public relations black eye.
Marlee Matlin is also an active supporter of HR 3101, the 21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act of 2009.
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I have to say I have been asking, demanding, advocating for closed captioning in television, theater films, internet films and video since 2002 with Deaf America on google groups. Letters, emails, and visits have met Deaf Ears at NY1, Netflick, Blockbuster, cabled broadcasters like CSPAN, CNN, and MSNBC. The requests have met deaf ears by the hearing individuals response or lack of response. I am glad Marlee is now demanding closed captions and hope more individuals join our fight for equal access.
The only shows I can watch on hulu are the captioned ones. There are few of these. Movies are so much more enjoyable when I can understand what is said. I rarely go to theatres anymore. Who or what organization can I contact to support closed captioning?