The one thing I miss the most from my deaf childhood, is seeing captioned films for the deaf at the local community college. In the days before closed captioned television, and before home video and VCRs, if deaf people wanted to experience seeing a movie in a theater-like setting they had to go to special showings of open-captioned (subtitled) films. These screenings were usually held at places like schools, churches, or community colleges.
We saw the films in a community college classroom. People brought their own snacks - popcorn, candy, or even real food. After the movie was over, everyone socialized, especially the families with children. All the movies that were shown were films suitable for all ages.
From this period, I fondly remember "Good Neighbor Sam," and "Toby Tyler." Many other films were also shown, but those are the two which stand out in my memory.
After closed captioning came along, screenings like these pretty much ended. Deaf people could now rent the movies on home video. Accessibility improved, but a feature of deaf/hard of hearing social life was lost.
Even though movies have been available on home video for some time, people are continuing to go to the movies in great numbers - for the big screen experience, and for the social experience. The deaf and hard of hearing community is no different. I am fortunate that in my area, both open captioned and rear window captioned films are available.
