Dialogue for the Deaf

Robert Todd, 15, missed huge pieces of the plot when he saw the latest Star Wars movie. "Who's supposed to be the young Darth Vader?" he asked his dad. Robert has severe to profound hearing loss, and like most of the 28 million other deaf or severely hearing-impaired Americans, he can't follow a movie without some help — from captioning or a companion. Last month his father Rob Todd filed a class action in federal court in Texas against 12 film-production companies and theater chains. The suit, the first legal slap at movie studios in an emotional struggle between deaf activists and the film industry, claims that by failing to provide enough captioned screenings, distributors and theaters are violating the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act. Studios should supply theaters with open-captioned films, in which dialogue appears onscreen, Todd's attorneys say. The studios' complaint against open captioning has been that it will annoy hearing customers. But advocates say open-captioned screenings, which occur sporadically around the country, haven't drawn complaints. And viewers have grown used to captions on TVs at gyms and airports, advocates say, which may make the studios' case less persuasive to a jury. Several of the defendants, including 20th Century Fox and Time's parent company, AOL Time Warner, declined to comment.