World Ignored Deaf Lady's Needs For 45 Years

 
There were a number of problems as far as not getting my communication needs met in this world.   For over 40 years, they did not set up close captioning in any of the movies I wanted to see  in the theaters nearby me.    This problem goes on today.   Just recently I had wanted to see a movie over at the Regal Cinemas and asked if they can close caption it.  They said sorry, they don't have that.  So, now I don't go to the movies anymore.   They don't caption it at the theaters nearby me, so why bother going?    They provide headphones for the deaf in movie theaters.   Those things don't help me to understand the movie at all, so I don't wear those.



I'm a lip reader.  I can't hear over a headphone, or understand anything.   My parents took me on a lot of trips by plane every single year.  Not once did they close caption any of the Safety Announcements on the plane for me in over 40 years.   Up to this day, I still do not know what to do if there were to be an emergency on the plane.  As I could never hear what was being said over the microphone about the safety announcements.  The last time I was in the airport was on Dec. 22, 2012.  They did not provide any close captioning screen for me at my gate to tell me when my flight was leaving.  Neither did they provide any closed captioning screen for me on the plane to help me understand what was being said over the speakers.     I had to put up with this for over 40 years, and this is enough.

Just recently I took the Buffalo metro-rail train downtown this week.  There were no text scrolling screens on the train for me to read where we were stopping.   Every time the train stopped, an announcement was being made over a speaker. I couldn't hear or understand anything being said over that microphone.  This has got to be very hard on the deaf people.   It isn't fair to deaf people like me to not understand what is going on when traveling by train or plane.   What about restaurants?  I had recently taken my daughter out to dinner before her big trip.    When the waitress asked me what I wanted to order, I couldn't understand her.    Then when I tried to tell her I was deaf, she didn't understand what to do, or how to speak to me.   Therefore my daughter took over to speak for me.    People have got to get educated in places like this, on how to talk to a deaf person.       Things have got to change for all deaf people for the better.  Please help make this world a better place for the deaf.