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As I am deaf myself, I have mentioned accessibility where possible, for example, interpreters, teletext TVs and so on. Information is provided below. This site is not restricted to the deaf - hard of hearing and hearing impaired are covered as well.
Sign Language used in Australia is Auslan. The alpahabet is similar to the British sign language (BSL) where two hands are used. Some signs vary from state to state.
TTYs, as they are called in Australia, are available in the city phone shop
and train station in Sydney.
Subtitled movies can now be seen in Australia's cinema chains. Each movie
is shown with subtitles three times a week, for one or weeks: Wednesdays at
10:00am, Fridays at 6:30pm and Sundays at 3:00pm. The cinemas are Hoyts, Greater
Union and Village cinemas in many cities around Australia. In Sydney, these
three cinemas are one on George St, but elsewhere, each movie is shown in
one chain for one or two weeks before the next one is shown in a different
chain - the chains take turns. The first film I saw with subtitles was Men
of Honor - I enjoyed this film so much especially as I could follow it.
Admission prices vary ($13.50 full or $10.50 concession), but while in Melbourne,
I found myself paying concession rates ($9.00). It seems that prices are lower
to the deaf. I thought the trial was once-off but learnt that films are still
being shown every week. Since then, I've seen Pearl Harbor and The
Mummy Returns and many more. Though these films were good, my favourite
subtitled film at the cinema would be Men of Honor.
You can check what films are captioned by checking newspapers or checking
Australian Captioning Institute's website. For more up to date information,
check the cinema websites particularly as times may differ from those mentioned
Web: Australian Captioning www.auscap.com.au
Greater Union Cinemas www.greatuerunion.com.au
Hoyts Cinemas www.hoyts.com.au
Village Cinemas www.village.com.au
Information is provided in the list of hostels showing what is provided for the deaf, if any. Some hostels may have teletext TVs, some staff members can use sign language.
Some places can only be seen by tours only. This can be frustrating if you do not know what the tour guide is saying. Some places provide scripts specially for the deaf. Please ask for scripts. See sights to see what places provide scripts
There are five free-to-air television stations in Australia. They are Seven Network/i7, Nine Network, Network Ten, ABC and SBS. Regional TV stations are Prime (Seven), NBN and WIN (Nine), Imparja TV (Aborigine owned in Alice Springs), GWN to name a few.Unlike TV in Ireland and UK, there is heavy advertising which is quite very annoying and intrusive to the enjoyment of programmes and films, with breaks every 5-10 minutes in most cases. ABC stands for Australian Broadcasting Corporation and is similar to BBC in UK, as there are no commercial breaks. There is heavy advertising of its programmes, unlike BBC. SBS is in between them - it's a government sponsored multicultural TV station. It has quite a few commercial breaks, only appearing between its programmes and films. They show foreign films most nights with burnt-in subtitles and also a few programmes with subtitles. TV programmmes may have its credits squashed and voiced over, and may have advertisements on the programmes.
All TV stations show have teletext subtitles which can be found on page 801.
Australian law states that all programmes must be subtitled after 6pm up to
10:30pm (prime time), though there are subtitles after this time up to about
12am. There is barely any programme with subtitles before 6pm, unlike Ireland
and UK which has a lot of subtitled programmes no matter what time. Commercial
breaks include news updates that are being shown quite too often. Teletext
is only available on Seven Network (Austext).
Seven Network www.i7.com.au
Nine Network www.ninemsn.com.au
Network Ten www.ten.com.au
SBS www.sbs.com.au
ABC
Deaf clubs are not quite popular in Sydney and there is none in the city, but there are in the suburbs. The lifetime of Deaf Clubs are often limited such as the new one in Bondi Junction which has been closed and reopened many times. Some deaf meet in Burwood, Newport to name a few. There is a theatre in Newtown where deaf plays may be held, as is the Riverside in Parramatta. Please check with Deaf friends or fill in the form for more information
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