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Wash-CAP

The Washington State Communication Access Project

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Captioned Facilities/Venues

Captioning: converting spoken words into visual form and displaying them so they can be seen/read.

We are actively and consistently working with facilities operators throughout Washington State to provide access to public venues for all people with hearing loss. Below is a list of public facilities and venues currently offering captioning services.

  • Movie Theaters
  • Live Theaters

  • Courts
  • Sports Arenas

  • Public Transportation
  • Major NW National Parks



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Movie Theaters

Since 2008, Wash-CAP has been working with the major movie theater chains in Washington to provide more captioned movies. We are proud that the following theaters show all captioned movies:

  • Regal Cinema – Since 2011, offers full accommodations: captions and neck loops with their assistive listening devices. Their devices are found in King, Pierce, Snohomish and Whatcom County Regal theaters.
  • Century/Cinemark Theaters – Since 2012, offers full accommodations: captions and neck loops with their assistive listening devices. Also, in 2012, Century/Cinemark Theaters in Arizona announced they would offer full accessibility to all Arizona theaters.
  • Far Away Theaters – Captions on demand at various locations (must email and schedule with manager).
  • Garland Theater (Spokane) – Available as of 2018.
  • Fairchild Cinemas (Kennewick, Pasco, & Moses Lake) – Available as of 2019.
  • Columbia City Theater – Tuesdays only, Seattle, WA.
  • Majestic Bay Theater – In October, 2013, Majestic Bay implemented captions and neck loops. They are located in the Ballard neighborhood in Seattle. When visiting, please allow time to test and check that the captions and neck loops are set up.
  • Cinerama Theater – Implemented captions and A.L.D.s with neck loops. They are in downtown Seattle. When visiting, please allow time to test and check that the captions and neck loops are set up.
  • AMC Theatres – Many theaters have captions but may not have neck loops. Please check ahead of time.
  • I-5 from Lakewood to Bellingham, WA – Wash-CAP has learned that Burlington has Captiview captions; Everett Regal, Marysville Regal and Bellingham theaters have caption glasses. Bellingham Regal was one of the first to comply and have a Kiosk dedicated to explanation and distribution of caption glasses and A.L.D. staffed by well trained associates.  Alderwood Manor has Captiview.  In the South Puget Sound region, Regal in Lakewood, WA has caption glasses.
  • Landmark Theaters Crest Cinema – In 2013, The Crest Cinema Center in Shoreline began using Captiview.
  • Edmonds Theater – In mid-2014, The Edmonds Theater began showing open captions. Only the first show on Sundays are open captioned. As of January, 2016, The Edmonds Theater said they will no longer offer captions on demand (but will keep the Sunday first show open-captions). They have an A.L.D. and Captiview. Sometimes, Edmonds Theater shows captioned movies on Monday night.
  • AMC Cinebarre – In late 2016, Wash-CAP was able to help this chain of dine-in theaters begin offering captions.
  • Central Cinema (Tacoma) – Began captions in 2017.

Wash-CAP has worked with most of these theaters to implement captions. Our current effort is to work to get live captions at other venues or simply, when TVs are on, to turn them on for free. We have members working with theaters in Seattle, Tacoma, Edmonds and Oregon to “turn on the captions.” Progress is slow because many venues have yet to be convinced that this free option is good policy. We continue to work through diplomatic means and it may take some years.


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Live Theaters

Seattle’s ACT Theatre captions all of their plays.

The following theaters provide one captioned showing of each major production they produce. It is usually the final show of the run. Tickets in the section that can best view the captions are normally half price.

  • Paramount Theater – Since 2008 agreement with WashCAP, offers one open-captioned performance for each Broadway show. They also offer neck loops with their A.L.S.
  • Fifth Avenue Theater – Since 2010 agreement with WashCAP, offers one open-captioned performance for each Broadway show. They also offer neck loops with their A.L.S.
  • Seattle Repertory Theater – Since 2010 agreement with WashCAP, offers one open-captioned performance for each Broadway show. As of March, 2016, the Rep implemented a loop system.  Loops, coupled with captions, are a great combination for non-signing patrons.
  • LiveNation Venues – Both The Gorge and White River Amphitheatres provide captions on demand.
  • Key Arena Concerts – Captions on demand.
  • Edmonds Center For The Arts – Captions on demand.
  • Benaroya Hall – Since 2015, has offered captions. They updated their infrared A.L.D. so it covers more seats. Each month, they offer an open-captioned show.


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Courts

All WA state superior courts, courts of appeal, and the Supreme Court provide assistive listening devices upon request. Wash-CAP monitors those courts to ensure staff is trained in the use of the devices and their quality in providing access to the hard of hearing. However, full captioning throughout the courts continues to be a challenge.


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Captioned Sports Arenas

WashCAP achieved success with the Seattle Seahawks and Century Link Field before their Super Bowl-winning season. We worked with the Seahawks in 2012 and early 2013; they graciously added the “Hawk Captions” window for Seahawks and Seattle Sounders home games in the Northeast and Southwest corners of the fascia boards.

In 2015, the Seattle Mariners and Safeco Field (now T-Mobile Park) implemented captions for each home game.

In 2015, the Zoo Tunes concert series at Woodland Park Zoo began captioning.

Additionally, in Fall 2013, the University of Washington Huskies implemented scoreboard captions at Husky Stadium. Unfortunately, it is poor quality and captions are slow, often showing up after a long delay.

We hope the Washington State Cougars and Martin Field will join the Washington Huskies, the University of Oregon Ducks and Oregon State University Beavers to round out providing each Northwest home-team with open-captions.


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Public Transportation

The Washington State Ferries have yet to install live captions. We continue to work on captioned reader boards in the passenger compartments of some ferries. All pre-recorded announcements are captioned but emergency and updates are not captioned.

  • All King County Metro buses provide captions indicating their streets
  • Sound Transit buses and the light rail (LINK) systems in King County and Pierce County have reader boards inside
  • Pierce County Transit have reader boards inside
  • Snohomish County buses have reader boards inside

Unfortunately, Bellingham, Spokane and Boise have no reader boards in their buses.
The train stations – Amtrak and Sounder – provide no captions in the stations.
The airports provide no captions at this time.

UNIVERSAL CAPTIONING ORDINANCES

We hope that Washington State cities and towns will “Turn on the Captions” as Portland, Seattle, Tacoma, and other US cities have done. The Portland “Turn on the Captions” effort began on December 18, 2015. It asks all restaurants, bars, hotel/motel lobbies and other open spaces with TVs to simply “turn on the captions.” Best of all, it’s free to do that. It helps so many people and we can’t think of a better way to help make public venue experiences easier and more enjoyable for hearing-impaired patrons in those areas.

TVs in public places such as airport gates, restaurants & bars are required to show captions per D.O.T./F.A.A. regulations


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National Parks/Monuments In The Northwest

  • Mt. St. Helens National Monument – Video has captions
  • Mt. Rainier National Park – Videos are captioned
  • Fort Peck Dam – Videos are captioned

Donate to Wash-CAP

Help ensure 100% accessibility to those with hearing loss in public facilities throughout Washington State. Please consider contributing to Wash-CAP by clicking on the button below. You will be redirected to PayPal, where you can specify the amount of your donation. All donations are tax-deductible.

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