Albuquerque movie theatre among many expanding open captioning options

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – There’s nothing quite like watching a movie in theatres and enjoying the large screen and buttery popcorn as a shared experience with people of all ages.

However, this experience hasn’t always been as accessible for some.

"The deaf community in our community and the hard of hearing community, we all love movies," said Nathan Gomme, the executive director of the New Mexico Commission for Deaf and Hard of Hearing.

This community hasn’t always had the option to watch movies in theatres in a comfortable setting.

"As a person with hearing loss so used to go to movies, I had this little headphone thing with a little light," Gomme explained. "In the middle of the movie theater, you have this person with a red light on top of their head – it was never a great experience."

After that came hardware like a device that would fit in a cup or special glasses to see captions.

"One thing to know about hardware is hardware means batteries," Gomme said. "It means things die in the middle of a long movie and I’ve been there."

This is why the commission is so excited that AMC 12 in Albuquerque is also offering open captioning – something the Violet Crown in Santa Fe has been doing for a while.

"What this sends a message to us about is that were a part of that consumer base. We’re part of that group that they want to cater to," Gomme said.

They hope more theatres offer this with more showings so going to the movies can be more inclusive.

You can find a list of showtimes for these movies here.