On 2 February, in collaboration with MEP Brando Benifei and Apple, we organised at the European Parliament a screening of Academy Award winning Apple Original Film “CODA”. The event was hosted by MEP Brando Benifei with introductory remarks by the European Union of the Deaf’s President, Sofia Isari, and Apple’s Global Head of Accessibility Policy & Initiatives, Sarah Herrlinger.
The significance of “CODA”
“CODA” is a coming-of-age movie centred around Ruby, a child of deaf adults and the only hearing person in her home. The movie made history as the first film with a predominantly Deaf cast to win Best Picture at the Academy Awards and star Troy Kotsur is the first Deaf male actor to win an Oscar.
Apple worked with theatre operators to ensure the film would be played everywhere, for deaf and hearing audiences alike, with open captions, i.e. with captions burned into the print itself, allowing Deaf and Hard of Hearing people to follow the movie without having to use extra equipment, and promoting accessibility awareness everywhere the film screened. “From the outset – explained Sarah Herrlinger – we discussed how to best deliver the film with and for the disability communities.”.
The debate on accessibility
The screening was an opportunity to share perspectives on equal access for persons with disabilities in the European Union (EU): “Apple’s partnership and collaboration with the “CODA” filmmakers is an example of our commitment to accessibility”, stated Herrlinger. “A key to our work is our engagement with disability communities, which starts with the fact that the people designing these features are the people who will use them. We believe in the mantra ‘nothing about us without us’”.
Sofia Isari, President of the European Union of the Deaf, shared the perspective of Deaf persons on the movie and stressed the importance of representing CODAs, the Children of Deaf Adults, and the role they often have to cover of mediators between their family and the outside community.
According to MEP Brando Benifei, “the film shows how creating mechanisms to ensure accessibility for persons with disabilities is crucial for their inclusion and independent living in the community”. MEP Benifei explained that new technologies need to be developed with accessibility in mind from the beginning. The European Accessibility Act, adopted in 2019, represents a turning point for digital accessibility, enforcing compliance of digital platforms and devices and with accessibility standards, and the same principle should be applied to the Artificial Intelligence Act: “we will make sure that accessibility is always considered, and that automated decision-making will not discriminate persons with disabilities”.