Disney discriminates against the deaf by removing CC from Up

I recently rented the movie Up off of Netflix. The following is my review of the movie, which I posted on the site:

Would have been nice if this movie was closed-captioned or had subtitles. But I guess the folks at Disney/Pixar are too cheap and don't give a crap about the deaf anymore. I found out they removed captioning from all rental versions of this movie, and that you need to BUY it if you want captioning. Yeah, right. Like that's going to happen now. As a deaf consumer, I am outraged. Shame on them!

Yes, you read that right. Disney really DID strip closed-captioning from the rental versions of this movie. So no matter where you rent it, and even if you get it from your local public library, then you're out of luck. If you are deaf, you're screwed. Why? Because you won't get to enjoy the movie just like everybody else who can hear gets to enjoy it.

And are they kidding me? The RETAIL version has captioning, but the rental does not? Do they honestly think that this is a clever little marketing ploy to get all the deaf and hard-of-hearing consumers out there to actually BUY this movie after being burned from the rental experience??

Come on!

I, for on, will NOT be buying this movie. I can't believe they willingly discriminated against the deaf consumer like this! It is so irritating and, yes, I am outraged.

Once again, the deaf are being treated like a minority.

They are literally FORCING us to buy a movie if we want to enjoy it.

Unbelievable.

You would think that, since this is a new movie, it would be closed-captioned. Or, at least, have English subtitles. Because by law, ALL new movies are supposed to be closed-captioned. Just as ALL new TV sets are required to offer closed-captioning. It's the law, people.

To learn that some powerhouse like Disney has the power to strip away closed-captioning, which the deaf consumers NEED in order to enjoy a movie, is unthinkable. No movie company or entity should have that ability. Not one.

It's unfair. It's wrong. And it discriminates against the deaf, plain and simple. Closed-captioning is NOT a bonus feature! Exactly what rock did they crawl out from??

Some would think that well, gee, they have open-captioning at theaters now. Why don't you just go to such a theater and see the movie without WAITING for the rental to come out?

FYI: The closest theater that offers this to the deaf and hard-of-hearing is in Salem. Sorry, but I'm not taking a 90-minute trip to Salem just to see a movie. I RELY on the rental industry to enjoy movies, because they are, supposedly, closed-captioned or have subtitles.

But now I guess that's not the case anymore. I have learned there are other "bare bones" movie versions out there in the rental market. Slumdog Millionaire is one, a movie I have YET to see and was actually looking forward to seeing. Guess I'll have to cross that one off of my list of movies to see. (Hm, would be nice if someone puts together a list of all the movies that have been stripped of closed-captioning in the rental versions. So sad and very disappointing that we'll even HAVE such a list put together. The whole thing reeks of discrimination against the deaf!)

Here are some other disgruntled rental customers:

Disney Removes Closed Captioning from "Up" Rental Release


"Up"? More like down...

Disney, you really screwed up with this. You really pulled out the discrimination card this time. I had looked forward to seeing the movie Up and in the end I was let down. I was really disappointed that this deaf consumer could not enjoy it like a hearing person can. Thumbs down, Disney. Thumbs down.