Ready & Abled

Now that the thrust of the holiday movie season is upon us, let’s talk about something not so cheerful: Going to a film and not being able to hear it. Thousands of people who are deaf or hard-of-hearing miss out because they can’t follow dialogue on the big screen.

Big chains like AMC Entertainment and Regal Entertainment, having been sued countless times for not having captioning systems, have agreed to settle lawsuits by installing some caption systems, in some cities. As a result, a few movie theaters in Fairfield County (and beyond) have this technology in place.

The bigger nut to crack is finding a particular film, when you want it, where you want it. It’s almost fanciful, like trying to catch Santa in your chimney on Christmas Eve. Movie chains say they don’t want to disrupt their hearing audience, so they tend to run captions on just one or two new films — of their choice — each week, often at odd hours.

For example, this week’s film at AMC in Danbury is “Did You Hear About the Morgans?” That’s it. If you drive 35 miles to Stratford you can see Invictus, but only at 3:20 p.m. or 9:50 p.m. That’s fine if you’re a night owl, but most people would like more choices.

People who are deaf and hearing impaired would also benefit from a complete, searchable list of what’s playing around town. Forget the movie chains’ rambling hotlines or their websites, unless you want to spend hours hunting for films on their “accessibility” pages and finding very little.

A great new website, Captionfish.com, does the work for you. It’s a local movie directory of all captioned films playing for the day or week in your area. You can get email notifications when Captionfish finds a particular film in your area, or set up an RSS feed. It also plays captioned trailers, a great feature that doesn’t exist on any other movie site I’ve ever been on. And Captionfish also lists movies with have descriptive narration voices, for people who are blind or visually impaired.

A quick Captionfish search found all captioned movies playing within 60 miles of Greenwich. Still, the results can disappoint. To see Avatar this weekend you’d have to drive to the Connecticut Post 14 Cinema de Lux in Milford — the only place, locally, to see this flick with captions. Ironic, as Avatar is about a man with a disability.

Another website, Fomdi, provides a similar directory, but is more barebones. Also, WGBH Boston’s National Center for Media Access, which developed a proprietary captioning system called Rear Window Captions, has listings of theaters that have bought their system. In Connecticut, this includes the AMC in Danbury and the Connecticut Post cinema in Milford, as well as three Showcase Cinemas in Buckland Hills (Manchester), North Haven and Southington.

If you’re in need of a captioned film, definitely check out these websites. You’ll save time and frustration — and if you’re lucky just might find the flick you’re looking for.

It was a roller-coaster ride that sparked Chuck Bergen’s interest in helping kids with disabilities. Many years ago Bergen and his family attended a theme park in Pennsylvania and stood on line for a roller coaster. The ride was accessible, in the sense that people who used wheelchairs could transfer from their chair to the coaster car on a separate platform, which seemed like a reasonable arrangement to Bergen until the ride operator cried out: “Will ANYONE give up their seat so the disabled kid can ride?”

Besides the shear embarrassment Bergen says he felt for the young girl in a wheelchair, he was even more shocked at how many people refused to give up their seat so the girl could ride with her companion, who happened to be her mother. “It pretty much hit me that a virtual reality roller coaster ride for special-needs individuals would be a nice alternative to the awkward situations some theme parks put people through,” Bergen says.

A software developer by trade, Bergen knew he had a unique opportunity in front of him. He founded VTree in 1999 and began creating virtual reality education software such as I-CE-ME, which packages entertainment with education – from soccer and volleyball games to memory and word-matching challenges — to help special needs kids both learn and play.

But he still kept thinking about that roller coaster, and wanted to give kids an imitable experience though video games. “One thing that struck me was that almost all the popular software video games were strictly designed and developed for the mass market, which excluded physically and developmentally challenged individuals and families,” Bergen, president of VTree, says. “I decided I wanted to break through this wall.”

Ultimately, Bergen and his team settled on a making a football video game for kids with physical and cognitive disabilities that would look and feel almost exactly like the traditional titles. After all, football is the most popular sport in America, and games like Madden NFL and NCAA Football are proven bestsellers.

The next challenge was getting the idea to market. Luck played a role when Bergen attended a trade show in California for accessibility technology, where he had the opportunity to meet video-game maker EA SPORTS’ Chief Technology Officer Rob Moore. He pitched his idea to Moore on the spot, emphasizing the need to help kids as well as the thousands of soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan whose serious physical or mental injuries now prevent them from enjoying the video games they grew up with.

Moore got the green light for VTree to redesign all of EA Sports video games for gamers with physical and cognitive disabilities. VTree’s first title, ‘My Football Game’, was released last month. Up next is ‘My Golf Game’, due out in early 2010.

‘My Football Game’ is a CD-based game for the PC that can be played on any desktop or laptop with a Windows XP or Vista operating system. The game is compatible with a USB XBOX 360 game controller, a keyboard and most USB adaptive devices. ‘My Football Game’ is $39.95 and VTree offers free shipping through the end of the year.

“’My Football Game’ proves that you can make a game for the special needs community that looks and feels like a traditional game,” says Mark Barlet, founder of AbleGamers, a website that ranks video games for accessibility. “The game does everything right, from the design of the box to the features that it has built in. It’s almost exactly like Madden NFL,” he says.

Features include 20 customizable playing speeds to allow nearly everyone to play the game, regardless of disability. There’s also a skill drills feature that allows the gamer to practice running, passing, tackling, and kicking at a comfortable speed to improve their skills before moving into full game competition, providing positive feedback and instructions along the way.

Personalization is another option, with gamers being able name their player avatars. U.S. Armed Forces members, who have access to the games at VA facilities, can create teams with authentic uniforms for each branch of the military service and special units such as Seals, Rangers and Special Forces. And a My Championship Ring feature takes cues from real-life football to help players earn a full set of diamonds as they master their playing skills.

Readers, I’m giving away a copy of VTree’s ‘My Football Game’. Send me a comment about this story, and I’ll choose a winner at the end of today. Be sure to also check back later this week for my list of the best accessible video games and other holiday gifts for people with disabilities.

Planning a vacation for the holidays? Sure, you can get great inside tips from online travel sites — TripAdvisor and Travelocity come to mind — but for the disability community, resources are scarce. However, a few avid travelers with disabilities have been paving the way with new websites, search engines and wikis.

Enter Disabledtravelguide.co.uk, a new, U.K.-based website that lets disabled travelers rate and review worldwide destinations, towns and cities on accessibility, consideration, and attitude towards travelers with special requirements. What’s more, travelers can do all this before they’ve reached their destination, saving them potential frustration and havoc that could ruin their trip.

Users of Disabledtravelguide.co.uk can offer personal reviews that reflect the reality of traveling with a disability — regardless of any claims made by hotel properties, tour companies or government agencies. They can also review their own home town or city, and view policies of major airline companies and discover what, if any, assistance is available to them.

“The thing that people fear the most is the unknown,” says Disabledtravelguide founder Sean Gorman. By allowing disabled travelers to share their own expert knowledge and experiences regarding destinations around the world, they can anticipate difficulties and retain their independence to enjoy their travels, he says.

Gorman, 36, knows a thing or two about disability travel. He was diagnosed with multiple Sclerosis in 1999, and developed the idea for a website while on a recent vacation to California with his wife, Sara. The couple reside in Kenton, England.

Gorman’s site, which is nonprofit, is one of a few good sites that serve up candid reviews of travel locales, both domestic and exotic. Dr. Scott Rains, a travel consultant who uses a wheelchair, has a blog called Rolling Rains Report that provides resources on inclusive tourism. He also runs a social networking site, Tour Watch.

Another unique place for travel tips is Theglobalidea.com, a wiki started by Jakob Vendle, who has multiple sclerosis. Vendle’s idea came while he was traveling in Cambodia and visiting Angkor Wat, which he says was very difficult to walk. Users can add their own reviews; a sample review for Honolulu reads: “The sidewalks in Chinatown are rather narrow and not in the best of shape. The Maunakea Market Place is wheelchair accessible but very crowded, a good place for lunch.

Earlier this year, Craig Grimes launched Accessible.Travel, an instant online booking engine for disabled travelers. Grimes, a seasoned traveler and a paraplegic, has spent the last few years living in Nicaragua navigating the country’s inaccessible roads and stores via a wheelchair. He also operates AccessibleNicaragua.com and AccessibleBarcelona.com, two ventures that he began after realizing the dire lack of information about accessible adventurous vacations.

Nate and Nancy Berger of West Virginia have published a free e-book that gives good details on places that will accommodate disabled’ travelers needs. The site provides an assistance directory as well as tales of travel obstacles, such as when the couple traveled to India to see the Taj Mahal and found the palace was virtually inaccessible to Nancy’s wheelchair.

Even if you’re not going that far (and who is, these days?), check out these sites for the disability travel scoop.

I mentioned in my earlier post that I would be blogging about the Halloween party at Blythedale Children’s Hospital in Westchester County. The party was hosted Wednesday by the Greenwich Jaycees, of which I am a member. I dressed as a witch, and brought dirt cupcakes for the kids, which were a hit. The recipe is easy: Buy chocolate cupcakes with chocolate frosting. Get a box of Oreos and smash them up to make “dirt,” and let the kids top the cupcakes with gummy worms and sour patch worms. I also found a big bag of candy body parts at CVS for $3.99, which included ears, fingers, teeth and other gory parts but according to the kids, “tasted rubbery.”

Blythedale is a hospital that serves kids with trauma and serious medical conditions, including cancer, brain injuries and organ defects. Our party was hosted for about two dozen of the 92 kids who spend their days and nights in the hospital. Some came to the party in wheelchairs, and one boy came in his bed. We had face-painting, candy, rub-on tattoos and arts and crafts.

I met a lovely little girl who brightened the room with her smile. Unable to speak — or even eat any candy — she was thrilled when one of the volunteers, Aisha Patel, painted flowers on both of the little girl’s hands. Aisha got a big thumbs-up from her customer for the handiwork.

There was a sense of serenity in the room that you normally wouldn’t get when passing out free candy to kids 12 and under. These kids have been through a lot, and they enjoyed the company more than anything else. They probably won’t be heading out tonight for trick or treat, but it was great that we were able to bring Halloween to them.

Here’s an idea for corporate companies in Fairfield County and surrounding areas. Plan a Corporate Day of Caring at Blythedale Children’s Hospital in Valhalla, N.Y. This hospital, located in Westchester County, cares for kids with serious medical conditions from traumatic brain injury and heart defects, to skin burns and neurologic disorders.

Companies can work with Blythedale to plan a customized volunteer event, with activities that are uniquely suited to meet the company’s interests and resources. For example, employees at Disney Publishing, located in White Plains, visit the hospital once a month. They read to the children, and donate books on each trip. Other corporate volunteer groups have included JP Morgan Chase, Pepsi Bottling Group, Goldman Sachs, XL Capital, Dannon, Kohl’s, IBM and Regeneron Pharmaceuticals.

Blythedale doesn’t limit volunteers to big companies, either. Last Mother’s Day, for example, Joe Pugni of Grayrock Florist and Memorials in Valhalla donated supplies so that patients could pot flowers for their mothers or caretakers as gifts.

Use your imagination when planning a Corporate Day of Caring. Previous events have taken the form of a medieval feast, a circus and a winter carnival. As it happens that Halloween is on our heels, I will be blogging about the annual Blythedale Halloween party to be hosted Wednesday evening by the Greenwich Jaycees.

To learn more about Corporate Day of Caring programs, contact Lena Cavanna, Blythedale’s community relations director at (914) 592-7138 or lenac@blythedale.org.

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Abilis’ Open House Set for Nov. 8

I just received an update on Abilis‘ Open House. As you may recall, the disability-services organization’s largest fundraiser, Walk in the Park for Abilis, got rained out on Oct. 18. Instead, Abilis (pronounced ABLE-ISS) is hosting an open house on Sunday, Nov. 8 from 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. at its headquarters on 50 Glenville Street in Greenwich.

The open house will feature music, live entertainment and fun activities. Abilis will also debut its notecard collection, featuring 12 different paintings, drawings and prints by adults served by Abilis. (A set of 12 high-quality cards sells for $15.) The 2009 Abilis holiday notecard collection, featuring a reindeer image, also will be available for $15 for 12 cards. In addition, Abilis will sell bracelets, necklaces and earrings that are designed and hand-beaded by adults served by the agency.

Families, supporters and members of the public are invited to stop by and learn about the agencies’ services. There will be face-painting, crafts and games for children, as well as refreshments for all. Registered walkers can pick up their walk t-shirts, and teams will be photographed. It’s also an opportunity to donate to Abilis.

Greetings Southern Connecticut readers,

Well, my first anticipated blog posting was a wash — quite literally. The third annual Walk in the Park for Abilis was cancelled due to the severe rainstorm. This planned, one-mile stroll through Greenwich Point Park (Tod’s Point) is the organization’s largest fundraiser each year, which goes to benefit children and adults in the Greenwich-Stamford area with developmental disabilities.

I was having my morning coffee when I got the e-mail notice that the Sunday walk had been cancelled. I wasn’t that surprised. The night before, Abilis’ executive director Lolli Ross had e-mailed all registered walkers to let them know the walk had been altered to a “intimate gathering under the shelter of the clambake area.” The traditional route along Greenwich Point was too flooded and muddy for walking. There would still be snacks and crafts, but no kids’ activities tent, which was to include New York Rangers shot clinics and other hockey-themed activities.

I could sense the sadness in Lolli’s note. Abilis had hoped to raise $100,000 to provide services to the community. “We’d hate to cancel for a few reasons … the sight of everyone together — from our adorable toddlers to our army of high-school volunteers, our devoted families and the many adults served by Abilis every single day is powerful and inspires us throughout the year.”

Of course, Sunday’s weather proved worse than expected. There was no rain date in place. But there is a silver lining — Abilis will hold an open house at its headquarters on Sunday, November 8. They are inviting everyone in the area to stop by and “participate in fun children’s activities, see the beautiful and unusual gifts and products made by the wonderful people we serve and, of course, pick up this year’s Walk T-shirt!” The time is still to be determined, but you can check back at Abilis’ website.