By Marty Klein

When's the last time you went to the movies and enjoyed a good film. Last week? Last month?...

I love going out to see the latest "hot" motion picture, feeling the same anticipation and excitement as anybody who can see. The car is parked, the brief walk into the theater, the smell of popcorn is in the air, the line is long but it's moving, the walk through the turnstile, through the corridor and down the aisle to find a good seat... and then, the movie begins. Lots of my friends tell me that I'm the only blind person they ever see in the movie theaters around my neighborhood, and hearing this always upsets me, sending me through all sorts of distressing thoughts and feelings. "Can I be the only blind person who goes to movies?" comments an innocent voice in my brain.? "No way! It can't be" replies another voice in my head, sounding a little defensive, unsure and confused. Questions start flooding my mind, coming from all directions. Is there something wrong with blind people going to movies? Should I just stay at home and wait until the film comes out in video? Should I allow the feelings of shame and embarrassment to take over, making me feel very weird about being in a place that is obviously geared towards people who can see? Am I better off at home, listening to a book on cassette, rather than dealing with the challenge of keeping up with the story without the use of my eyes? And anyway, it's so much safer at home, isn't it?

Out of nowhere, a third voice takes over and calms my internal chaos with accurate information. The clarity is powerful and I find myself with a passionate desire to yell out.

Come on folks, it's 1995 and it's the best time in the history of humanity to be blind. We've got more technology than ever before to help us live stimulating, interesting and powerful lives. We've got the Americans with Disabilities Act to legally back us up in our quest for equality in every facet of life in the United States. There's only two major obstacles in our way, at least the way I see it -- the old prejudices of the majority of sighted people and the deep rooted belief in many blind people that maybe the stereotypes that the masses believe, in fact, are right. Old patterns of behavior are based on old belief systems. It's time for us to kiss them good-bye.

Whenever I go to the movies I go with a sighted friend who knows how to support me, and their assistance does not interfere with their ability to enjoy the movie completely. That's important to me. I teach them what I need and what I don't need so they don't have to guess. Here's some of the things I do. I make sure they always sit in a seat, facing the screen, that has their head a bit turned toward me rather than a bit turned away. That way neither one of us will get a stiff neck from whispering to each other whenever we need to. I usually teach my friend ahead of time how best to inform me about what's going on during silent parts in the movie. I explain that although the scenes may be beautiful, I want to know, in the most concise form, the jist of what is taking place, not the beauty of the scene. I often like explanations of scenes when I'm out in the world, but find descriptions in the movies to be inappropriate. There's just not enough time during most of the fast paced movies of today. When something's going on that I'm not following, I'll either tap my friend on the leg or whisper "what's happening?" I also teach my friend to respond loud enough for me to hear but soft enough not to be a disturbance to others in the theater. In all my years of movie-going I have never had anybody complain about noise. Oh yes, I almost forgot one of the most important things. When we share popcorn, I get to hold the box in my lap and they get to lean over whenever they want some. At this point it's full speed ahead for enjoying a night out at the movies.

My biggest obstacle continues to be the guessing game that goes on regarding how easy or difficult a movie will be for me to follow. It's a crapshoot that makes attending movies a bit unnerving. Honestly, I have been to a few movies that were next to impossible to follow, and I was miserable through the whole film, sometimes falling asleep, sometimes having an internal conversation with myself, questioning my sanity for thinking a movie would be a good idea.

It wouldn't take much to remedy this problem, however. All we would need is a rating system in addition to the ratings that are currently in place, like "PG" for parental guidance and "R" for restricted. For example, if numbers from 1 to 10 were used to inform visually impaired movie-goers about the degree of difficulty involved in following a story, this would effectively eliminate the guessing game. If a movie were rated 7, 8, 9 or 10, blind and visually impaired people would know these movies were easier to follow with much more dialogue than movies rated less than 5. How great would it be to know ahead of time that the movie you were about to see was going to be easy to follow?

I saw the movie "Forrest Gump" recently, and after speaking to a few other blind friends, we agree that this movie would rate high on the list of movies that are easy to follow for people with visual impairments. So, for those of you who haven't seen the movie yet, get yourselves out and enjoy this one, knowing ahead of time that it'll be an easy flick for you to enjoy.....and have yourselves a good time at the movies!