Accessibility: raising awareness of audio description in the UK

Abstract

This paper explores the provision and awareness of audio description (AD) across the visual media, from its availability since 2001 to viewers of digital television through to its inclusion in both cinema and DVD film releases. This paper sets out to describe the background to the introduction of AD in televisual broadcasting, cinema, video and DVD, and to outline the major developments that have taken place in the UK. Consumer feedback to the Royal National Institute of the Blind (RNIB)1 suggests that where AD is accessed by blind and visually impaired people, it is appreciated as it enhances their total experience. However, there is still work to be done in order to raise the awareness of all blind and visually impaired people of the value of AD. The need to train retail staff and the availability of the appropriate technology is highlighted. As the leading organization representing the interests of the two million blind and visually impaired people in the UK the RNIB is seen as being in a unique position to bring together the key players in the media industry for the benefit of blind and visually impaired consumers.

Cite this work

No public copy is stored for this record, so only the metadata is cited.

Stored only when both papers are in the corpus — 26 citations exist upstream.