14.1 What is audio description, revisited
Now that you know something about the art of AD, let us return to the question posed by Alicia Rodríguez at the Advanced Research Seminar on AD 2015. ‘What is Audio Description?’ VocalEyes put the question to some of its users, in the form ‘What does AD mean to you?’ Audio description provides social benefits such as equality, inclusion and community integration. It makes a huge difference to the lives of people with sight loss. The following is a selection of their comments.
• For me, audio description means being able to really enjoy a play. No longer do I have to miss any of the action or nuances, or put up with long gaps in the dialogue after which the story is often impossible to pick up again. Friends and family are also able to relax and fully enjoy the performance too, without having to worry about describing the action, very often to the irritation of other theatre-goers!
• Audio description brings programmes alive for me. It means I can fully understand what is going on during a soap or a film or documentary as a recorded voice tells what is happening during quiet parts or parts with music. I would never know what is happening fully in a programme without audio description. It gives me information on the parts most sighted people take for granted as they can see the screen. ‘A man running down the street wearing a blue top and waving his hands.’ I wouldn’t have known that without audio description.
• Audio description means that, as a blind person, I can watch a film with my friends and laugh at the same time as they do. I can understand the story without having to pause the DVD so that they can describe the bit that I didn’t understand. That my husband can relax beside me without having to make the big effort of describing the action to me.
• As a partially sighted person, I benefit from AD in two ways. It highlights things I would otherwise miss, and thus I am able to see them and possibly photograph them if it is a building. There are other objects and of course notices which I cannot see or cannot read, and so a description is particularly helpful. Well-trained describers make the experience interesting and entertaining.
• It doesn’t just paint a picture and describe the action; audio description opens up a whole new world of enjoyment for me and my visually impaired family. How else would I know that Lightning McQueen sticks his tongue out or that Lion King the musical has such spectacular costume and choreography?
• An audio description is an inspiring way for me to learn about ways to experience something without having to use my eyes. Often what you see overpowers what you might experience if you allow yourself to become immersed in something and feel it across all your senses. An audio description provides a different dimension to an experience. It goes beyond a visual impression and gives depth to an experience by providing another perspective.
• I am not visually impaired but my 8-year-old son is, and I am always looking for ways to communicate about what is going on around him, so he can also see what he can’t see with his eyes.
• An opportunity to expand and broaden horizons for the blind and partially sighted.
• Having audio description gives a voice to the visual arts and brings the experience to life in a way that promotes independence, participation and choice.
• Audio description enables me to continue to enjoy the theatre, whether it be drama, musical or ballet. I had given up attending performances, as I was missing so much and unable to understand what was going on, until I gave audio description a try. The touch tours can also be very helpful in giving something to attach the description to. I do not attend any performance now unless it is audio described.
And finally: what does AD mean to me? I have worked as a describer since 1993. It has been an extraordinary education in the psychology of sight. I have worked with interesting and skilled people, met BPS people full of courage, humour and insight and had the opportunity to work in some fascinating places, see some great performances and sit on my own in rooms full of ancient artefacts or priceless paintings, being paid to look at them long and hard while trying to capture their essence in words. I have learned to say less and listen more. I have learned how speech is so much more than words. AD has given me a career, an area of expertise. I have had the satisfaction of knowing that people found my work useful, interesting and that, like me, it helped them to regain some independence. It has brought me friendship and provided the subject matter for endless conversations. If AD is altruistic, I have been the beneficiary.