The mission of the American Council of the Blind’s (ACB) Audio Description Project (ADP) is to promote and advocate for the use of high-quality Audio Description in television, movies, performing arts, museums, educational materials, and other venues where the presentation of visual media is critical to the understanding and appreciation of the content.
The ADP’s goals are to sponsor a broad range of activities designed to build awareness of audio description among the general public as well as its principal users, people who are blind or have low vision.
Those activities and resources include:
- Act as consultant for Certification for Audio Describers and Audio Description Consumers: ACB and ADP have been principal participants in the development of a certification effort with the Academy for Certification of Vision Rehabilitation & Education Professionals (ACVREP)
- Partnered with the World Blind Union to produce a report based on a landmark survey of member nations regarding the state of AD in their Countries.
- Sponsor and produce Audio Description Project Conferences and the Audio Description Institute/Describer Training led by Dr. Joel Snyder.
- Partner with The Defined and Captioned Media Program to design and promote the annual BADIE (Benefits of Audio Description in Education) contest. The contest encourages students who are blind to experience selected audio described media and submit their reviews to win prizes and recognition for their schools.
- Collaborate on production of special audio-described programs and events including the first audio described tour of the White House and partnering with ACB-TV to provide audio description of Presidential inaugurals
- Dr. Joel Snyder’s “The Visual Made Verbal: A Comprehensive Training Manual and Guide to the History and Applications of Audio Description”
Related links:
- The Audio Description Project Website includes a Media Library of audio described content
What is Audio Description
Audio description (also known as “description,” “video description,” “described video,” or “verbal description”) uses words to convey visual images primarily for people who are blind or have low vision. In media, scenery, action, and other visual elements are described with narration in the natural pauses between dialogue and sound elements.
Audio Description can be used for TV, films, museum exhibitions, live performances, and other events.
Example of Audio Description in Film:
Disney’s film trailer for Frozen with Audio Description: https://vimeo.com/300241133