"HBO ... Discriminates Against Blind People"
Opinion from the Huffington Post

Elyse Wanshel, a reporter for the Huffington Post, has written an Opinion column titled, HBO’s ‘My Brilliant Friend’ Discriminates Against Blind People.  As a legally blind person, she is unable to read the subtitles in this series spoken in Italian, nor is she able to perceive either the nuances or key aspects of the video that any sighted person would perceive.  She bemoans the fact that HBO acknowledges "it does not offer video description services for any of its programming...  Yet HBO won’t budge, nor did it offer me any explanation as to why it does not offer audio description."

Having worked in the past with Netflix and more recently Hulu on the subject of offering audio description, the ACB and the Audio Description Project are looking into how best to persuade other studios and video services like HBO to commit to providing Audio Description.  (Posted Nov 13)

Hulu Commits to Audio Description

Hulu, with over 20 million streaming subscribers, and advocates from the American Council of the Blind and Bay State Council of the Blind have reached a settlement agreement to increase the accessibility of Hulu's streaming service to individuals who are blind or have low vision.  As a result, Hulu will undertake efforts to make its website and software applications accessible via screen readers and will provide audio description tracks for streaming content where possible.  Content and accessibility will begin to rollout sometime in 2019.  Read the Press Release.  (Posted Oct 17)

The 2019 BADIE Contest is Open

Once again we are encouraging young people with visual impairment from ages 7 through 21 to write reviews of audio described movies. It's time for the 2019 Benefits of Audio Description In Education (BADIE) contest!  Read all about the BADIE contest and share the information with students who are visually impaired and their teachers, as both can win prizes.  Deadline is December 3.  (Posted Oct 16) 

Bridge Multimedia Delivers AD for 17 Winners

Bridge Multimedia is currently providing accessibility for winners of 17 Cynopsis Kids Imagination Awards, celebrating innovation and excellence in kids, tween, and teen media and appearing on ABC, CBS, NBC, and PBS. Shows include Cyberchase on PBS, Lucky Dog on CBS, Rock the Park on ABC, and Naturally Danny Seo on NBC.  (Posted Oct 9)

Audio Description Podcasts

Eyes on Success offers podcasts discussing products, services, and daily living tips for people with vision loss.  Three recent podcasts discussed audio description:

• Podcast 1839 addresses Accessibility of US National Parks
• Podcast 1834 interviews Rachel Melton of MindsEye Radio who discusses audio description.  MindsEye Radio received a 2018 ADP Achievement Award.
• Podcast 1835 discusses what's involved in creating AD for live theatre for another ADP Achievement award winner, Geva Theatre Center in Rochester, NY.

Access Tech Watch-360 is offering a free podcast reviewing audio described movies.  The current one runs about 30 minutes and has two visually impaired reviewers reviewing three movies.  Give a listen:  It's Movie Night! Accessible Audio Movie Review.  (Updated Oct 2)