December 15, 2020 - The Elf on the Shelf® and Elf Pets® have fast become holiday mainstays, appearing in a wide variety of popular books, toys, and videos, and loved by children of all ages all around the world. Audio description is an added soundtrack that describes visual images for the benefit of people who are blind or have low vision.
This year, the American Council of the Blind (ACB), VITAC, and The Lumistella Company are proud to offer a special radio broadcast of the animated holiday special, “Elf Pets: A Fox Cub’s Christmas Tale,” on ACB Radio to make holiday cheer more widely available to all this season. The Christmas Eve program will also feature a special audio described production of Rory Hoffman’s “The Twelve Days of Christmas”, a visit from Santa himself and live phone calls from kids. The program will close with an historic airing of an audio described version of the 2015 White House holiday greeting including a tour of The White House at Christmas time.
“The holidays are a wonderful time for gathering with family,” said Dan Spoone, president of the American Council of the Blind. “And even if you can’t be together physically, we can all join each other in our respective homes and listen to the sounds of the season. We’re grateful to the creators of The Elf on the Shelf® series, musician Rory Hoffman, and VITAC for the chance to share audio described versions of classic holiday entertainment. And Santa will be with us, too! What could be better?”
Audio description makes video programming more accessible by inserting voiced descriptions of a television program’s key visual elements during natural pauses in the program’s dialogue, ensuring that individuals who are blind or with low vision can better understand and appreciate a program. For television, the description track can be found on a secondary audio channel available on most TV sets and accessible through the television’s onscreen menu.
The audio described broadcast of “Elf Pets: A Fox Cub’s Christmas Tale” opens with a narration of the credits and description of the background imagery: “Scout Elf Productions Presents… a blue sky with light snow and white clouds…in text: “Elf Pets, a Fox Cub’s Christmas Tale”…a snowy owl swoops by...”
“Santa cares about all children and hopes they share a sense of connection to the North Pole and its magic,” said Chanda Bell, The Lumistella Company co-CEO and Santa’s chief storyteller. “As Santa’s partners, we are grateful to collaborate with these trusted organizations to expand access to our animated stories.”
How to tune in:
- “Elf Pets: A Fox Cub’s Christmas Tale” will air at 7 PM ET on December 24, 2020. The program also will feature musician Rory Hoffman, who is blind, playing “The Twelve Days of Christmas” on 12 different instruments, a visit from Santa, calls from kids, and an audio described version of the 2015 White House holiday greeting video featuring a tour of The White House at Christmas time.
- ACB Radio is a non-profit, internet-based, audio-only live stream. You can listen at http://acbradio.org/cafe or ask your Amazon device to “Open ACB Radio Café.” You can also listen to ACB Radio via telephone by calling (518) 906-1820 and selecting number 4 for the ACB Radio Café.
Merry Christmas!
Contact: Joel Snyder, PhD
Director, ACB’s Audio Description Project
(202) 467-5083 – [email protected]
The American Council of the Blind is a national grassroots consumer organization representing Americans who are blind and visually impaired. With 68 state and special-interest affiliates, ACB works to increase the independence, security, equal opportunity and quality of life for Americans who are blind and visually impaired. Learn more at www.acb.org.