Talking Vision is Vision Australia Radio’s flagship program, discussing the latest news and issues from a blindness and low vision perspective.
On the show this week Sam catches up with university student, audio description user and Gilmore Girls superfan Tiana Offord.
You may have seen Tiana in the news recently talking about a petition she’s created to see audio description rolled out on Netflix for shows such as Gilmore Girls and Friends, legacy programs which do not currently feature the service.
This has meant that viewers such as Tiana miss out on crucial information about their favourite shows, for example when watching Gilmore Girls she was not aware that something happened to a character in a dream and not real life, as it wasn’t specified with audio description.
“That obviously changed my understanding of the next few episodes, and it shows the little things that sighted people wouldn’t really think about that really impacts a blind person’s viewing of a show,” Tiana said.
For Tiana the importance of audio description can’t be understated, and she hopes that people with the ability to improve the accessibility of services do all they can to bring audio description to as many shows as possible.
“If you close your eyes and you watch your favourite TV show without vision, imagine just how confusing it would be to you because obviously some of those shows have a laugh track in them and you don’t know what they’re laughing at and you won’t until you open your eyes and look at it.
“That’s what audio description is for us, basically you watch the show your whole life with your eyes closed, and then when audio description is added it’s like opening your eyes, actually seeing and understanding what’s happening for the first time,” she said.
Listen to the episode on Omny or in the player below:
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