By Andrew Jackson
Chris Edwards, his wife and three children settle in for a typical night of television watching. Like most nights, the family struggle to get through one episode of Modern Family without breaking into fits of laughter.
Sometimes, it is their dog Odie who interrupts the program, gnawing and wrestling with the living room rug.
Odie, however, is not a regular pet. And for Chris, watching Modern Family is far from the seamless viewing experience in other households.
Chris is blind, and like the other 453,000 blind and low vision citizens in Australia, he does not have equal access to television.
Unlike Australia’s deaf citizens, who received full captioning on all free-to-air channels in 2015, blind and low vision Australians are yet to see any audio description on broadcast television.
Chris is the Manager of Strategic Partnerships & Initiatives at Vision Australia and believes that the technology would mean more than simply being able to watch television.
“It comes down to a basic right – I should be able to, as a blind person, have the same access to television as the rest of my family” he says.
“Television is a source of information and learning, it is a form of entertainment and it is how you stay connected with what is going on in Australia, in the community and in the world.”
Last month, the Government released the long-anticipated report on the Audio Description Working Group.
In the report, Free TV Australia explained that the implementation of audio description by broadcasters was hindered by “limitations caused by technology and cost.”
Advocates for Australia’s blind citizens are sceptical of this claim.
In the Blindness Sector Report on the 2012 ABC Audio Description Trial, it was estimated that 14 hours of audio described material per week would cost approximately $750,000 per annum, which represents just a quarter of the ABC’s annual captioning budget.
Wayne Hawkins, Disability Policy Advisor at ACCAN, believes the lack of financial support is a worrying sign for the future of audio description.
“Last year broadcasters lost their license fees which saved the industry approximately $90 million a year,” he says.
“The idea that they can’t afford it rings a little hollow.”
Australia is the only one of 34 other OECD nations that does not provide audio description on television.
A frustrated Chris says this proves that the issue is not financially related.
“If you look at those 34 OECD countries, we would be just as technically advanced and wealthy as many of them,” he says.
“There is no reason why blind people should be missing out on what is common mainstream technology.”
Mr Hawkins agrees that the government cannot defend the lack of audio description and says it is a human rights issue.
“As a signatory to the United Nations Convention for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, the Australian Government has an obligation to ensure that all Australians have access to communications and media, particularly national media such as the ABC and SBS,” he says.
Having already experienced audio description on Netflix, Chris understands the impact it would have.
“It was a game-changing experience,” he says.
“It was the difference between always guessing what was happening on the television and having a full understanding.”
Chris hopes that one day he will be able to sit down with his family and not just watch Modern Family, but actually be part of the conversation.
“You feel much more connected with the show when it is audio described,” he says.
“Something as simple as the ability to be able to talk about it with your family and friends is really important.”