The importance of audio description in Australian cinema

Transcript

15 March 2015   

Roberta: Audio description offers a vital service for people with vision impairment. The narration of visual elements in a video soundtrack can provide general information, education and entertainment to those that use the service. Current consumer group focuses on getting an audio description service up and running on Australian TVs but there's an existing service in cinema that could do with some focus, also. Ally Woodford from Media Access Australia is here to tell us about the issues. Welcome, Ally.

Ally: Thanks, Roberta.

Roberta: Now, before we get to the current situation can you give us a brief history of audio description in Australian cinema?

Ally: Sure, the abridged version, it was introduced in 2009 and you could say ironically through a number of the smaller independent cinemas rather than our major cinema chains. That was part of a federal government grant through the then Department of Ageing. The major cinema chains came on board a year later through a different federal government grant and if we fast forward to where we are today in 2015 we should have audio description available in every Hoyts, Village, Event and Reading Cinema nationally. The independent cinemas, they've had, you might say, a lull in their service as they transition to digital screens but it's picking up a little bit now through some individual cinemas.

Roberta: Ally, what are the issues?

Ally: Well, you may have picked up that I said that the current service that we have, it should have all those cinemas with audio descriptions but the reality is that while the equipment may be installed there's a range of things that are impeding patrons from adequately using the service. Commonly we'll see inaccurate or no advertising of the accessible sessions on websites, in newspapers or through the telephone information lines. Staff knowledge around the service is quite poor and patrons with vision impairments are often provided with assistive listening or caption devices instead. Lastly, if they do get the equipment right the patron might find that the equipment has got a flat battery or there is some kind of technical fault. Of course, these issues, they vary from cinema to cinema and day to day. There is no consistency at all.

Roberta: What has been to date about these issues?

Ally: Well, some listeners may recall that there was the government's Accessible Cinema Advisory Group and it ran for four years while the major cinema chains were fitted out with access equipment. Major disability groups, the cinemas themselves, government and Media Access Australia were its members and during the group's time there were repeated attempts to work with the cinemas to improve best service. If headway was made it's fair to say it was often short lived. I know that separately I've been aware of a few complaints over the years against individual cinemas as opposed to the entire cinema chain and they've either been dismissed or again they've made some progress but it's just for a short amount of time.

Roberta: It seems that the approaches so far just haven't worked, so what can we do next to get a better accessible service in our cinemas?

Ally: Yeah, I believe the next step is for an official complaint to be lodged against each chain, preferably by a number of people, and that it has the backing of one of the disability bodies. There also needs to be documented evidence of the issues the complainants have encountered and it covers a range of the services the chain provides, so things like their website accessibility, consistency of the advertising, staff training around audio description and of course the equipment function itself.

Roberta: When you mention lodging a complaint it sounds like a big and possibly expensive undertaking. Would that be the case?

Ally: No, I don’t believe so. Firstly, the lodging of a complaint, it is a free process within either the Australian Human Rights Commission or the State Based equivalent and it's very streamlined and a supported process. I do know that there are movie patrons out there who have had repeated disappointments over a number of years and they've documented their experiences electronically. So evidence is already there for a number of years, so it's ready to go. It just needs one or preferably a few people to kind of put their hand up and have the support of their member organisation in going forward with a complaint.

Roberta: Let's hope that people do that because it's too important to let it slide, isn't it?

Ally: Yeah, I believe so.

Roberta: Now, if you'd like more information on accessible cinema or would like to discuss your cinema experiences with Ally she can be contacted on 02 9212 6242 or you can email info@mediaaccess.org.au. Also visit www.mediaaccess.org.au website to read up on accessible cinema programs in Australia. Thank you, Ally, for all of that.

Ally: Thanks, Roberta.

Roberta: I've been speaking with Ally Woodford from Media Access Australia. Media Access Australia is a supporter of this program.

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