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Media Access Australia is expanding our mission!

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After many years advocating for digital inclusion along with auditing and remediating web and digital content so that it is accessible to people with disability, Media Access Australia is widening our scope of work.

Centre for Inclusive Design logo

Centre for Inclusive Design logo

Instead of just concentrating on promoting inclusion through technology for those with a vision, hearing, cognitive or mobility disability, the charity is now going to focus on inclusion through participation, for people of all abilities, backgrounds and social circumstances.


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ACMA launches two new captioning videos

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The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) has created two new videos in order to widen the knowledge of people who are Deaf and hearing-impaired, community groups, and interested members of the public, in regards to how captioning is made and how it can best be used.

ACMA logo

ACMA logo

ACMA is a statutory authority within the federal government portfolio of Communications and the Arts, and is Australia's national regulator for broadcasting, the internet, telecommunications, and radiocommunications.


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Legal win for Deaf couple against hospital with ineffective communication

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A high-profile hospital in Texas has settled a lawsuit which alleged that their communications for Deaf patients were ineffective, in a landmark legal outcome with far-reaching implications for the medical profession. It has been reported that the July 2017 settlement will encourage others, who are being discriminated against in terms of inaccessible processes and information, to take similar action.

Lawsuit sign

Lawsuit sign

The Doctors Hospital at Renaissance, in Edinburg Texas, is a physician-owned hospital with a prominent Cancer treatment centre, and this lawsuit settlement comes after six years of the plaintiffs trying to get the facility to be more accessible for people who are Deaf or hearing-impaired.


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What is media access?

Media access refers to how digital, web and broadcast content can be used, read or viewed by people with disabilities, particularly those who are blind, vision impaired, Deaf, hearing impaired, or who have a cognitive condition or mobility disability. This includes the provision of effective access to websites, online information, digital communications, streaming services and broadcast television, as well as access in the classroom, cinema and the arts.


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Policy and expectations

By the end of 2014 the major cinema chains of Hoyts, Village, Event, and Reading cinemas had rolled out around 240 accessible screens across 130 cinemas around the country. This was part of the Commonwealth Government’s Cinema Access Implementation Plan  that saw every major chain cinema complex in the country have accessibility services on at least one screen per venue.


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Find accessible movie sessions online

The major cinema chains of Hoyts, Event, Village and Reading should have closed captions (CC) and audio description (AD) available at all locations across Australia, with open captions (OC) available at select major and independent locations and AD and CC available at New South Wales and Victorian Palace Cinema locations. Finding movie sessions which have these features can be difficult. Here is our step-by-step guide to finding movie sessions with CC, OC and AD on each major cinema website.

A few things to remember:


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Captioning, audio description and transcription suppliers

Media Access Australia does not provide captioning, transcribing or audio description services. However, there are a number of access suppliers that provide these services for video, TV, events, websites and online broadcasting in Australia.


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ACMA releases review of captioning rules

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The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) has just released the final report into its statutory review of captioning rules. While ACMA, as the independent statutory authority, does not recommend specific legislative amendments in the report it has just tendered, it has made three key findings.

Image of ACMA logo

ACMA logo

ACMA requested submissions from the public in June 2016, and the issues it looked at during the review included captioning rules for multichannels, the framework for granting captioning exemptions and target reductions to broadcasters, along with the complexity of rules for captioning on subscription television services.

The findings of ACMA’s report include:


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Be part of 24 hours of inclusive design

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A free 24-hour online community event on accessibility is being staged on 9 June 2017 by The Paciello Group one the world’s leading Assistive Technology providers for vision impaired people. It promises to be an inspiring event and is open to everyone.

A person thinks of usability and user experience

A person thinks of usability and user experience

Inclusive Design 24 is an innovative event sponsored by The Paciello Groupto celebrate worldwide efforts to ensure people with disability have full and equal access to the web.


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Five tips for teachers of students with hearing impairment

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So you’ve started a new term this year and you’ve discovered that one (or perhaps more) of your students has a hearing impairment or doesn't have English as their primary language. Check out five quick tips to help you make the most of your classroom.

Kids using tablets in class

Kids using tablets in class


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