Policy

National Curriculum Review and inclusiveness

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Commentary by Anne McGrath, Education Manager, Media Access Australia

The education community has been anticipating the Australian Government’s newly released Review of the Australian Curriculum. The Review is well considered, comprehensive in nature and holds interest for all teachers, including those who work with students with disability and diverse learning needs.

Teacher pointing at mathematics questions on a projector screen in a classroom

Taxonomy:

Blind or vision impaired

Deaf or hearing impaired

Captions

Inclusion

Equipment

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Print disability conference calls for papers for 2015

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The Round Table on Information Access for People with Print Disabilities is calling for papers for its next conference, to be held in Adelaide on 2 - 5 May 2015.

Round Table on Information Access for People with Print Disabilities Inc. with logo of Australia and New Zealand inside a circle

Taxonomy:

Blind or vision impaired

Solutions

Digital media and technology:

Assistive technology

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Repealing captioning red tape: Improving caption regulation

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The next round of the Federal Government’s repeal red tape campaign is due to take place next month and is likely to include captioning issues. We have contacted a number of interest groups including Federal politicians with our recommendations on how repealing red tape could benefit the operation of the captioning elements of the Broadcasting Services Act.

Right hand holding open scissors over a line of red tape

Taxonomy:

BSA, Broadcasting Services Act

Deaf or hearing impaired

Captions

Inclusion

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Audio description for mobile phones delayed in the US

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The Federal Communications Commission has agreed to a request by the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) that the introduction of an audio description service for mobile digital TV be delayed until October 2013.

The Twenty-First Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act of 2010 reinstated audio description quotas for television. The main television services will have to comply with this by 1 July 2012, delivering the service on a second audio channel on set-top boxes. The NAB argued that introducing audio description for mobile TV will be more difficult, as mobile receivers will need to be modified to receive the service.

The TVTechnology website includes commentary on the issue.

Taxonomy:

General

Television

Digital TV

Blind or vision impaired

Audio description

Policy

News alert taxonomy:

Blind/vision impaired TV, DVD, Cinema & the Arts news

Research & Policy news

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Terms of reference

The first step in the Review process was a consultation on the Terms of Reference, which ended in January.

Taxonomy:

Australian policy and legislation

DBCDE, Department of Broadband Communications and the Digital Economy

Policy

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Policy and web accessibility

There is no general commercial requirement for online media to be accessible. However some VOD services, including Netflix, iTunes and the catch-up TV services ABC iview, SBS on Demand and Plus7, do provide captions.