Inclusion

Making live events accessible is a growing area. Whilst captioning of live events such as theatre, sports and television programs has been available for many decades, live audio description is a much more recent service, especially outside of arts performances.

The innovative program of events to be staged at the upcoming Sydney Festival is set to be more accessible and inclusive than in past years. The festival runs throughout January 2016 and will feature many performances with specific accessibility components for those with vision, sensory, hearing and mobility impairments and disabilities.

We spoke with Phia Damsma, co-founder and Creative Director at Sonokids Australia, to learn about the processes involved in creating accessible, educational computer programs for children with disability. Phia tells us about her award-winning projects and motivation to create accessible content for children.

U.S. cable provider Comcast, in partnership with NBC and Descriptive Video Works (DVW), will mark the International Day of People with Disability (3 December) by televising the Broadway musical The Wiz Live! with audio description, providing the first accessible live entertainment TV program in the U.S. for people who are blind or vision impaired.