Audio Description as a Collaborative and Reflexive Tool (Practice Brief)

With approximately six million people who are blind, between the ages of 16-75+ years of age in the U.S., audio description (AD) is one way to increase people with disabilities\u27 access when visual images are involved (American Council of the Blind, 2019). Snyder (2014) described AD as a verbal description of a program (i.e., performing arts, films, cultural events). Furthermore, AD is distinct from an art label, photo caption, or an audio tour offering more than context, but actual description of the situation (Thomson, 2017). In some cases, AD is available at art and cultural museums. This paper imagines AD as a collaborative and reflexive tool for college artists, AD practitioners, blind communities, and gallery curators. This collaborative practice is important because the outcomes can increase shared access accountability, offer participating artists reflexivity, and increase the level of AD accuracy for people with visual impairments