Participatory accessibility: Creating audio description with blind and non-blind children

Elena Di Giovanni

doi:10.47476/jat.v1i1.50

Abstract

This article focuses on participatory accessibility by providing a definition, several theoretical insights and practical examples. By reporting on an inclusive and participatory experience carried out with blind, partially sighted and non-blind children in the drafting, recording and using audio description (AD) for a live opera performance, the aim is to bring into the spotlight the potential benefits of making accessibility a collective, open enterprise where end-users and creators are one. The article also advocates for the participatory turn in media accessibility research and practice.

Highlights

This article focuses on participatory accessibility by providing a definition, several theoretical insights and practical examples
As Susan Kattwinkel says with reference to the experiences reported in her collection of essays on Audience Participation (2003, x), “the audience has had a direct and immediate effect on the performance”, which upturns the more frequent point of view in research whereby the effect of the performance on the audience is under scrutiny, and not the opposite
In this article we will present and discuss an experience that encompassed both aspects: the performance was structured to include audience members, but it was created with their direct participation

Summary

From audience mapping to participation

In relation to AVT consumption, for live events, the move from merely studying audiences, to their involvement and participation has matched the evolution of the viewer/spectator from user to prosumer (Toffler, 1980), and produser (Bird, 2011; Bruns, 2008). A second reason is to be found in the primary audience for such services: taking AD as a case in point, the blind and partially sighted are still seen today as a niche audience, pouring resources into access services for them is not always financially viable It is precisely by setting up these services, by disseminating them and by sharing their very creation and consumption that an ever-larger space can be created, and accessibility can further expand. When referring to participatory accessibility, even the word 'services' becomes inappropriate: what is created and enjoyed should rather be seen as an inclusive experience, not merely a service It implies difficulties at several levels, participatory accessibility ensures many benefits: as a shared experience, it implies learning from each other, regardless of sensory or age-related limitations. Where exactly does a performance begin, and where does it end? These and other issues will be discussed with reference to our own case study but before we get there, let us focus on opera, its audiences and their emotions

Profiling opera audiences and their emotions

Participation in action research

Acting together

Observing and collecting observations

Findings

Reflections and conclusions: the lessons of participation