Audio Description Campaign: Perceive the Movie


Why? Because blind children like sweet Miss Madilyn want to enjoy movies with their friends in theaters and at home, just like every other child! Madilyn perceives the world primarily with her senses of hearing and touch. Without sight, she cannot see the colorful scenery, character's funny faces, or those little nonverbal hints we get about the story through watching it with our eyes. In fact, Madilyn doesn't have eyes at all. She was born with a rare condition called bilateral anophthalmia in which her eyeball tissue and optic nerve never developed. Help Madilyn and all blind children and adults dreams' come true by signing the petition to request all Major Film Studios in the US provide the audio described track on their movies in theater, disc and digital releases.
Blind children and adults have the right to know about the images in a movie to completely understand the storyline, characters' actions, and scenery as sighted persons observes every time they attend a theater or watch a movie at home.
Movies are a key element to our culture. Blind and visually impaired people are not able to rely on sight to obtain information, and therefore need to use senses other than vision to acquire information. For the movie experience, only the sense of hearing is available. For blind and visually impaired children who are learning to comprehend the world, they will typically need to have clear explanations provided for learning and understanding, including learning new experiences as we do through movies. Audio description tracks and services are the answer to helping these children grow and learn with their sighted peers, and participate in society when they are older. It is a right, not an option.
The 2010 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) Preliminary Report established that an estimated 21.5 million adult Americans reported they either "have trouble" seeing, even when wearing glasses or contact lenses, or that they are blind or unable to see at all.

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We're so excited about Audio Description, or AD for short! Madilyn is to the point where now she knows that the audio description should be there when she isn't able to follow the story, however the option for AD doesn't always exist on the movies we play at home. Why? Because most children's movies, especially those made years ago but we still {LOVE, do not have the Audio Descriptive Track on the disc, usually labeled "DVS" or "English Audio Description". We want the public to be aware of the need and availability of this service for blind and visually impaired viewers.

In these efforts, we're launching a new campaign titled "Perceive: The Movie" to request actors, producers, studios, theaters and everyone involved in creating films to do their part in making their films accessible to viewers of all sights. Whether you're an actor who will pledge to require the movies you're in to add the audio descriptive track or an avid movie watcher, we need your support!  To learn more or get involved, read our post and join our CAUSE! Stay tuned for updates (check back on this page) regarding the campaign launch! #PerceiveTheMovie

Sign the Petition: Major US Film Studios, Provide audio description for all movie releases in theaters, on disc and digital formats!

“Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much.” - Helen Keller, deafblind American author, political activist, and lecturer.