I want to talk to you about why we need audio description on television in Australia
There are approximately three hundred and fifty thousand people in Australia
who are blind or have low vision and they want to enjoy watching television
like the rest of you.
Television is an important way of sharing news, current affairs, sport
and stories and it should be enjoyed by all
Without audio description it is almost
impossible for people who are blind to properly experience television.
Audio description is a voice
explaining the nonverbal elements of what is happening on the screen
Audio description is on TV in the US, the UK, Canada, New Zealand
and a number of other countries.
It can be turned on and off depending on whether the viewer needs it.
Access to information is a basic human right and TV is something that we all take for granted.
It is time that Australia made it possible for people who are blind to get the whole story
(Music)
Hello I'm Steven Jolley, having been blind all my life I certainly
appreciate the power of words for conveying whats happening
without Audio Description I would have had no way of knowing that the woman in the clip
we just watched was preparing to perform on stage
Audio description should be available on Television for the 350000
Australians who are blind or have low vision
Just like you, people who can't see like to know what's happening on the TV screen
join me in petitioning the Minister for Communications Mitch Fifield
to change the law so we too can get the whole story