Make audio description available on ALL films, TV programmes and streaming services

Make audio description available on ALL films, TV programmes and streaming services

Started
31 October 2019
Petition to
Signatures: 3,684Next Goal: 5,000
Support now

Why this petition matters

Started by Emma Purcell

There are 2 million people living with sight loss in the UK and having access to films, television programmes and streaming services is just as important to them as it is to the rest of society.

Currently, TV channels and film networks have to only provide audio description to 10% of its films and TV shows. But we want to increase this to 100% so blind and partially sighted people can access all the same films and programmes as the sighted community.

For many blind and partially sighted people, they could come across a trailer for a new film or TV series that interests them, only to discover audio description is not available.

In some cases, a person with sight loss could watch the first series of a TV show with audio description but then when the second series airs, audio description is not available, meaning they miss out on the entertainment their sighted peers have.

Moreover, if somebody with sight loss wanted to catch up on a previous episode or box set, most of the catch-up services remove the audio description version after a few days or don’t provide audio description on certain devices.

Making audio description available should be a compulsory part of creating and distributing a film or TV series and not just as an additional extra. The audio description should be included in the filming budget and not just thought of if the network has money leftover.

Having audio description will bring bigger audiences to TV channels and films and it will give blind and partially sighted people an unlimited choice of TV shows and films to watch.

Audio description is so important because it describes the scenery, colours, facial expressions, body language, action sequences and written text/images (e.g foreign subtitles, smartphones, computers, newspapers, photos).

We need audio description available on ALL films, TV programmes and streaming services!

If you, or someone you know, has a vision impairment and/or you are a supporter for disability equality, then please sign and share this petition – THANK YOU!

Support now
Signatures: 3,684Next Goal: 5,000
Support now
Share this petition in person or use the QR code for your own material.Download QR Code

Decision-Makers