About

Audio Description (AD) is a translation practice that renders visual materials into verbal commentary to provide the Blind and Partially Sighted (BPS) with a rich and engaging way of accessing products, services, and cultural experiences. Although AD, as a discipline and practice, has seen significant advancements in the UK, the USA, and several European countries, it is still in the preliminary stage of development in India. This is due to several factors, including but not limited to (1) fluctuating Government support, (2) slow implementation of legislative provisions for People With Disabilities (PWD) and (3) limited awareness about accessibility tools in society. Nevertheless, local stakeholders such as NGOs, museums and solo activists contribute to early studies and services on accessibility and AD to promote PWD rights in the country.

Taking on board a model of community inclusion and individual self-actualisation that underpins AD provision, the proposed study aims to map out good practice in a specific sector of the creative industries: museums. The study will be cross-institutional and global (India-UK), bridging activities of relevant stakeholders and examining the practice of non-expert museum AD practitioners, from forming a ‘museum community’ to delivering AD. Qualitative interviews and thematic analysis of museum AD texts will help explore such practice.

The museum community, in this instance, will comprise internal and external members of museum institution(s) who translate museum objects/texts, even though their professional activities are not usually associated with any form of language mediation (Neather, 2012). The study will explore the practice of developing bilingual museum AD among an art museum community, interactions between new participants (professional AD trainers) and original members (non-expert describers), the impact of professional AD training on community practices, and BPS visitor response to AD texts produced in this mixed community model.