ACB's Clark and Kim talk with Para athletes and preview the 2021 Tokyo summer Olympics

Recorded during the ACB national convention on July 23 2021

~~Audio Description in the Outdoors: National Park Service, the UniDescription Project, and the UniD App: This session featured the National Park Service's work to bring audio description and increased access into park settings and highlighted the NPS's collaboration with the University of Hawaii's UniDescription Project to use its UniD app in U.S. and Canadian parks. Moderator: Jo Lynn Bailey-Page, ACB Audio Description Project Coordinator Panelists: ♥ Brett Oppegaard, Ph.D., Associate Professor, School of Communications, University of Hawaii at Manoa and Principal Investigator of the UniDescription Project, Honolulu, HI ♥ Michele Hartley, Media Accessibility Coordinator, Harpers Ferry Center, National Park Service, Harpers Ferry, WV ♥ Holly Griesemer, Management and Program Analyst for the National Park Service Midwest Region: Rivers, Trails & Conservation Assistance and Accessibility Programs, Omaha, NE ♥ Clark Rachfal, Director, Advocacy and Governmental Affairs, American Council of the Blind (ACB), Alexandria, VA

• Recorded during the 2021 ACB National Convention on July 21 2021~~

~~Podcasts Related to Audio Description: Attendees met the hosts of five podcasts featuring audio description, and learn how each got started, what they cover, and their plans for the future. Moderator: Kim Charlson, Co-Chair, Audio Description Project, Watertown, MA Podcasts include:

1. Picture This: A Podcast on All Aspects of Audio Description Co-Hosts: Brian Charlson, Watertown, MA; Carl Richardson, Brighton, MA Picturethis. [email protected]

1. Reid My Mind Podcast Host: Thomas Reid [email protected]

2. Social Audio Description Podcast Co-Hosts: Kensuke Nakamura and Caitlin Walsh [email protected]

3. Talk Description to Me Co-Hosts: JJ Hunt, and Christine Malec, Toronto, ONT, Canada [email protected]

4. The Know Your Narrator Podcast Host: Roy Samuelson, [email protected]

• Recorded during the 2021 ACB National Convention on July 20 2021~~

~~Audio Description Project Website Overview and Update (acb.org/adp): The number of audio-described videos available has increased dramatically in the past year to the 6,000-plus range. The ADP website is the place to find pointers to them all. The presentation covered how you can best use the website to find what interests you and how to access description resources. Presenter ♥: Fred Brack, ADP Webmaster and Social Media Manager, Raleigh, NC, [email protected] facebook.com/acbadp twitter.com/ADPwebmaster

• Recorded during the 2021 ACB National Convention on July 18 2021~~

~~Diversity: Describing Race, Skin Color, Ethnicity, Gender, and Disability within Contemporary Audio Description: Attendees heard a direct and thoughtful discussion by a panel of audio description experts on the importance of diversity within the field, how to describe in today’s diverse world, and reflected on what consumers want to hear in their descriptions. Moderator: Kim Charlson, Audio Description Project Co-Chair, Watertown, MA Panelists: ♦ Dr. Rachel Hutchinson, Project and Community Engagement Manager, Royal Holloway, University of London, Inclusive Description for Equality and Access (IDEA) #InclusiveAD, London, UK ♦ Thomas Reid, Reid My Mind Radio, Stroudsburg, PA ♦ Cheryl Green, Audio Describer/Voicer, Portland, OR ♦ Maria Vicky Diaz, Ph.D., Dicapta Foundation, Oviedo, FL ♦ Renee Arrington-Johnson, Audio Description Consumer, Member, ACB ADP Steering Committee, Lyndhurst, OH Co-sponsored by: ADP and MCAC

• Recorded during the 2021 ACB National Convention on July 22 2021~~

~~Audio Description in the Performing Arts: This panel of leading theater access professionals highlighted various ways audio description has been provided in performing arts venues, and how each has evolved to provide virtual description services during a pandemic. Moderator: Joel Snyder, PhD, Founder and Senior Consultant, ACB Audio Description Project, Takoma Park, MD Panelists: ♦ Brenna Nicely, Education and Engagement Director, American Repertory Theatre, Cambridge, MA ♦ Mary Hanks, Audio Describer, Houston Grand Opera, Houston, TX ♦ Jess Curtis, Artistic Director, Jess Curtis/Gravity, San Francisco, CA ♦ Alice Shepherd, Artistic Director, Kinetic Light, London, UK

• Recorded during the 2021 ACB National Convention on July 19 2021~~

~~Audio Description at Amazon: Over the last few years, Amazon has made great strides in expanding the availability of audio description, now offering more titles with AD than any other streaming service. This session from  Amazon experts from Device Accessibility and Prime Video discussed how they have scaled up audio-description production, and the many advantages they anticipate for blind or visually impaired customers.

• Recorded during the 2021 ACB National Convention on July 19 2021~~

~~ADP Audio Description in Museums: This panel of leading museum access professionals’ profiled various ways audio description is used in museum settings, and how each museum has coped with providing description services during a pandemic. Moderator: Joel Snyder, PhD, Founder and Senior Consultant, ACB Audio Description Project, Takoma Park, MD Panelists •: Beth Ziebarth, Director, Accessibility Services, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC • Jessica Doonan, Manager, Accessibility, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA • Charlotte Martin, Senior Manager, Access Initiatives, Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum, New York, NY • Robert Bready, Vice President for Operations, U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Museum, Colorado Springs, CO

• Recorded during the 2021 ACB National Convention on July 17 2021~~

Welcome to the Audio Description Track of the ACB Focus Podcast Series.