Blind and Visually Impaired Community
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Positive representation! Yay! (self.Blind)
submitted by blindjo
Abc's sitcom Speechless has done a lot for the disabled community in regards to positive representation (and it's genuinely funny!). I found tonight's episode particularly awesome because it included a partially sighted character who used a cane.
Why is this so cool? Visually impaired people rarely get screentime on major television shows, especially outside of "tiny time" roles. And when shows do include VI characters, they're usually totally blind.
A large portion of us still have some remaining sight, so it's nice when shows reflect that. Yay Speechless
Why is this so cool? Visually impaired people rarely get screentime on major television shows, especially outside of "tiny time" roles. And when shows do include VI characters, they're usually totally blind.
A large portion of us still have some remaining sight, so it's nice when shows reflect that. Yay Speechless
fastfinge 2 points 6y ago
Edit: it is broadcast in the US with audio description. It just didn't make it into the online version, or the Canadian rebroadcast. So better than I had first feared.
Doesn't seem to be available with audio description, though. At least, not in Canada, and not from the various online places like iTunes. Another TV show talking about us without us. At least as far as I can tell, iTunes doesn't even provide captions for deaf folk. Sad.
Doesn't seem to be available with audio description, though. At least, not in Canada, and not from the various online places like iTunes. Another TV show talking about us without us. At least as far as I can tell, iTunes doesn't even provide captions for deaf folk. Sad.
blindjo [OP] 1 points 6y ago
Oh dang! I didn't know that they don't have audio descriptions for Speechless in other countries. Unfortunately, Hulu, which also streams the show, is pretty inaccessible. That sucks.
ITunes actually does have captions for Speechless, you just have to enable the captions feature on your device
ITunes actually does have captions for Speechless, you just have to enable the captions feature on your device
fastfinge 1 points 6y ago
That happens pretty often, actually. For example, if the BBC in the UK records the audio descriptions, it doesn't license them to international broadcasters. International folks either have to due without, or record there own. ABC is probably similar. I suspect it has something to do with the contract they sign with the voice actress who reads the AD. She'd probably be owed international royalties if they broadcast it outside of the country. I can't really point fingers: CBC audio describes all programs inside Canada. But just like everyone else, CBC programs don't seem to have AD in other countries.
Edit to add: and movies, too. I remember watching a movie in Canada in theatres with AD back in the early days (10 or 15 years ago), and then watching the same movie later in the US. In the US, the AD was read by an entirely different person, using a different script.
Edit to add: and movies, too. I remember watching a movie in Canada in theatres with AD back in the early days (10 or 15 years ago), and then watching the same movie later in the US. In the US, the AD was read by an entirely different person, using a different script.
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