This one-day workshop serves as an introduction to media accessibility, focusing on audio description (AD). Our philosophy and approach to producing AD is framed in:
Community centered
Culturally inclusive
Creative solutions over legal compliance
This workshop is intended for artists, arts administrators, educators, and anyone with interest in arts and cultural accessibility! Folks who attend this workshop will leave with ways to view audio description through a culturally inclusive, community-centered lens, and promote creativity as a motivator for accessibility over legal compliance. In this workshop, the presenters will cover self-descriptions, industry definitions of accessibility features, and how to move beyond the industry’s parameters, prioritizing accessibility at the organizational level, moving from compliance to higher creativity, and cross-disability access. We will have a presentation, samples of creative access, discussions, and a writing activity.
What to expect:
We’ll have an opportunity to review access needs at the beginning and prioritize attendees’ comfort. Large and small group discussions, multiple breaks, play and discuss video and audio samples of captions and audio description, eating and drinking are fine.
Please see the general outline for the session below:
Introduction to facilitators modeling self-descriptions
Industry definitions of AD and captions and moving beyond
Why does your organization prioritize accessibility?
Moving from Compliance to Creative accessibility
Cross-disability accessibility
Samples and large group discussion
Interactive activity
Q and A and open discussion
Registration is limited. Please register here in Google Forms.
If you require assistance to fill out this form or prefer to share your registration information via email or phone, please email ejs421@lehigh.edu or call 610-758-6882. Questions, concerns, and any accessibility needs can also be directed to Elise at ejs421@lehigh.edu or call 610-758-6882.
Event Image description: With delighted smiles on their faces, Thomas and Cheryl co-present on a video call from their home studios. Cheryl (she/her) wears a dark blue sweater with a honeydew-green accent and white cat-eye glasses. Thomas (he/him) wears a bright blue t-shirt with “The Mystery Machine” and characters from Scooby-Doo screen printed on it and dark shades.
Presenters:
Cheryl Green
 
CherylWithHorsesSquare.jpg
 
Cheryl Green has worked as an Access Artist making creative and immersive captions for 12 years and audio description for six years. She brings her lived experiences of invisible disabilities and chronic illness to her access work with independent creators and disability-focused organizations including Superfest Disability Film Festival and Kinetic Light.
She’s a 2017 AIR New Voices Scholar, 2020 DOC NYC Documentary New Leader, 2023 Rockwood Documentary Leaders Fellow, Co-op Member at New Day Films, member of the Social Audio Description Collective, and co-host of Blind-Centered Audio Description Chat. Her blog, podcast, Pigeonhole, and documentary films are at www.WhoAmIToStopIt.com. When not working (and when working), she enjoys the fuzzy company of her Office Manager, a cat named RouRou.
Image description: Cheryl Green, a white Ashkenazi Jewish woman with olive complexion and long, dark curly hair stands in front of an enormous mural of running wild horses, staring off into the distance in the direction the horses are running. The screen print on her t-shirt is a delightful array of sharp knives and daggers and the words “No More Spoons.” A solemn crow tattoo adorns her upper arm, and her forearms are crossed in front of her, chiseled from too many years of typing too much.
Thomas Reid
 
Grey and black sweater with Black turtle neck Headshot.jpg
 
Thomas Reid is the host and producer of Reid My Mind Radio, a podcast featuring compelling people impacted by all degrees of blindness and disability. Through his annual season, “Flipping the Script on Audio Description” Reid explores the art and examines its implications on the community.
A member of the Social Audio Description Collective and a freelance Audio Description Narrator, Thomas has appeared on projects for Netflix, HBO Max, Hulu, PBS and more. He provides consultations for independent filmmakers, film festivals, co-facilitates workshops  and serves as moderator or panelist for discussions on audio description and content accessibility.
Image Description:
Thomas Reid, a brown skin Black man with a smooth shaven bald head and full neat beard with a sprinkling of salt and pepper, smiles into the camera. He wears dark shades and a grey and black sweater with a black turtleneck.