Going to the movies

Much of the sighted world still has the notion that for blind persons, going to the movies is either not possible or probable. Or, that for blind persons, going to the movies may even be a waste of time. I can see why this misconception would be present but I'll try to clear it up.

The sighted world probably feels that if you are unable to see then you are unable to follow what's going on in the movie. This is partially true and often time we miss out on a lot when we are able to decipher what is going on during those periods of silence. We can use our sense of hearing to fill in many gaps but there is much that our sense of hearing would not be able to supply to us. We can accurately surmise what's going on when the sound of gun fire is heard, sounds of scuffling and fighting, sounds of persons in love scenes, and son. However, the fine details are almost often beyond our reach.

Things have improved for us greatly at the movies over the last decade and thanks to descriptive videos and movies our world has opened up a great deal. More and more, videos, DVDs, and movies are being developed to include audio descriptions. I am going to leave you with a very informative website to check out and you can see for yourself what audio description is all about. Visit www.wgbh.org.

I'm Donna J. Jodhan your friendly accessibility advocate wishing you a terrific day and encouraging you to go out there and spread the word about audio descriptions and descriptive videos.