Full disclosure: I’m blind and I like watching tv. Some of you reading this might be thinking “hey, if you’re blind you can’t watch movies or television!” And in response, I would say don’t get hung up on the choice of verb that I use. Just because I’m blind, doesn’t mean that I don’t use words like “watch”, “look”, and “see”. In fact, many blind and visually impaired people use these terms every day, primarily because they are the commonly heard and accepted terms in today’s society.
Anyway, I like watching TV and I actually have subscriptions to multiple streaming services. Some of the services that I use for watching TV include YouTube TV, Netflix, Disney Plus, Paramount Plus, and Prime Video. One of the things that makes my TV viewing experience the most enjoyable is when something I’m watching has audio description.
Audio description is a specialized audio track that is added to video content where a narrator describes visual aspects of each scene in between dialogue. Just as closed captions can be turned on or off for most videos, audio description is an optional addition that viewers can turn on or off at their leisure. In recent years, audio description has become more prevalent in modern television and movies. Unfortunately, not every TV show or movie has audio description, which is unfortunate because so many people (not just blind and visually impaired) benefit from audio description. Just as closed captions are enjoyed by people in noisy environments, those with language processing disabilities, and people with attention deficits, audio description benefits a wide variety of people with and without disabilities; this is what we call the curb-cut effect.
To clarify, I do not depend on audio description to watch every single video. Some shows and movies have enough dialogue for me to understand the basic gist of what’s happening so that I don’t need audio description. However, with Hollywood’s increasing reliance on fast-paced action, I am finding that having audio description is becoming more and more necessary.
Netflix and some of the modern – day streaming services have been very good in their commitment to offering audio description on many of their videos. Yet, not every title on these popular streaming services has audio description. In this post, I would like to highlight some of the TV series and movies that I have come across and whether or not they have audio description. Note, this is not a comprehensive list by any means. This list is merely a reflection of my own watch history.
• NCIS- this is one of my favorite TV series and when you watch new episodes live on television, there may or may not be audio description available. However, if you are willing to wait a couple of weeks, most of the newer episodes tend to have audio description when they become available on Netflix.
• The Marvelous Mrs. Maizel-when I first started watching the series on prime video, season one did not have audio description, but part way through season 2 audio description became available.
• Suits-sadly, this Netflix series does not have audio description for the first few seasons; which is ironic considering that the series is about a group of lawyers.
• Virgin River-this is a very good series on Netflix and fortunately it does have audio description!
• Manifest-this Netflix series does have audio description.
• Your Honor- Fortunately, there is audio description available for this Netflix series.
• Lock And Key-fortunately, this Netflix series does have audio description.
• All The Light We Can Not See-audio description is available for some episodes in this Netflix limited series.
• Heartland- This series on Netflix does not appear to have audio description, according to what I have gathered from watching the first few episodes.
• Travelers- audio description is available for this exciting Netflix series.
• The Queen’s Gambit- audio description is available for most episodes in the series.
• A Game Of Thrones- Audio description is available for most episodes in this popular HBO series.
• Atypical- this excellent series on Netflix has audio description.
• Supernatural-sadly, there is no audio description available for this popular Netflix series.
• Dexter-sadly, there is no audio description available for this series on Netflix.
• Wildfire- Sadly, this heart-warming Netflix series does not have audio description.
• In The Dark- Fortunately, this Netflix mystery series has audio description.
• Star Trek Picard- This fast-paced series on Paramount Plus has audio description!
• Echoes- Fortunately, there is audio description available for this Netflix limited series.
• The Midnight Club- There is audio description available for this Netflix series.
• Gilmore Girls- Sadly, there is no audio description available for this series on Netflix.
• Wednesday- Fortunately, there is audio description available for this delightful series on Netflix.
• White Collar- Sadly, this Netflix series does not have audio description.
As you can see from the list above, there are several tv series available with audio description on popular streaming services; however, they are mixed in with even more series without audio description, making it very difficult to find the next fully-described binge-worthy series to watch on the weekend or after work. One would hope that until all series and movies are fully audio described, companies such as Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, Paramount, Disney, and others would create a special category within their catalog that lists only audio described shows and movies.
A fascinating discussion is worth comment. There’s no doubt that that you should publish more about this issue, it might not be a taboo matter but usually people do not discuss these issues.
To the next! All the best!!