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Projects with Promise

Vol. 25 No. 4

Audio Description for All: Serving the Low Vision Spanish-Speaking Community in the United States

Submitted
November 26, 2020
Published
2021-12-15

Abstract

Audio description (AD), narrative description of key visual elements for visually impaired or blind audiences, is provided in English in the United States; however, Spanish-language AD is almost nonexistent. Because Spanish is the most spoken and fastest growing non-English language in this country, training translation students to provide AD in Spanish fills a gap for the visually impaired Latino population. This article shows how a project on AD for the theater was used in a community-based course at Montclair State University (New Jersey), what challenges we encountered, and how those challenges were overcome. I also provide a step-by-step program plan to help implement such initiatives. In addition to learning about AD, I guided my students to reflect critically upon language, arts, and accessibility in the multicultural reality of the United States