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IN TOUCH 鈥� Audio Description; Goalball Classifications

TX:听 10.08.2021听 2040-2100

PRESENTER:听 听听听听听听听 PETER WHITE

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PRODUCER:听 听听听听听听听听听 BETH HEMMINGS

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Audio Description

Peter White sits in a tall black wheelie chair, at a large desk designed for radio presenting.听 Around the desk are four microphones with multicoloured foam covers and multiple computer monitors.听 Peter leans toward a yellow foam-covered microphone and takes a breath.

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White

Good evening.听 Perhaps just a bit too much information there but for those who鈥檝e never used it, that鈥檚 what audio description of TV programmes sounds like for the many of us who actually enjoy television whether we can see the pictures or not.听 But for how long will we have to put up with only a fraction of those pictures being audio described?听 And an athlete who鈥檚 classed as able to see too well to represent their country at a sport designed for blind and partially sighted players.

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Well, we鈥檒l find out about goalball athlete Karina Lang and what her chances of joining the fun in future international sporting events.

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But first, audio description, that鈥檚 filling in the action on TV, films and the theatre, so that blind people can follow it better during the silences.听 But even though audio description鈥檚 been around for over 30 years now, it鈥檚 still only available on a very small percentage of programmes, films and plays.听 There are minimum requirements which apply to major TV channels but many people think the minimum is just not enough.听 And the rules are even less tough on streaming platforms such as Netflix, Amazon Prime etc.听 This, at a time when the communications regulator, Ofcom, has just reported a notable shift in the way we watch, moving away from live TV to on-demand streaming.

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Well, Fern Lulham has been looking into all of this for us, talking to users about the value of audio description.听 But first, Fern, just explain the rules as they apply to what we regard as the traditional TV channels.

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Lulham

Well Peter, broadcasters must include audio description in a minimum of 10% of their service.听 Now there are some exemptions from this for smaller broadcasters, whose audience figures and revenues are relatively low but for the major ones that we鈥檇 all recognise, like 大象传媒, ITV and Channel 4 it鈥檚 10%.

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White

Well, we鈥檙e now spending a lot more of our time watching streaming services, double the time, in fact, since before the pandemic, so what鈥檚 the position with on-demand services for audio description?

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Lulham

Currently there is no legislation for levels of on-demand content that must be audio described.听 However, the recent Ofcom recommendations to the government do aim to address this and they鈥檙e suggesting the same 10% minimum legal requirement as for traditional broadcasts.

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White

Now 10% for both traditional and on-demand services, I mean that does seem pretty low doesn鈥檛 it, although some of the television services guarantee that they will do more than that.

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Lulham

Yeah, well, speaking as a blind fan of TV I鈥檇 have to say so Peter, especially as our major broadcasters do already exceed the 10%.听 But I wanted to see what other people thought, so I spoke to three visually impaired audio description users 鈥� Ellen Williams, Tony Avarice and 鈥� your wish is my command Peter 鈥� last week you asked him to come on the show and this week I鈥檝e tracked him down for you, one of Scotland鈥檚 only blind comedians Neil Skene and I just couldn鈥檛 resist asking him if he鈥檇 ever heard of a certain Jamie MacDonald?

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Skene

I鈥檝e heard the name, just, but my opening line was I鈥檓 Scotland鈥檚 only blind comedian, if there鈥檚 another one, well I鈥檝e not seen him.听 There obviously are more than one.听 Unbelievable.

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Lulham

And as a comedian yourself, do you find that audio description can be particularly helpful when it comes to TV comedy shows?

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Skene

The art itself is very verbal, maybe a 30 second introduction [indistinct words] or characters, appearances 鈥� I guess we all use our characteristics to get a laugh.

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Williams

I鈥檇 say I rely on it more in terms of things like dramas which might have more visual aspects as part of the storyline but, ultimately, I think, audio description can benefit any sort of programme because it provides details that I might not otherwise be aware of.

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Lulham

So, how do you feel about the level of AD provided for on-demand services?

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Avarice

大象传媒 and ITV have accessible content, although not on every platform, whereas Sky, for example, there鈥檚 no video on-demand.听 If you鈥檝e missed a programme, you鈥檝e got no opportunity then to catch-up on that missed episode.

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Skene

Certain programmes, you know, like Netflix, when you get seasons, there nothing worse than season one audio described, then you go to season two and it鈥檚 not, I mean that鈥檚 just horrendous.

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Williams

If I鈥檝e missed a programme, I don鈥檛 often go back to watch it on catch-up because often enough audio description isn鈥檛 provided on there.

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Avarice

I鈥檓 hoping that when the time period comes along that the four-year delivery plan, to get up to 10%, will mirror the live content or the linear content and also to include some of the back catalogues as well.

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Lulham

And what do you think about the current level of provision of audio description.

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Skene

I really don鈥檛 see why it can鈥檛 be 鈥� made 100%.听 I mean this 10%, it鈥檚 just nonsense.听 What鈥檚 10%?听 Two and half hours out of a 24-hour day, virtually nothing at all.听 I can鈥檛 see why it can鈥檛 be minimum 70-80.

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Williams

I found that I鈥檝e switched programmes off before if they don鈥檛 have audio description because I find that it takes away from the enjoyment of it and I find myself wondering what鈥檚 happening on screen rather than focusing on the content.

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Lulham

Have you noticed any improvement in audio description across the board in the past five years?

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Avarice

I believe that audio description has improved, that there has been consultation and it鈥檚 now looking at what the consumer needs and wants from the audio description, rather than prescribing from their perspective.

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Williams

Vision impaired people watch TV too and audio description can go a long way in making that experience so much more enjoyable, accessible and inclusive.听 So, by implementing it, it can benefit vision impaired people but also the broadcasters themselves.

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Fulham

Unsurprisingly then users of audio description seem to want more of it.听 So, to get an idea of how realistic that is, I spoke to ITV鈥檚 Director of Accessibility, David Padmore and I started by asking him why all programmes couldn鈥檛 be audio described.

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Padmore

Cost is a factor, we have finite resources but actually, equally important, is the schedule.听 With the ITV main channel, for example, from 6 o鈥檆lock in the morning to 2 o鈥檆lock in the afternoon, every day, we have Good Morning Britain, we have Lorraine, we have This Morning, we have Loose Women 鈥� we have eight hours of continuous live content.听 So, the schedule, itself, kind of constrains what we can and can鈥檛 do.听 Outside of that it鈥檚 about popularity.听 We consider suitability, you know, does audio description complement the programme and we also consider turnaround time 鈥� we typically don鈥檛 start working on audio description until everybody else has finished.

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Fulham

And are there any quality standards for audio description and if so, are they prescribed by Ofcom or are they set by individual broadcasters?

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Padmore

There are Ofcom guidelines.听 They鈥檙e kind of refined, I suppose, by the individual service providers and broadcasters.听 And I believe that Ofcom are in the process of reviewing those guidelines, to make sure that they remain relevant now and increasingly from demand platforms as well.听 If the content and the duration of the programme is exactly the same, then there鈥檚 fundamentally very little cost.听 There are, of course, considerable costs in developing the capability of on-demand platforms.听 Today there are a multitude of different platforms and devices 鈥� Free View, Free Sat, Sky, Virgin, You View 鈥� they all go about things in different ways.听 And, of course, devices like your Apple TVs and Amazon Fires and Chromecasts and all of those ways in which people consume audio described content require different technical solutions.听 There鈥檚 been very little standardisation in the way audio description is approached.听 It seems obvious that if you鈥檝e got audio description on your programme on your broadcast channel in the evening, why, on earth, is it not available on your catch-up service 鈥� your Firestick or your Chromecast or whatever.听 But behind the scenes it is a programme of work that requires quite a lot of effort, quite a lot of investment and unfortunately, that takes time.

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Lulham

So, if the Ofcom recommendations on minimum levels of AD is implemented by the government will that have any significant impact on your current plans?

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Padmore

We鈥檝e got a lot of work, already, underway.听 One of the things that is changing for us, is, in the past, we鈥檝e typically worked to a broadcast transmission schedule driven workflow.听 So, typically a series will be on TV once a week for six to eight weeks, modern practice is kind of changing now and so often you鈥檙e getting maybe the first episode is on the broadcast channel but at that point the whole of the box set is released on to the on-demand platform at once, people are able to binge watch the series rather than wait a week for episode two.听 So, that has changed our workflow and we are very focused on many sure, in those circumstances, now that we have got all of the audio described versions ready to go so that when the programme is released on to the ITV Hub all of those episodes can be watched one after the other.听 I think the challenge, for us, is really keeping pace with the platforms and devices, making sure that we鈥檙e working with the likes of Digital UK for Free View, with the TV manufacturers, with Sky and Virgin etc., to make sure that that audio description can be made available everywhere that the content is.

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White

And that鈥檚 David Padmore ending Fern Lulham鈥檚 report.

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In response to all this we asked the government about the legal requirements for audio description.听 They told us: 鈥淚t鈥檚 important that television content should be accessible for all UK audiences as part of a digitally inclusive society and we want to see an improvement in access services for video on-demand.听 We鈥檙e currently, carefully, considering Ofcom鈥檚 accessibility recommendations and we鈥檒l set out next steps in due course.鈥�

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Well, the plan is that we should talk to Ofcom more about these rules and how they might be changed and we鈥檙e going to be doing that very soon.听 So, we鈥檇 like your comments and questions so that we can reflect them back to Ofcom.听 You can email intouch@bbc.co.uk or leave us a voice message on 0161 8361338.

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Now, if you were listening to our preview of the Paralympics the other day, you know, the main event after that little curtain raiser of the Olympics, you may have wondered why we didn鈥檛 mention goalball, after all, perhaps you鈥檒l say, goalball was a sport specifically designed to be played by visually impaired people.听 Of course, the even more well-informed amongst you will know that, sadly, neither our men鈥檚 or women鈥檚 goalball teams qualified for Tokyo.

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But even if they had keen players like Karina Lang couldn鈥檛 have represented Great Britain in the Games.听 It鈥檚 because she鈥檚 currently deemed to have too much sight to qualify.听 It鈥檚 all to do with the classification system set up in all Paralympic sports to determine which athletes can actually be grouped together with similar levels of physical ability to ensure fair competition.听 But some visually impaired players have challenged this ruling within goalball because they say that fair is what it isn鈥檛.听

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Player, Karina Lang, has been explaining the issue to me.

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Lang

In order to take part at an international level you have to go for, what they call, a classification which is where they test an athlete鈥檚 visual field and acuity.听 And depending on the results of that, you are put into four categories 鈥� you鈥檝e got B1, B2, B3 and B4.听 So, B1 is basically for people who are completely blind, so that鈥檚 those with the very worse sight.听 And then B2 is a bit more sight, B3 is a bit more sight and then you have B4.听 So, B4 is where I, myself, sit, which is very terrible eyesight but to play any international Paralympic sport the maximum that you can be is a B3, so you can be B1, B2, B3 and B4 you are not allowed to play in any Paralympic international sport.听 So, goalball is made for three players on the court and then with some substitutes and everyone on the court is either a B1, B2 or B3, doesn鈥檛 matter which combination you don鈥檛 need a certain number of B1s on the court or a certain number of B3s 鈥� you can be any combination.听 But everyone, once they get on to the court, is blindfolded to make sure that the playing field is super even.

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White

Which is a different issue, which we might like to go into one day but perhaps not today.听 But what鈥檚 your complaint about this system, as it affects you?

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Lang

So, I have albinism, so I have been registered since birth as being severely sight impaired by everybody else鈥檚 standards 鈥� so the government standards I am visually impaired, I can鈥檛 drive; I get disability living allowance.听 And I鈥檝e always struggled to find a sport that I can play.听 And at 26 years of age, I came across goalball and I fell in love with it instantly and I was actually quite good at it, much to my surprise, and I was put on the fast-track to go to the women鈥檚 GB Paralympics.听 And I got to the point where I needed to go for classification and it turned out that I was borderline B3/B4, which means I was not eligible to play because I landed on the B4 side of things.

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White

So, you can play competitive games but you can鈥檛 compete internationally, however, good you are, even though for other purposes you鈥檙e classified as sight impaired?

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Lang

Yes, exactly.听 So, yeah, I can play at a domestic level against other domestic teams, so within the UK but I can鈥檛 represent my country.

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White

How do you feel about this?

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Lang

So, when it happened, I was completely crushed, I very nearly walked away from goalball but Goalball UK did a fantastic job of telling me there was other options. 听So, I鈥檝e started to help a bit more with coaching.听 But it鈥檚 completely crushed me because I鈥檇 found a sport that I could play and I was actually good at and found a space in the world that I could play sports, which doesn鈥檛 happen very often for visually impaired people, and then this sport, which was set up specifically for people in my situation, turned around and said 鈥� no, you鈥檙e technically too good eyesight to play.

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White

You can see too much.听 Right.听 Now when you launched your petition, a research project had just begun, which was going to look at the whole business of the classification of goalball and we鈥檙e also joined by Anna Martin, who鈥檚 a PhD researcher involved in the project.

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Anna, just explain, what鈥檚 the aim of your study?

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Martin

There are two broad aims of our research.听 So, the first is to find out the general expert consensus around a range of issues surrounding goalball classification and the second is really to investigate the link between visual impairment and aspects of goalball performance.听 So, our job is to really dig a bit deeper into how visual impairment affects goalball performance.

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White

There clearly have to be rules about eligibility in Paralympics, that鈥檚 the whole point of classification, you know, to make it fair.听 What would you have to establish for someone like Karina to be able to compete internationally, what are you looking for?

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Martin

So, really our job is to provide the data for the relevant stakeholders with IPSA to make those decisions.听 So, there鈥檚 two main stages of classification.听 You first have the minimum impairment criteria, so that鈥檚 where we鈥檙e looking, at what level is someone鈥檚 impairment made them significantly negatively impacted by their impairment to compete in that sport.听 And then once you鈥檝e hit that level, so once you鈥檝e met the minimum impairment criteria, we then go into a class structure.听 So, as Karina said, goalball doesn鈥檛 have a class structure at the moment, everyone competes together, but those are the two main parts of classification.听 So, the one that Karina鈥檚 talking about with the B2, B3, B4, that refers to the minimum impairment criteria which would make someone eligible to compete.

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White

Karina, the International Blind Sports Federation told us that discussions have taken place between them and the athletes leading the campaign, where it was explained the project would establish the minimum eligibility criteria for goalball and they said, they understood, at the time, that you were satisfied with the project which could change the rules after the Paris Paralympics of 2024, depending on reports like the one Anna鈥檚 told us about.听 So, were you satisfied?

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Lang

Yeah, I mean, when we started this campaign, it was me and Adam, another goalball player, who is in the same situation as me, except he鈥檇 previously played for men鈥檚 GB for, I think, 12 years or something and then became B4.听 And, yeah, when we started it, we felt there was a real discrimination in the fact that the sport isn鈥檛 letting us play even though we should be able to play.听 And the petition we started just to raise awareness got something like 4,000 signatures in a matter of days.听 And then we spoke to IPSA and the people involved and they explained the situation that research was about to commence which we were not aware of when we started it.听 And so, it鈥檚 going to be a slow long road to any change but I鈥檓 glad that that change has started and that we鈥檝e started the research.听 But I think it鈥檚 just important to be aware there is people 鈥� there鈥檚 upcoming athletes who are in the same situation as me who this whole kind of side of sport is not talked about, that the classification, like you could get to the Paralympics but there鈥檚 a classification system currently holding you back.

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White

Karina Lang and Anna Martin, thank you both very much indeed.

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And that鈥檚 it for today.听 Please do let us have your thoughts and opinions on anything we鈥檝e covered in today鈥檚 programme and we鈥檙e particularly keen to get your questions for us to put to Ofcom about audio description.听 Email intouch@bbc.co.uk or leave them in your own voice on 0161 8361338.听 From me, Peter White, producer Beth Hemmings, studio managers Mike Smith and Jonathan Esp.听 Goodbye.