Podcasts

• Star Wars Films Ranked (The Dark Room)

  In honor of the recent theatrical release of "Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu", Alex and Lee rank all live-action Star Wars films, which makes for some fun discussion.

• Close Up With Tansy Alexander, Audio Description Performer (The Dark Room)

  Alex and Lee chat with audio description performer, Tansy Alexander, who has worked on franchises like "Stranger Things," "The Hunger Games," and "A Quiet Place." In our discussion, Tansy discusses her journey into audio description, what access for all looks like, and how AI is changing the AD landscape.

• Awareness Isn't Enough: Connor Scott-Gardner on What Actually Changes Things, Part 1 of 2 (The ADNA Presents)

  Connor Scott-Gardner has presented at the European Parliament, Westminster, and SXSW. He also goes home, gets tired, and sometimes thinks he hasn't done anything. This podcast will prove that he has done much. In this first conversation, he talks about what genuine support for blind young people looks like up close, and what gets in the way of it. He names a trap he's fallen into himself: pointing out every barrier without offering a direction. And he explains why awareness, on its own, has a ceiling. This is a precise, generous conversation with someone who has thought hard about the difference between performing concern and actually creating change. Part 2 is coming.

• Connor Scott-Gardner, part 2: Consent, Craft, and What Audio Description Owes Its Audience (The ADNA Presents)

  Connor Scott-Gardner is a blind accessibility advocate, disability rights writer, and someone who has spent years thinking carefully about what it means to be helped, witnessed, and included. In this second half of our conversation, Connor names something the accessibility world doesn't say often enough: good intentions are not the same as ethical behavior. He talks about Be My Eyes volunteers who filmed blind users without consent, what that reveals about power and trust, and why intent is never the whole story. He also turns the mirror on himself, reflecting on a viral video he made years ago that still sits uncomfortably with him. Then the conversation opens up. Connor shares his complicated early relationship with Audio Description, how the field has changed in its treatment of race and identity, and why the expansion into live performance, including ballet, represents something bigger than access. It represents a field that is finally asking the right questions. This is a conversation about trust, craft, and what it looks like when an industry stops assuming it knows what its audience needs and starts listening instead.

Articles

• Kate Winslet Backs Blind Teenager's Cinema Accessibility Campaign (Streamline)

  Oscar-winning actress Kate Winslet made a surprise call to a blind teenager who traveled 140 miles to find an accessible cinema screening, sparking reform.

• Describing Nature Documentaries by Jenni Elbourne (Sky Accessibility)

  Nature documentaries are one of my favourite genres to audio describe. While there’s usually a narrator giving out factual information, the describer still has a job to do, ensuring that the programme is both clear and engaging for blind and visually impaired audiences.

• Audio Describing "The Hundred" (Sky Accessibility)

  Find out how audio description helps make The Hundred more accessible, bringing every boundary, wicket and key moment to life.

• Making sport more accessible: from broadcast to live experience (Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB))

  For many blind and partially sighted people, following live sport can still mean relying on incomplete commentary, inaccessible broadcasts, or barriers to attending events in person. Whether watching from home or being part of the crowd in a stadium, access to sport is still not always inclusive.

Audio Described Events

• Apple WWDC 2026 June 8: Introducing Siri AI and more

  Watch the WWDC26 keynote introducing Siri AI powered by Apple Intelligence — our most personal Siri update ever. You’ll also learn about expanded trust and safety features, and improvements to iOS 27, iPadOS 27, macOS 27, watchOS 27, visionOS 27, and tvOS 27.

Audio Description Introductions

I'll always link to Audio Description Introductions for film and television when I find them, because they're the hallmark of a describer or company delivering above-and-beyond the standard. SBS in Australia and Sky and ITV in the UK are champions in this space (let me know if I've missed anyone!). I've just been pointed to Sky Accessibility's new website (thank you Jenni Elbourne!), and it has two new audio description introductions, available in both written and audio form.

• 'We Are Jeni' Audio Description Introduction (Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) Australia)

  "We Are Jeni" reveals one of the most extraordinary criminal cases in Australian history. Dr Jeni Haynes’s mind split into 2,500 alters to survive horrific abuse. This is the story of how she and her army of alters fought for justice.

• Genie - Audio Description Introduction (Sky Accessibility)

  Genie, written by Richard Curtis and directed by Sam Boyd, is a Sky Original fairy tale comedy film, set-in present-day New York City in the run up to Christmas. The story centres around Bernard, played by Paapa Essiedu, and his relationship with his young family.

• Smothered - Audio Description Introduction (Sky Accessibility)

  Smothered is a 2023 Sky Comedy, not-so-typical London-based, rom-com television series, created by Monica Heisey and starring Danielle Vitalis.

Open Access Research Papers

• Evidencing the Value of Human Performance: Towards Re-Thinking Performers’ Rights for an AI World’ by Laurence Bouvard, Dr Elena Cooper and Dr Amy Thomas (Create.ac.uk)

  In this article, we ask what role performers’ rights should play in an AI saturated world. Placing legal theory and legal history into conversation with insights into the real-world application of the law today (both academic empirical research and the testimony of one co-author), we identify a number of questions for a substantial future programme of academic research.