[nfb-talk] American Foundation for the Blind and National Association of the Deaf Partner to Expand Accessible Media for Educational Use

[Christopher McMillan]

American Foundation for the Blind and National Association of the Deaf 
Partner to Expand Accessible Media for Educational Use

SILVER SPRING, MD - The National Association of the Deaf (NAD) announced it 
has entered into a new five-year $7.5 million cooperative agreement with the 
U.S. Department of Education (ED) for management of the Described and 
Captioned Media Program (DCMP). The DCMP will provide free-loan accessible 
educational media to students who are deaf or hard of hearing and also to 
those who are blind or visually impaired. Most educational media does not 
contain necessary accommodations for students with a sensory loss.

The NAD has selected, captioned and distributed open-captioned educational 
media in video and DVD format through a nationwide library system and 
through Interment streaming under an agreement with the ED since 1991. This 
program of over 4,000 free-loan educational media items has reached an 
annual audience of over 3 million educators, families, and other registered 
users. "We are deeply honored to have been selected once again as 
administrator of this vitally important program, which provides captioned 
access by deaf and hard of hearing students to educational media, and we are 
pleased to enter into partnership with the American Foundation for the Blind 
(AFB) to expand the program to include described educational media for blind 
and visually impaired students", said Nancy J. Bloch, NAD Chief Executive 
Officer.

AFB will be the lead on an activity to develop and validate guidelines for 
creating educational video description. Video description refers to an 
additional narration track for blind and visually impaired viewers of 
educational media, including television programs and movies. The description 
narrator talks through the presentation, describing what is happening on the 
screen during the natural pauses in the audio (and sometimes during dialogue 
if deemed necessary). "While general guidelines for entertainment video 
description exist, there is a need to validate them and apply them to a wide 
range of digital media now available in today's classrooms," said Carl 
Augusto, AFB President and Chief Executive Officer. "We are pleased to join 
the NAD in this effort to expand accessible educational media."

Similar guidelines have been created by the NAD for captioning educational 
media. These guidelines, titled Captioning Key, have been distributed 
internationally and receive over a thousand visits monthly on the DCMP Web 
site. "Both captioning and video description are essential for children with 
special needs," added Ms. Bloch. "As educators across the nation hone their 
instruction ever more finely to produce the desired end-of-year 
outcomes-every in-class minute counts."

While most television networks and many cable channels provide closed 
captioning and some video description, very little educational media is 
described or captioned. "Only 15% of educational videos, 5% of educational 
CD-ROMs, and 1% of Internet content is captioned," said Bill Stark, NAD 
Director of the DCMP. "Even fewer educational media contain video 
description," he added.

In addition, the DCMP will provide a database of accessible media available 
for purchase by schools from educational media producers. A further service 
will include the provision of a clearinghouse of information and materials 
on the subject of accessible media for consumers, agencies, corporations, 
businesses, and schools. The Web-accessible clearinghouse will also allow 
users to search informational offerings on the Web sites of major 
educational and consumer organizations serving blind and deaf individuals. 
For more information call toll-free 800-237-6213 (V) or 800-237-6819 (TTY). 
You can also visit the DCMP Web site at www.dcmp.org, or e-mail the DCMP at 
info at dcmp.org.

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Media Contact:
Adrianna Montague-Gray
AFB Communications
Tel. (212) 502-7675
Adrianna Montague-Gray.