[nabs-l] netflixsays "no" to audio description

Tue Jul 16 02:04:36 UTC 2013

I agree it would be easy enough to get Netflix content described, but
I wouldn't rank it high on my own priority list. For me the biggest
battles we fight should revolve around education, employment and
access to health and safety information. The NFB has gone after
accessibility cases before, but most were directly related to
educational or job-related content, like inaccessible Kindles being
used in classrooms and inaccessible Google apps. I suppose the Target
lawsuit was an exception, and so I wasn't totally in agreement with
that one, unless someone could convince me that making Target.com
accessible would help more people get jobs. I love online shopping,
but just don't think it's as important as these other things.
I also have mixed feelings about audio description itself. There are
times when it is helpful, but it can also be distracting and alter the
mood of a movie or show. For example, when I watched the Sound of
Music in described format, I was annoyed by the narrators cutting into
all my favorite songs. Sometimes I wonder if I would enjoy
action-adventure films more if they were described, but then again I'm
not sure how much fight scenes would interest me even if I knew
exactly what was happening. Finally, audio description does no good if
the television, DVD player or Netflix program doesn't have accessible
controls. Many modern televisions don't have accessible menus, so I'm
not sure how easily a blind person can turn audio description on and
off without sighted help even if it was available. To me, going to all
the trouble of making something described and then playing it on an
inaccessible device totally nullifies any benefits of the audio
description, and this ends up wasting the time and money of the folks
who made it described in the first place. So I'd like to see us press
on with initiatives that will make user electronics accessible before
we worry too much about audio-describing the content.

Arielle

On 7/15/13, Jedi Moerke <loneblindjedi at samobile.net> wrote:
> That's a very interesting argument in favor of captioning for the deaf. I
> wonder why we couldn't use it for descriptions  for the blind?
>
> Sent from my iPhone
>
> On Jul 15, 2013, at 2:20 PM, Mary Fernandez <trillian551 at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> All,
>> First and foremost, Dan is of course right, litigation is the very
>> last options which the NFB, as well as most sensible people, resort
>> to. Legal battles are slow, cumbersome, and take up a lot of
>> resources, both human and economical. It is true that the NFB has won
>> some essential battles in the courtroom, but I can assure you that
>> those battles have come after we have tried talking, advocating,
>> negotiation, protesting with no tangible results. And those cases that
>> do go to court, are cases based on rights that are available to
>> everyone else, and which are so ubiquitous, that it is unreasonable to
>> just sit back and accept that thats the way the world works for blind
>> people. That we will be excluded from programs, services and
>> activities which the sighted world can enjoy, and that there's nothing
>> we can do about it. It is every American's right to resort to the
>> justice system when their civil rights are being violated.
>> Joshua, as far as the ADA and Netflicks...  The ADA covers places,
>> programs and services of public accommodations. So for instance, any
>> member of the public can go to a restaurant, thus, a restaurant must
>> be physically accessible to disabled Americans. The issue of web
>> accessibility is complex and is a very young work in public. Thus far,
>> most successful web accessibility and technology lawsuits, have been
>> successful on the premisce that this web service has a physical
>> equivalent. A good example ofthis are websites for retail stores. If
>> you can walk into Target and buy a shirt, you should be able to go
>> online and buy a shirt. Netflix is a private enterprise, and there
>> really isn't a physical equivalent to a movie which offers additional
>> accessibility. There was a Netflix caption lawsuit which was
>> successful because we had some brilliant lawyers argue, that ones home
>> is a place of public accommodation, and that Netflix is so ubiquitous
>> in every home, that one should be able to fully access that service.
>> That's the very watered down version of the argument. So the short
>> answer is that no, DOJ has not issued any kind of mandate which says
>> that movies must have descriptive audio. The only setting for which
>> that would be an argument which falls under ADA is in an educational
>> setting, where the visual is a mandatory part of the curriculum.
>> Thanks.
>> Mary
>>
>> On 7/15/13, Melissa Hambleton <nightfury19 at verizon.net> wrote:
>>> My boyfriend, who is 33 years old (same as me) and he is sighted, has
>>> said
>>> time and time again how it would be nice that Netflix would have
>>> description
>>>
>>> on their movies. When we watch DVDs my boyfriend always looks for the
>>> description feature and he even appreciates it sometimes because every
>>> now
>>> and again, the narrator will say something that my boyfriend didn't
>>> notice
>>> on the TV screen.
>>> ----- Original Message -----
>>> From: "Dan Burke" <dburke at cocenter.org>
>>> To: "'National Association of Blind Students mailing list'"
>>> <nabs-l at nfbnet.org>
>>> Sent: Monday, July 15, 2013 2:30 PM
>>> Subject: Re: [nabs-l] netflixsays "no" to audio description
>>>
>>>
>>>> Greetings,
>>>>
>>>> I would concur with Steve's comments adding that in every case where the
>>>> NFB
>>>> has filed suit, it has thoroughly exhausted all the advocacy avenues
>>>> available.  Thus, there are many things that move successfully ahead
>>>> with
>>>> strong advocacy and never get to the stage of a lawsuit. You can see
>>>> some
>>>>
>>>> of
>>>> the positive results with companies on this year's convention agenda,
>>>> such
>>>> as Desire 2 Learn; and those in other presentations such as Pearson
>>>> Online.
>>>>
>>>> Dan
>>>>
>>>> -----Original Message-----
>>>> From: nabs-l [mailto:nabs-l-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Steve
>>>> Jacobson
>>>> Sent: Monday, July 15, 2013 12:01 PM
>>>> To: National Association of Blind Students mailing list
>>>> Subject: Re: [nabs-l] netflixsays "no" to audio description
>>>>
>>>> Valerie,
>>>>
>>>> One has to be careful not to attribute every message on an NFB list to
>>>> necessarily be the policy or even the thinking of the NFB.
>>>> For one thing, I'm not at all certain that there is a law under which to
>>>> sue
>>>> in this case.  Also, our treasury isn't exactly
>>>> bottomless so we have to prioritize
>>>> where to spend money and what the liklihood is of getting a positive
>>>> result.
>>>> We are really pretty careful regarding the legal
>>>> action we undertake.  There are times when legal action is the only
>>>> available course of action, but there has to be a pretty clear
>>>> law or precedence upon which to base such action.
>>>>
>>>> Best regards,
>>>>
>>>> Steve Jacobson
>>>>
>>>> On Mon, 15 Jul 2013 10:53:16 -0600, Valerie Gibson wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> I think one of the problems with the NFB is our reputation for being
>>>>> "sue
>>>> happy".
>>>>> And with the last email, I see where we get that rep, seeing as it was
>>>>> the
>>>> first response to something like this.  In the link,
>>>> it seems that only one netflix representative was spoken to. Why not
>>>> ask,
>>>> via email or phone, if there is anyone to which one can
>>>> speak to figure out how you can colaborate to making netflix movies
>>>> descriptive.
>>>>
>>>>> My personal opinion, you're not going to get much headway with this.
>>>>> This
>>>> issue doesn't affect all blind people, and so not all
>>>> blind people are going to be on board with this.
>>>>
>>>>> As some may know, i'm interested in becoming a certified dog trainer,
>>>>> and
>>>> one could argue that that doesn't affect all blind
>>>> people. owever it is a potential job prospect, which affects income, and
>>>> jobs and income are not the same as the ability to have
>>>> descriptive movies.
>>>>
>>>>> Furthermore, not all blind people like movies in descriptive and find
>>>>> it
>>>> destracting.  Depending on the movie, i am one such
>>>> person, so my thoughts here could be a little bias.
>>>>
>>>>> Would it be nice for just the option to watch movies in descriptive?
>>>>> sure.
>>>> But i think before we jump to "let's sue them", we
>>>> should at least do something more passive.  A petition perhaps?
>>>>
>>>>> Just my thoughts.
>>>>>
>>>>> On Jul 15, 2013, at 10:13 AM, The weird writer
>>>>> <weirdwriter9891 at gmail.com>
>>>> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>>> Netflix says "no" to audio description. why?
>>>> http://netflixproject.wordpress.com/2013/07/15/netflix-says-no-to-audio-
>>>> description/
>>>>>>
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>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
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>>
>>
>> --
>> Mary Fernandez
>> "I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will
>> forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them
>> feel."
>> —
>> Maya Angelou
>>
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