May 7,1990
An Article from the Christian Science Monitor
May 7, 1990
by Laura Van Tuyl
Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor
Boston
When Mary Hiland, who is blind, attended an outdoor performance of
"Guys and Dolls," she enjoyed more than the music. Through a tiny earphone, she
heard a voice describing the scene changes, the fabric and color of the costumes - and
even the moment when a dog accidentally wandered on stage and set the audience tittering.
Across the United States, people like Mrs. Hiland are gaining increased access to plays,
operas, and television programs via "descriptive narration" - a service enabling
them to join their sighted family and friends in appreciating the arts.
From New York to Nebraska to Seattle, dozens of arts organizations and theaters are
providing audio description to expand their audiences and respond more fully to the spirit
of handicap-access laws. In television, Boston public station WGBH and a cable network in
Tulsa, Okla., have ventured into this area, and commercial networks are likely to this
fall.
"This is the last frontier for accessibility to the arts," says Cody Pfanstiehl.
He and his wife, Margaret, whose vision is impaired, make a business of training people to
become audio describers. "It opens up a whole new world for the blind," says
Mrs. Pfanstiehl, who started a descriptive narration training service nearly 10 years ago.
the Pfanstiehls' Metropolitan Washington Ear, in Silver Spring, Md., was the first of the
services now in existence.
In the theater, visually impaired audience members pick up a small earpiece or headset.
During the performance, a "describer" in a separate booth watches the show and
explains pertinent actions, body language, and stage settings during pauses in the
dialogue.
The describer might way that a woman is entering from the left, wearing a crimson-red
dress. "The person with partial vision will turn his head and see the red blob and
know it's a woman," says Margaret. The describer "supplies only the missing
visual elements, giving people evidence on which to base their own opinions, says Cody.
In the last two months, the PBS series "Mystery!" and "DeGrassi High"
have begun offering Descriptive Video Service (DVS), which WGBH introduced in January with
the "American Playhouse" dramatic series. Listeners can press the SAP (separate
audio program) button on their stereo TV, VCR, or adapter and hear description in addition
to the regular audio. More than 30 PBS stations around the country now carry the service.
"I've been blind all my life, and TV hasn't meant a whole lot to me," says Laura
Oftedahl, WGBH's development director for DVS. "But descriptive video has really
enriched my life....If you're blind, its hard to get out to live theater and movies.
That's why TV is important, because the visually impaired tend to be more isolated from
arts entertainment."
The Boston station's promotion of DVS "gives the whole area a lot of
credibility," says Jim Stovall, president of the Narrative Television Network in
Tulsa, Okla. Since October, Mr. Stovall has signed on well over 500 cable systems
(including the Nostalgia Network) to receive talk shows and narrated classic movies that,
unlike DVS, do not use SAP channels.
Stovall, who is blind, is planning some SAP-narrated projects with major networks, thought
he declines to say which. "National sponsors are beginning to recognize the visually
impaired as legitimate consumers," he comments.
In states such as Ohio and Nebraska, the use of audio description is growing rapidly for
live theatrical performances.
"It's really been working well here," says Mary Kay Nichols, assistant director
of the Ohio Theater Alliance in Columbus. In 1987, the Pfanstiehls trained a number of
describers there. Since last summer, the Alliance has provided audio description to 35
Ohio theaters for over 100 different shows.
"The theaters are eager, but they have one concern - that once they get the service,
it gets used," says Ms. Nichols. Each time audio description is used, theaters pay
the Alliance $75. "There's a lot of work involved in marketing it and letting their
audience know what it is and why it's a valuable tool.," she adds.
At the Dayton Opera, 10 to 12 visually impaired people use audio description during a
performance. "I've made a lot of contacts within the disabilities community."
says Peggy Magill, special projects manager for the opera. "That's the answer -
you've got to get into those communities." Not all theaters have the time and staff
to do that, she says.
Mary Hiland, who goes to both the Dayton Opera and Opera Columbus, says her sighted
husband appreciates audio description, "because then he doesn't have to lean over and
describer everything to me and bother people around us."
In Nebraska, interest is high. "There's been a turnaround - the theaters are calling
us now," says Casey Randall, executive director of Radio Talking Book Service in
Omaha, Neb. In three years, his organization has gone from providing description for nine
plays to 24. This season, "each one has been a sellout," bringing in about 50
blind people each time, says Mr. Randall. A key to their success, he says, is a car-pool
system his group provides, which most of the individuals desperately need.
though many in theater management have been responsive, Randall occasionally runs into
skepticism. "Some theaters think [descriptive audio] is a disruptive process - but
it's not. No one else in the audience is going to hear the description, unless they have
an earphone."
In Seattle, the Intiman Theatre has been providing audio description for the past five
years, and A Contemporary Theater is starting up this season with seven productions.
"I'm really excited about the future," says Jesse Minkert, who heads an audio
description service in the northwest. "Theaters are becoming aware that, under state
and federal law, there are some requirements that they be accessible," Mr. Minkert
says. "That can be terrifying for those with small budgets, but I'm working to help
them understand that audio description is not really costly in the long run."
Federal accessibility laws do not specify what services theaters should provide for people
with disabilities - only that they be "accessible," says Paula Terry,
spokeswoman at the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA). But as more people learn about
audio description and its availability grows, cultural groups may find it legally
necessary to provide it, she says. (So far the NEA has received no complaints against
theaters not providing audio description.)
Mrs. Hiland in Columbus says that from now on, she will go only to operas that offer audio
description.l In particular, she appreciates the curtain calls, when the voice in her
earphone announces the actors.
"When certain characters come out that I especially enjoy, then I can clap harder,
just like everyone else does. That's real gratifying to have that luxury."
Training 'Describers' to be 'Faithful Color Lenses'
To Margaret and Cody Pfanstiehl, providing audio description for the blind is more than a
service - it is an art.
The couple trains "describers" to be "faithful color camera
lenses,"says Mrs. Pfanstiehl, who developed a technique about 10 years ago to make
theater accessible to the visually impaired.
Through earphones and a transmitter, the describer conveys for blind audience members the
key visual elements taking place on stage.
"We do not let the describer explain or evaluate," says Margaret, whose own
vision is impaired. A describer might say, "'He clenches his fist. His lips are
tight. A tear rolls down his face.' But you don't have to say the character is angry or
upset," she explains.
Not everyone can do it. "If people don't have the vocabulary or are not quick on the
tongue, they can't make it," her husband, Cody says.
For Katherine Adamson of Columbus, Ohio, "it just sounded like my kind of
thing." She had been a theater major in school and worked for a local radio reading
service. "I was startled to find out I had to audition!"
Describers must not use "vague generalities," says Margaret, such as "the
woman is wearing a gorgeous dress." A more appropriate phrase might be,"she is
wearing a bright blue dress made of velvet."
Audio description is growing rapidly in theaters across the United States, thanks to this
training program, which the Pfanstiehl's operate along with their radio reading service,
the Metropolitan Washington Ear, in Silver Spring, Md.
The Pfanstiehls worked closely with PBS station WGBH in Boston in developing its method of
"descriptive video"for television, which became a reality earlier this year.
"A lot can be brought to the visually impaired, "through this service, says
Margaret. "It's not patronizing - the blind want more and more of it."
-L.V.T.