From Vision Australia. This is talking vision. And now here's your host, Sam Collins.
Hello, everyone. It's great to be here with you. And for the next half hour, we talk matters of blindness and low vision.
You know, if you close your eyes and you watch Friends or you watch Modern Family or Gilmore Girls or any of those sort of shows without vision, imagine just how confusing it would be to you, because, you know, obviously some of those shows have the laugh tracks in them. You don't know what they're laughing at, and you won't until you open your eyes and actually look at it.
That's what audio description is for us. It's basically, you know, you watch the show your whole life with your eyes closed and then audio description being added is like opening your eyes and actually understanding what's happening and seeing what's happening for the first time.
Welcome to the program. You may have seen an article floating around here and there about a university student from Brisbane who started a petition to gain audio description for her favorite show, Gilmore Girls. Her name is Tiana and she joins me on the show today to chat all about her petition and raise awareness for greater audio description
services on streaming platforms. And then after you hear from Tiana, I'm joined by Vision Australia radio manager Conrad Brown to chat all about the Radio Listener survey, which is currently underway. And finally to wrap up the program this week, Stellar Glory catches up with me to chat all about the latest issue of foyer information, otherwise known as FYI. I
hope you enjoy this week's episode of Talking Vision. Tiana Offord is a Brisbane based university student and audio description user who, as will soon discover, is a massive fan of the show Gilmore Girls. But no matter how many times she's watched every episode and memorized every line, there are some crucial details that she and other viewers who are blind or have low vision are missing out on
without the addition of audio description. Tiana has started a Change.org petition to lobby Netflix to add audio description to Gilmore Girls with the potential to expand this to other shows in future. And it's my great pleasure to welcome her to Talking Vision Now to chat all about it. Tiana, welcome to Talking Vision.
Thank you so much for having me. I'm so excited and can't believe this opportunity is here.
Now, how long have you been using audio description for? Were you an early adopter or did you come to it a bit later?
I would have to say that I'm not entirely sure when audio description came into effect and when it became sort of a normal thing for blind people to use it. I believe I started using it around 2012 in the cinema and then from there it kind of, you know, I ended up using it for everything. And now I find it very, very strange to watch anything without it.
You're a fan of shows like Gilmore Girls and Friends, but I understand there's a few issues with audio description for those older shows. Tell us about those. Yeah.
So Gilmore Girls is the main show that I'm promoting at the moment that I'm trying to get audio description for. It just doesn't have it and it doesn't there's not a track for audio description anywhere for sure. I've tried websites like the Audio Vault where they have shows with audio description uploaded in the audio only format and they normally have the audio description for them. But it's not there.
It's not on Netflix, which is where they hold it, where they have the show to watch on streaming services. And I just think that it needs to have it. It's seven seasons long. It's a very popular show. It ran from 2000 to 2007. And I think shows like Friends where it does have audio description on the audio vault. There's no reason why that same audio description track shouldn't be available on Netflix or wherever else Friends is held.
Yeah, that's perfectly understandable. And well, how long have you been watching Gilmore Girls for? How many times would you say you've watched every episode by now?
I would have to say so. Different numbers to everyone because I honestly have no idea. But it would have to be like over 15 times. Like I've seen this show so many times that you can say a line to me and I can say the next one back. Like it's just I just know this show off my heart, okay? And it kind of just plays on a continuous loop in my lounge room while I'm studying, doing homework, anything like that.
Oh, cool. But even after you've watched it 15 times over, you're still sort of missing key details, as I understand it, with little things about the plot. And you find out later, Oh, hang on. That's not how I thought it was, because you didn't have the visual information conveyed to you through the audio description. So you miss out on key aspects of the plot even after you're a Gilmore Girls superfan. And as he said, you know, every line off by heart,
but you're still missing out on those visual details. So that also really speaks to why it is so important to have audio description for these shows.
Yeah, I honestly, I don't understand why they haven't already put audio description on this show. Like there was a scene where a character, something happens in a dream and I never knew that it was a dream because there was no audio description. So I always assumed that that scene was in the real life of that character and that obviously it was a realistic scene. So it was something that could have happened in their life, but it didn't.
And I always thought it did, which obviously changed my understanding of the next couple of episodes because it was mentioned. And yeah, so it just shows the little things that sighted people wouldn't really think about that really impacts a blind person's viewing of a show.
Yeah, exactly. I mean, when it changes the plot and possibly the character arc of various people and you just thinking like, okay, you get back into it 2 or 3 episodes later and they might make a reference to it and you're thinking, Wait, hang on, that doesn't sound right. I didn't, you know, didn't pick up on that. What's going on now? So as you've mentioned, you've started a petition recently calling on Netflix to add audio description to Gilmore Girls. How's their response been so far?
Yeah, look, so the petition is calling on Warner Brothers and Netflix to add audio description to Gilmore Girls. And I'm hoping that in the future this will be a stepping stone for them to go back and look at their other old content and add it to that as well. But the response has been incredible. I am up to around 7200 signatures now. Oh my God. I had some nine news articles published about me and back when they published them the. Titian was at 2500. So it's insane
to see the progression of the condition. And I'm just you know, my mind's blown to the fact that so many people who don't even know me and who don't actually understand what audio description is or how it impacts me, are willing to make me have a better experience as a viewer.
And Tiana, how long's the petition been going for and is there a time frame that you're looking at going forward?
Yeah. So the petition has been going for about nearly a month now. It started in the middle of August and we're now partway through September, so we've got 7200 signatures already. That's huge for me. I never expected to even get there. That is huge.
Definitely.
You know, while I don't have a time frame, I do sort of have a signature goal for now, which is 10,000 signatures. And we're very, very close. We're very close to 7500, which is sort of a goal that change.org sets. And once we get there, it's, you know, it's just a matter of time before we reach 10,000. And then after that, it's just a matter of, you know, getting it to bigger programs, getting it to the TV, seven news, all that kind of stuff, and making sure that it reaches a wider audience.
Okay. And apart from Gilmore Girls and Friends, are there any other shows that you're really interested in getting audio description for, or is it sort of just a broader campaign to move past once you know, you've got the response about Gilmore Girls have all the description across the board for as many shows as possible?
Yeah. Honestly, I'm just I'm looking to have audio description on as many shows as possible, but I know that that's not going to happen in one day. And so my focus was to go with obviously my favorite show because people who see petitions like this will sign if they see it's close to someone else's heart. So if I had, oh, everyone sign this so that we can have audio description on everything because it's important, I don't think it would have had sort of that emotional appeal. Yeah.
And obviously I as a fan and a viewer, I want this like so much. I want to see this show from a completely different perspective with audio description and actually understand what is happening, what the characters are wearing,
what their fashion sense is. Yeah, things that they're carrying that might not have known that they were carrying the food that they eat, just like everything that you would see, that you don't see when you're watching it, when you're blind, you know, obviously at the end I want it to be a wide spectrum thing and I want Netflix and any other streaming services to go back and look at shows that don't have audio description that could and just
making the viewing experience more accessible for everyone, really.
That's right. And it's also a matter of independence. Like people might be thinking, oh, just get a friend to tell you what's going on. And, you know, I can just tell you this is what's happening. But that's not what people are there to do and it's not what people want. The last thing people want is for some people to just go, Oh, just get somebody else to help you. And that takes away your independence, takes away your autonomy. And if that person's not there or they're
not available, then that option is not there, obviously. And, you know, people shouldn't have to rely on, you know, other people to be there and say, oh, this is happening or that's happening that's going on. And yeah, and people don't necessarily even know what sort of details people need. And it might not even be that helpful in the first place. As much as they're trying to help, they don't necessarily understand, Oh, this is what we need to know,
this is what it should be. But with audio description that, you know, you've got obviously people who are professionals and they know exactly what needs to be described and all that sort of thing. So what sort of messages would you have for people who are listening, perhaps from Netflix, to speak to the importance of audio description for people who are blind or have low vision and they've got the power to improve this, what would you say to them?
I just want them to put themselves in our shoes and to sort of, you know, if you close your eyes and you watch Friends or you watch Modern Family or Gilmore Girls or any of those sort of shows without vision, imagine just how confusing it would be to you. Because, you know, obviously some of those shows have the laugh tracks in them. You don't know what they're laughing at and you won't until you open your eyes and actually look at it. That's what audio description is for us.
It's basically, you know, you watch the show your whole life with your eyes closed and then audio description being added is like opening your eyes and actually understanding what's happening and seeing what's happening for the first time. You know, if you have the power to improve accessibility for someone who can't see why not? Why not do it and why not make accessible to people? We've done it with other disabilities. We've done it for the deaf community with
captions and subtitles and all that. Why not do it for other disabled communities?
Exactly right. And if people are interested in heading along and signing the petition, what's the best place for them to do that?
Yeah. So the link to the. Is Change.org add in Gilmore Girls. So I would really, really appreciate anyone willing to take a minute out of their day to sign for accessibility for everyone. That would be amazing.
That's a wonderful note to end on and I'm sure a sentiment a lot of people can agree with. I've been speaking today with Gilmore Girls super fan and petition organizer. Tiana offered all about her petition to create greater awareness for audio description, especially when it comes to her favorite show, Gilmore Girls. Tiana, thanks so much for your time today. It was a pleasure to catch up with you and wishing you all the best to hit that magic 10,000 mark.
Thank you so much for having me. Really appreciate it.
I'm Sam Culley and you're listening to Talking Vision on Vision Australia radio associated stations of RPI and the Community Radio Network. If you missed any part of my interview with Tiana or you'd like to listen to the interview again, you can listen to Talking Vision through the Vision Australia Radio website at VR radio.org. That's V radio.org. Or you can find the full program as well as selected interviews on your podcast app of choice or through the Vision
Australia Library. The Vision Australia Radio Listener survey is currently underway and we'd love to hear from you. So if you'd like to have your say in what we do on Vision Australia Radio and give your valuable opinions and feedback, what better person to chat to with all the important details than our manager of radio and audio services, Conrad Brown, who joins me right now. Conrad, welcome back to Talking Vision. Great to catch up with you.
Oh, always a pleasure, Sam. Great to be here.
Now we're catching up about a very important topic today, the Vision Australia survey. Tell us all about it.
So it's our annual listener survey for the Vision Australia Radio Network, and it's the opportunity that we give to our listeners and our community of interest to give feedback on what we do on air and what they like about the programs that we put out, the podcast that we put out, but also to give us a bit of an idea of where they are and who they are and to tell us what we're doing well, what we can improve on and potentially what else we could
be doing that they'd like to hear on Vision Australia Radio.
Okay. And how do people fill out that survey, Conrad?
So there's a couple of ways. The easiest way is to go to the Vision Australia Radio website. So RVA Radio dot org and on the home page there's a link there that takes you straight to the survey. There's also an option for a call back service for anyone that may have difficulty navigating the Virgin Australia radio website or the survey online itself. So all they need to do is call the National Call Centre through Vision Australia
and register their interest for a call back. And one of our lovely call centre team or one of our volunteers will call them back and help them fill out the survey later on this month.
Okay. And that number is 1300 847 466, that's 1300 847 466 if that call back option does appeal. Now, Conrad, what is the time frame for the survey? How long is it open for?
So it closes at the end of September. So people have still got a little bit of time to do it. But we really want to encourage people to get onto it as soon as they can so that we can make sure that we get everyone's feedback. And we also want people to be able to let friends of theirs know that the survey is going as well. A lot of people think that because they might not listen to Vision Australia radio locally, that potentially we might not want
to hear from them. But if you're listening to one of our great shows as a podcast or you stream it somewhere around Australia, you know, if you're one of those huge talking vision fans that live around Australia, we want to hear from you. We want to know what you love about the show, what you like about what we're doing. And you know, like I said, what potentially we could be doing in terms of new content and new programs and that you'd like to hear across the Vision Australia Radio Network.
And people also go into the running to pick up a couple of exciting little things if they do participate in the survey. Conrad So just quickly before we wrap up. Tell us a bit about them.
So if they go to RVA Radio Org and complete the survey and it takes about, I don't know, 5 to 6 minutes, let's say there's an opportunity there. Future also, right? A little bit more. So let's say ten minutes all up. You can put yourself into the draw to win one of five $100 gift cards. So those cards are always going to come in handy at the moment, cost of
living in all of that sort of thing. So there's a bit of an incentive there, but we really hope that the incentive that really gets you involved in want to participate in this survey is to let us know what you think about what we're doing. We really want to hear from people and we really want to find out what our audience is enjoying and also what we can do to engage with our community of interest better as well. So yeah, jump online RVA Radio org and fill out that survey please.
Every little bit of feedback. Does help us immensely. Do feel free to check it out and have your say. I've been speaking today with Vision Australia, manager of Radio and Audio Services, Conrad Brown, all about the Vision Australia Radio survey, which is currently under way. Conrad, thank you very much for your time today. Great to catch up again.
Thank you, Sam, Always a pleasure.
It's about that time of month again where Vision Australia's newsletter, for your information, otherwise known as FII, hits people's inboxes. And while Helen the usual editors away on a well-earned holiday, if I, for the time being, is currently in the extremely capable hands of a favourite of ours on Talking vision, Stellar Glory, who joins me now. Stella, welcome back to Talking Vision. Thanks so much for your time today.
Oh, you don't have to thank me, Sam.
There's an exciting issue of FII coming up for people. Tell us all about it.
Well, I'm glad you used the word exciting. So I guess the big one we're talking about at radio is that the radio survey is out. So Vision Australia Radio is committed to making a difference to our community of interest. So that's your listeners there, Sam, but it needs to ensure it remains relevant. So now is your chance to help the station help you with the annual radio survey. Maybe you wake up to our live to air news reading programs, or perhaps you'd be lost without talking tech,
not to mention talking vision. Where would you be without talking vision? And that's not to say if you don't do the survey, we're going to take those shows off the air. Is there something you're burning to tell us about how the station could improve surveys confidential and takes around 5 to 10 minutes to complete? It will be in the upcoming F.Y.I. It's also on our website as well. Other things that are in the newsletter Leep program. Are you familiar with Leap?
Sam Yes, I've had quite a few dealings with Leap, Great little program, a lot of wonderful projects in there.
Yep. So it's created for teenagers who are blind or have low vision 14 to 18, and the program teaches them the confidence and skills to thrive in life and their future work place. I've got a really interesting article from outside the organisation about a Brisbane University student who started an online petition calling on Netflix to add audio description to Gilmore Girls. Now the Gilmore Girls is about
20 years old. It's been on Netflix for about eight years already and it is still one of the most popular shows. And this young woman. So it's got a bit of a cult following now. It's a real icon. She's watched it about seven times, but she said she's still missing out on key elements of the plot because of the lack of audio description. So it's a bit of David and Goliath going on there. There is now I said Netflix for eight years, but his Netflix has been going for eight years.
It has been. It actually used to be the competition for Blockbuster. That's how long it's been around for.
Oh, right. Blockbuster video. That's right. Bingo for audio description. We've got some information about something for young people to get involved with. Audio description. We've got info about a parenting mentoring program, and I've got some news about Team Australia. At the recent IBSA World Games. Our team came home with a total of nine medals.
Oh my God. Yeah.
Mike Lee scooped two gold medals along with two other team members. So that's four gold medals. There you go. And that's all in your upcoming FYI, a client fortnightly newsletter which I put together, especially because Helen's on holidays. Yes.
And we're looking forward to hearing what Tom Helen's been up to once she gets back into Melbourne. I've been speaking today with Stellar Glory, editor of Foyer information, otherwise known as FII. And if you're someone you know would like to be added to the mailing list to receive FII in your inbox, simply head to the Vision Australia website at Vision australia.org. That's Vision Australia. All one word.org and search for your information to sign up and receive
all these stories and more in your inbox every month. Stella, great to have you back on the show. Thanks so much for your time. Thanks, Sam. And now here's Francis Kelland with a reader recommended.
Thank you, Sam. This book is back of Beyond One Woman's remarkable story of love, adventure, disasters and wonderful times in the Gulf country. This is by Jenny Old. At 22, Jenny fell in love with Rick old and went to live and work with him on his property. McAllister in the Gulf of Carpentaria. There she faced incredible hardship, living in a hut with not even basic necessities. Her only contact with the outside world was a two way radio.
In this vast, empty landscape, she battled drought, flood fire and cyclones for 18 years. She and Rick struggled to stay on in the Gulf, eventually triumphantly turning McAllister into a thriving oasis. This extraordinary story of one indomitable Australian woman is told in her own words with skill and humour. A story of the Bush people and their generosity filled with wonderful characters. Most of all, the story of one woman's love for her man and the adventure it took
her on. McAllister The story of Jenny Olds amazing life in the outback will captivate and enthrall. Let's hear a sample of Back of Beyond by Jenny Old. It's narrated by Sally Turnbull. As a child, some of my favourite books with the.
Silver Brumby, Silver Brumby's Daughter and The Golden Stallion, which I read and reread. I had such romantic ideas about wild horses at McAlester. I loved to watch them gallop across the plains when we were driving around our boundaries, free and sure footed mainstreaming mussels gleaming the Mayor's Guide at the Falls while the stallion was ever watchful over his brood. This was indulgent thinking on my part. The Brumbies had become a pest and were increasing in numbers.
They had caused a serious problem at the end of 1971 by plunging into the waterholes and stirring up the mud, making it impossible for the cattle to drink the water. I was distressed that these beautiful creatures might have to be culled. Fate stepped in when A few months into 1972, we had a visit from two brothers, Des and Morgan Walden, who asked for permission to trap brumbies on McAlister. Just do what you have to do and don't tell me anything about it or discuss it in front of me,
I instructed sadly. This was a rare princess moment for me. I did learn that the brumbies would be trapped then yardage and trucked for sale in Cloncurry days and Morgan camped out by the waterholes, having first constructed Hessian enclosures into which they would guide the horses. For days the canny animals refused to come near but finally their need to drink drove them to overcome their fear and cautiously approach theirs. And Morgan quickly closed the gates behind them.
And that was back of Beyond by Jenny Old. That comes from one of the most popular genres in the library. Australiana and biographies and memoirs are the two categories. If you would like to join the library and enjoy some of those fantastic books, you can call them on 1300 654 656. That's one 306 54656. Or you can email us at library at Vision Australia Talk. That's library and Vision Australia. Org.
And that's all we have time for today. You've been listening to Talking Vision. Talking Vision is a production of Vision Australia Radio. Thanks to all involved with putting the show together And remember we love your feedback and comments, so please do get in touch on Talking vision at Vision australia.org. That's talking vision all one word at Vision australia.org. But until next week it's Sam Colley saying bye for now.
You can contact Vision Australia by phoning us anytime during business hours on one 308 4746. That's one 380 474 W6 or by visiting Vision australia.org that's Vision australia.org.