March 2018 #TV Talk And #Movie Mutterings: #Blind Viewers

I was asked a question recently about how I'm able to watch TV shows and movies when I can't see. Well, I answered the person's questions at the time, but afterwards thought there may be others with the same questions. So, since I haven't watched much this month anyhow, I decided to make this month's "TV talk and movie mutterings" post about that topic.

I won't repeat all the questions the person asked here, since they all boil down to the same question: "How can a blind person know what's going on when they're watching a movie or TV show?"

I'll just tell you how I manage the task of watching things, which is in one of three ways:

1. Using audio description.
Audio description is available on many DVDs, and also sometimes as a setting on some of the devices used to get TV channels (such as my Sky box, for example). You usually have to actually turn it on, which can sometimes mean needing sighted help to activate it, though there are times when it's easy to either keep activated (again, such as with my Sky box) or possible for you to put it on yourself with a bit of trial and error or memorizing of button pressing combinations. My brother, Carl, tells me even Netflix has it. This is my favourite option, since the audio description will then tell me about any visual aspects of the movie or TV show in question. At least, that's the theory, since I do know for a fact it doesn't catch everything. Plus, not every movie or TV show comes with it.

The only downside to this one - apart from the annoyance of it being tricky to turn on audio description when you can't actually see the settings - comes if you're watching a movie with someone sighted, since I'm told audio description and actual screen events aren't always completely in sync with one another, and have found that some sighted people can find that a bit annoying. At the risk of sounding rude though, I'd like to point out to anyone who feels this way that they should be grateful they have the ability to see what's going on for themselves, and go do something else if they don't like it. They can always watch the movie or TV show later without audio description turned on.

2. Having sighted people describe things.
When there's no audio description, and I'm watching a movie with someone sighted, there's the option of having them do the audio description. If you're doing this one though, it's best to agree it's going to happen before the movie starts.

The downsides with this option are that it tends to annoy people if you're doing it in a cinema, not everyone is willing to do this, not everyone is good with descriptions, or the person may get too in to the movie and forget to explain things (sometimes becoming irritated when you try to get their attention for an explanation). I'm lucky in that I prefer to watch movies from the comfort of my own home anyway, which means Kelly is usually the one I watch things with, and he's pretty good about telling me what happens if something is obviously visual, or I ask him what just happened, even if his descriptions are sometimes not as detailed as I might like them to be.

3. Just listening and hoping for the best.
If all else fails, I just "watch" the movie, and try and use the sounds and dialogue to figure out what's going on as best as I can. This is easier to do with some movies than others, and the fact this is the thing I end up doing more often than not is part of the reason I tend to read more than I watch.

The downsides with this one are obvious: you can't always tell by the sounds what's happening due to some things sounding so similar to one another, and some parts are too visual so missed altogether. Still, being familiar with certain sounds, and having the ability to use logic and common sense, means I'm able to figure things out enough that I know what's happening most of the time. Plus, missing parts is better than not getting to watch it at all, so... *Shrugs*