Audio description (AD), an additional narration track that conveys essential visual information in a media work, is imperative for improving video accessibility for people who identify as blind or low vision (BLV). The AD creation process includes three steps: writing the script, recording the voiceover, and mixing the narration track with existing video audio. Despite being the primary beneficiaries, BLV individuals are limited in how they can contribute to AD authoring by technology inaccessibility and societal biases. The blind community and sighted allies advocate for including blind individuals in the AD creation pipeline, as their expert perspectives lead to high quality descriptions that prioritize the needs of the BLV community. To contribute to providing equal access to AD creation and to combat stigmas against blind AD writers, I am (1) designing and prototyping semi-automated AD features to make authoring more accessible to BLV creatives and (2) assessing the efficacy of question and answer systems in providing context for independent AD script authoring by BLV writers. Existing literature regarding AD does not address the needs of blind writers and the ways in which they interact with audio description writing systems. As there are currently very few blind writers in the AD industry, I am testing this system with 2 blind writers and at least 8 BLV people who are interested in writing AD. My findings so far show that current AD writing systems are inaccessible, and that BLV writers seek to have a detailed objective understanding of characters, background settings, and cross-frame actions prior to crafting artistic descriptions. Through this project, I am extending knowledge on BLV engagement with audio description creation and offering design considerations for AD writing systems to be more accessible for BLV writers who wish to independently write audio descriptions.
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