RNIB urges AD content regulations

The Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) has released a petition which called for the UK government to enforce more inclusive TV streaming experiences for blind and partially sighted people.

This includes improved access to UK services such as ITV Hub, BBC iPlayer, All4, Now TV and Disney+ through regulations and minimum levels of audio described (AD) content. Despite 350,000 people being affected in the UK, AD content – which explains what is happening on screen using audio – is rarely available, according to RNIB.

Sonali Rai, broadcast and audio description manager at RNIB, said: ‘Blind and partially sighted people are tired of waiting for improvements to be implemented that will enable them to enjoy all that streaming services have to offer. Time and time again we’ve had to wait for the Government to make changes so that audio description is readily available on a large scale on these platforms.