Describing Queer Identities: Exploratory Discussions About Ethics, Access and Language in Described Video Practice
April 22, 1:30pm EST
Described Video (DV) is the science and art of describing visual content, audibly, to people who are Blind, partially sighted, don’t/ can’t look at a screen, or otherwise find it useful. Our basic directives include “Say what you see” and attempt to offer as close as possible experience as those who are watching the event.
Jennifer Brethour and Kat Germain invite a mixed group of 2Spirit/Queer/Trans Description Users and Performers to a discussion on Ethics, Access and Language in Described Video Practices.
Generally in DV we only describe characteristics of physical identities when the information is perceived to be relevant to plot or character. Brethour and Germain ask: If we do describe visual characteristics of queer performers, how do we do it? If we don’t, aren’t we further silencing queer representation? It is our position that DV users should be offered the opportunity to understand who is represented and given access to the same visual information.
So how do we do this? What words do we use?