Up Close and Personal

by Maurie Hill on August 21, 2012

Picture of someone using a remote to change the TV channelBeing visually impaired, we’re bound to miss some important visual cues when watching our favorite TV shows.  For me, no matter how big the screen, I chose the “up close and personal” method; I  pull a chair very close to the boob tube so that I see those important facial reactions that help tell the tale.

My coworker Becca sent me an article the other day that I really enjoyed entitled Watching TV Blind:  A Love-Hate Relationship written by Paul Schroeder.  Paul grew up with the same favorite comedies as I did – All in the Family, MASH, the Mary Tyler Moore Show, and on and on.  I respect a man who admits to wasting hours in the precious 70’s watching The Love Boat.  Today, my daughter and I like sharing the couch and watching “Good Luck Charlie” together.  But from that distance, I can’t see the grand entrances accompanied by funny facial expressions, so I fall behind the laughter a bit.

Enter video described shows. There’s a long and storied history here; many fought for this right and the battle isn’t over to ensure that access to video description continues far into the future.  Paul doesn’t end there – he includes information on what shows are video described and how you go about turning them on.  After all, technology is always better when you know how to use it.  Paul encourages us to be proactive and contact our favorite show’s network if it is not video described.  Now comes the really hard part – finding a good adult comedy that’s worth watching.  I guess there is only so much we can do about that!

I’m curious to hear what your solutions are in case there’s a better method that I should try – leave us a comment!

Tagged as: ai squared, Maurie Hill, television, visually impaired, zoomtext

  • Sandi

    My 12 year old daughter has an acrobat and she will zoom the camera in on the tv and watch it on her monitor!

  • Ur_blog_reader

    Is that your actual hand holding the remote?

  • doughacker

    No, that’s not Maurie’s hand; that’s just a generic “TV watching” photo.

  • Ur_blog_reader

    Alright, is that what you currently see?

  • http://www.aisquared.com Becca White

    That’s just a generic photo – not actually what Maurie sees at all or her holding the remote.

  • Ur_blog_reader

    Becca and Doughecker.
    I think you two missed my point. Anyway, I’ll stop asking….. let’s the trial runs it course.

  • Tom Coburn

    My wife and I are both visually impaired. It has helped us to have a 60 inch screen that sits on the floor, but the sound isn’t that great. Biggest problem we have, and I think you can probaby agree Maurie, is the words, especially with digital TV’s on-screen TV guide display. We have the same issue with our Roku player. even with our 60 inch display, my wife and I both have to practically plaster our faces against the glass just to read the descriptions of movies. I haven’t really found a solution. The TV watching glasses are only 2.1x not enough magnification to really help any. then there’s those magnifying screens you can put up against a 25 inch screen to make it look like a 36 inch, same problem applies not enough magnification to help, especially sitting back watching a movie from the couch. Tonya and I put our smaller TV in the bedroom up against the head of the bed, instead of at the feet where most sighted people would put it. Her mom thinks we’re crazy for doing that, but it works for us when watching TV in bed. but your right we still don’t catch that detail even up close like that, not really anyway. Some movies are video described at the theatre, but very few DVD’s are. Passion of the christ is the only one I can think of that is on DVD. I think the solution is really pushing hollywood, because the technology is already there in the closed captioning channel, its just a matter of convincing hollywood to support audio described video for both TV and movies. I think we should push the idea of the ADA, and the telecommunication laws, that technically do apply here as well. Any other solution would be like reinventing the wheel

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