by Dianna Leonard | From BayLines Express, October, 2026
Many of you may have heard of the Audio Description Project (ADP), an initiative of the American Council of the Blind (ACB), of which Bay State is an affiliate. But what does the ADP do?
Some think we provide audio description services, but that is not the case. Instead, we advocate for high-quality audio description in film, TV, performing arts and museums, educational materials, and other relevant forms of visual media. We also maintain a current database of over 15,000 film and series titles (at the time of writing this in mid-October), on various streaming services. Separately, we provide a sort of audio description “TV Guide,” where you can find which programs on broadcast networks offer AD, and at what times. The ADP started in 2009 and, since then, has continued to thrive.
A day in the life of my job as the ADP Coordinator primarily involves sending and responding to emails, and taking data sent to me by streaming services such as Netflix or Prime Video, uploading that data to the ADP website, and adding those titles to our film and series database. Sometimes it involves simply matching a title to one that already exists in our system, or it can get more involved where I’d have to manually create a brand new entry, meaning it’s a brand new title for us. In that case, I go to the Internet Movie Database, or IMDb, to find the title so that I can cross-reference the content rating and production studio, as those are things ADP website visitors can filter by when searching through our database. Sometimes it’s a case where it’s a newer remake of an older title, or simply a title with the same name but made in a different year and with a separate production studio, and in that case more research may be utilized to determine how to properly represent it.
I might also have a committee meeting that night. The ADP has several subcommittees made up solely of volunteers. The committees include Benefits of Audio Description in Education (BADIE); video gaming; performing arts, parks, and museums; public sector, or Section 508; and media, which primarily refers to audio description in film and television. Each committee has a set of goals that they work on over time, and specifically with the BADIE committee, an annual essay contest is run where winners are chosen in several categories; the grand prize winner reads their essay in a recorded video at the ACB National Convention. This year, the media subcommittee has focused on contacting the FCC regarding accessible emergency alerts, as well as disseminating best practices guidelines in text to speech (TTS) audio description narrators to various streaming services. Some of the services actually approached us to see the guidelines and use them to better help their use of TTS as a stand-in for a human narrator. The committee also sent out a survey on the accessibility and usability of streaming services, and have compiled the data and are in talks on how to proceed sending that data out to the various streaming services.
Speaking of the convention, ADP often has events during that time. In 2026, ADP programming took place during the virtual week and consisted of several panel discussions, as well as a film screening and Q&A. The panels focused on topics such as next generation TV, performing arts advances, what happens with an audio description file and why it might not always go with the media when changing streaming services, and an overview of the new and improved ADP website. We also co-hosted an event with ACB Students where we streamed Brailled It, a documentary film made in 2024 which followed several young competitors at that year’s Braille Challenge finals in Los Angeles. The film features open audio description and closed captioning baked in, meaning everyone is able to watch in a fully accessible way; the filmmaker and one of the students involved in the documentary were there for a panel discussion afterward.
ADP also gives out awards, which is different from the AD Awards Gala, which I’ll get to. The ADP Awards are given out in several categories such as performing arts, public sector, as well as several awards named after pioneers in audio description such as Barry Levine, for example. The awards committee meets and collects submissions for a period before decisions are made on who receives which one. The recipients are then recorded and edited together in an audio described video that airs during the ACB Convention in the summer.
Finally, we have the Audio Description Awards Gala. Started in 2021, the gala is the most accessible awards show in the world. Featuring audio description, closed captioning, American Sign Language, and a Spanish interpretation, the gala airs in November simultaneously on YouTube and Peacock. NBC has worked with the ADP to provide filming space at 30 Rock in New York City, where the hosts of the gala are filmed. Awards presenters and recipients give their remarks virtually, and it all comes together in a video showcasing the best in audio description talent. There’s also the opportunity for the community to vote on “people’s choice” titles for a film and TV series which aired in the recent calendar year that voters believe had the best audio description. There’s a nomination round in the spring, with a voting round in the summer. The top five films and series nominated go to the voting round, where one film and one series are then voted on again to determine who the people chose.
This year’s awards gala airs on Thursday, November 12 at 7:30pm Eastern Time. Information on where to watch in both English and Spanish will be shared around November 5. The gala will be broadcast in audio-only on ACB Media, and there will be a listening party on the ACB Community Zoom platform, followed by an after party which will be on Zoom and streamed to ACB Media.
Some have classified the ADP as an “octopus,” with many things to manage at once, and they wouldn’t necessarily be wrong. There’s a lot to keep up with, particularly when there’s a data import from a provider that has about 300 new titles… which happened recently. The pre-check before running an import tells me how many titles are new, and how many may be removed. One of the providers had about 300 new titles, and roughly two-thirds of them were truly new, meaning they had to be added manually. But I’ve had great people around to train me and lean on if I have any problems or questions. The volunteers make the committees I oversee run smoothly, and it’s always fun to see what everyone’s up to in their various spaces. I was nervous about doing a good job when I was first hired, but I have a great team and I feel confident. I think it also helps that I genuinely enjoy what I do. Here’s to continuing to broaden audio description access and awareness.