Access to Television

The European Blind Union recently carried out a survey into access to television. The resulting report focuses particularly on audio description, but includes information on a range of other services used by disabled people to watch television. For those who are short of time, there is an Executive Summary.

The report finds that :

- there is very little legislation in European Union countries requiring audio description, signing, subtitles, etc ;

- where there is no law requiring these services, they are rarely provided ;

- "market forces" are clearly not sufficient to provide these services ;

- the switchover to digital TV could make access to TV for disabled people yet more difficult.


We have made 12 recommendations on the way forward .


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