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Latest News

February 2012
Date Published	News headline and description
22 February 2012	Television revealed for blind and vision impaired Australians The Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy (DBCDE) has just announced that Australia’s first audio description trial will be held on the ABC. The long-awaited announcement is a result of many years of advocacy by Media Access Australia and several disability organisations and is a step towards bringing Australia into line with international standards.
21 February 2012	Braille keyboard for iPhone developed Researchers at Georgia Tech have developed BrailleTouch, a prototype iPhone app that allows people who are blind or vision impaired to send text messages using an onscreen Braille keyboard.
20 February 2012	Windows 8 to come with enhanced accessibility Microsoft has announced a number of significant accessibility improvements to its upcoming Windows 8 operating system. This is further reassurance that the software giant has considered the needs of people with a disability in the development of its latest product.
20 February 2012	Social media research to be presented at global conference Dr Scott Hollier, Project Manager for Media Access Australia (MAA), will present his paper Social Media: a practical approach at the CSUN 27th Annual International Technology and Persons with Disabilities Conference in California.
17 February 2012	Accessibility Internet Rally a wrap, now on to the awards The Accessibility Internet Rally held in Austin over the weekend brought 21 professional web developers together with five not-for-profit organisations for eight hours of frenzied activity to build the best accessible website possible.
17 February 2012	Morocco’s film festival supports audio described movies For the second year running the Marrakech International Film Festival (FIFM) has showcased audio described movies for its blind and vision impaired patrons. Featuring eight movies in total, from 1950s classics to local Moroccan productions, the described program is the first of its kind in Africa.
16 February 2012	Proposed new Irish access rules provoke fierce criticism Controversy has erupted in Ireland over proposed changes to television access regulation. In December 2011, the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (BAI) launched a consultation process on new rules it is proposing regarding the levels of captioning, audio description and Irish sign language which broadcasters must provide. In their submissions to the consultation, Ireland’s access advocacy groups have been highly critical of some of the proposed changes.
16 February 2012	UK broadcasters launch audio description campaign UK broadcasters have launched a campaign to raise public awareness of audio description, with promotions for the service to be shown on 60 channels over the next month.
15 February 2012	Five tips for teachers of students with hearing impairment Media Access Australia’s Education Manager, Anne McGrath, has many years’ experience as a primary school teacher and Itinerant Teacher of the Deaf. To start off a big year in our education program, Anne offers her guidance to first time teachers of students who are Deaf or hearing impaired.
13 February 2012	Disability Discrimination Commissioner endorses the National Broadband Network The Australian Disability Discrimination Commissioner, Graeme Innes, has signed on as a champion of the National Broadband Network (NBN). Through the partnership, Innes hopes to promote the benefits of high speed broadband for people with a disability.
10 February 2012	CNN sued for not captioning its online videos A judge in California has refused to dismiss a suit by the Greater Los Angeles Agency for Deafness (GLAD) against CNN for not captioning news clips on its website.
07 February 2012	New iPhone app could rival telephone relay services A yet-to-be-released iPhone app called Deaftel will let people who are Deaf, hearing or speech impaired make phone calls to hearing people without a third person acting as a relay operator. By providing a service where a person’s voice is converted to and sent as text, the Deaftel app will improve the ability for Deaf and hearing impaired users to communicate on iOS devices.
06 February 2012	UK discount airline faces legal action over inaccessible website The UK discount airline BMI Baby faces a legal case for its inaccessible website. The complaint was made this week by the Royal National Institute of Blind People, which claims the BMI Baby website is inaccessible for people who are blind or vision impaired.
03 February 2012	Latest accessible DVD releases – January 2012 Each month, Media Access Australia conducts an audit of new release DVDs. Of the 73 DVD titles researched during January 2012, 34% feature audio description and 75% feature captioning.
03 February 2012	SKY New Zealand launches captions On 1 February, New Zealand’s main subscription TV provider, SKY Television, introduced closed captioning on 13 of its channels: Animal Planet, Disney Channel, Disney Junior, TCM, TV1, TV2, TV3, Cartoon Network, and Crime & Investigation.
02 February 2012	Online video service brings treatment to children with disabilities A new initiative will mean that more children with hearing or vision impairment living in regional and remote Australia will be able to talk to a specialist right from their living rooms.

January 2012
Date Published	News headline and description
31 January 2012	Canadian access company modernises its brand Accessible Media, the not-for-profit organisation which operates The Accessible Channel, is rebranding all its media operations under the name AMI as part of a strategy of branching out into new media.
30 January 2012	American churches apply for caption exemptions Around 80 churches in the USA have filed new applications with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for an exemption from closed caption rules, following a change to the way the FCC treats these applications.
28 January 2012	Phone support now offered for NVDA users NV Access, the organisation behind the NVDA screen reader, has announced it will provide phone support for its services. The NVDA screen reader is free, open source screen reader software for Windows computers. The software can be downloaded to a USB and used on multiple computers.
25 January 2012	American cinema formalises commitment to accessible movies After an informal announcement in August, American Multi-Cinema Inc (AMC) has officially committed to captioning in its complexes across the USA. Although audio description has not been a part of the announcement, the rollout will also include this feature.