The DRM WebWatcher: Media

	The DRM WebWatcher
	Media
	Updated 8/2001
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Where can you find television programs for people with disabilities or videotapes for people who are blind? An online directory of periodicals and other media dealing with disabilities? A list of films that featured characters with disabling conditions? Check out these sites.

ACB Radio [added 10/8/01]: Owned and operated by the American Council of the Blind, ACB Radio is a webcasting service that offers four Internet radio stations which can be received using a variety popular and free Internet audio players. They include ACB Radio Mainstream, which features programs on technology, a blindness talk show, and other national and international programs; ACB Radio Interactive, which features blind radio personalities hosting music shows from around the globe; and the ACB Radio Cafe, which hosts blind musicians from around the world.

AbleTV.net: Billing itself as "The First Global TV Network for people with disabilities... Powered by Accessibility...via the Web," this site is categorized by type of disability and features pertinent online videos. (The free RealG2 Player is required to watch them.) The last time we checked (August 2001), there were only one or two videos altogether, and the site did not appear to be regularly updated. The Events & Conference section, however, had some excellent and fairly timely clips, such as John Hockenberry speaking at the CSUN Conference, and President Bush talking about the New Freedom Initiative.

Access to Multimedia Technology by People with Sensory Disabilities: This report from the National Council on Disability provides an overview of multimedia access barriers and solutions, including recommended public policy interventions.

Accessing Entertainment: An excellent overview of media access, this part of the Infinitec website features information and links relating to all aspects of media access. The television page covers FCC regulations, closed-caption television, large screen television, descriptive narration TV, and closed-circuit television. Separate sections deal with theater, movies, television, ADA guidelines, and accessible stadiums. The movies page covers assistive listening devices, open-captioned motion pictures, the Motion Picture Access Project, Captioned Media Program, and more. Other pages include theater, ADA guidelines, accessible stadiums, and foreign films.

AEJMC Media & Disability Interest Group: Part of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, this group promotes academic research, outreach and access relating to disability issues and mass media. Its website includes a good list of video suggestions for mass communication courses and lists of related research papers and panel discussions.; [Editor's Note: When we last checked in August 2001, many of the links were not working. This link may be removed from our website.]

Albinism in Popular Culture: A fascinating look at albinism in art, fiction, film, and fashion.

Autism in the Movies: This page from the Center for the Study of Autism lists movies that were released in the cinemas, and later on videocassette.

BLINDSPOTS: Movie Reviews for Visually Impaired People: The author of this personal home page reviews and rates popular movies in terms of the ease in which individuals who are blind can follow them. This is a unique resources; however, users should bear in mind that the reviews are subjective and undated.

CPB/WGBJ National Center for Accessible Media (NCAM): NCAM is "a research and development facility that works to make media accessible to underserved populations such as disabled persons, minority-language users, and people with low literacy skills." NCAM's website describes its current projects, such as Access to Convergent Media Project, DTV Access Project, Web Accessibility Projects, CD-ROM Access Project, Motion Picture Access Project, Education Projects, and SALT Project.
Descriptive Video Service (WGBH): The "home" of descriptive video for people who are blind or visually impaired, this section of the WGBH website offers information about descriptive video, a schedule of programs broadcast with description, a catalog of videotapes available with narration, samples to see and hear, a quarterly newsletter, and much more.

Films and Videos on Disabilities: A filmography from the University of Michigan.

Films Involving Disabilities: An extensive list of over 2,500 films, arranged by disability. Each entry includes production information and a description.

Individuals with Special Needs in Film (Curry School of Education): A selected, annotated list of recent films portraying individuals with disabilities.

Handi-Hams: (Almost) everything you ever wanted to know about amateur radio and people with disabilities.

Kaleidoscope Television [link not working 8/16/01]: Information about this 24-hour cable television network featuring audio described and open captioned programs relating to disabilities. The site includes information about shows, schedules, specials, channels, and Kaleidoscope "Live!" on the Web.

The Library Media Project: An outgrowth of the MacArthur Foundation Library Video Project, the Library Media Project assists in the development of video collection in public libraries, with a focus on public access to the Independent film and video community. This website describes videos on health and aging recommended by the project.

Mass Media & Disability Links: This personal home page by B. Haller offers a good collection of links to book publishers, films and broadcasts, international sources, news, organizational publications, research groups, web accessibility, and web publications.

Movies of Interest [link not working 8/16/01]: This section of a personal home page on mental retardation and developmental disabilities features nicely annotated listings of movies involving mental retardation, mental health, institutionalization, and disabilities. A visit is guaranteed to inspire a trip to the local video store!

National Center on Disability and Journalism (NCDJ): The mission of this new organization is "to improve the fairness, accuracy and diversity of news reporting on disability.... by developing tools to help journalists and educators examine the complexity of disability issues from differing perspectives." As of this writing, its website didn't offer much in the way of tools besides the first issue of its newsletter. Hopefully, this is a site to keep an eye on.

Turner Classic Movies: Over 250 Turner Classic Movies are available with closed-captions (cc) for people with hearing impairments, and more than 50 contain DVS audio descriptions for people with visual impairments. Icons on the schedule will help guide you.

TV Acres: Physically Challenged: This is a unique and extensive guide to television characters with disabilities throughout TV history. It is subdivided by disability, and each section includes descriptions of TV characters with that disability and the roles they played. Disability advocates may be offended by the author's terminology and character descriptions, not to mention the fact that most of these characters were played by nondisabled characters.

Related Subjects: Arts; Captioning; Disability Culture; Magazines; Resources in your state