Improving the experience of people with visual disabilities in the cinema: new challenges

Irene Vega

This work has analyzed the situation of groups with visual disabilities regarding the use and enjoyment of audiovisual media - especially cinema - with the aim of developing new proposals that allow them to know the codes of language and audiovisual narrative and thus improve their experience. . The study highlights the need to create specific media literacy proposals for these people.

The results of this work, recently published in the scientific magazine ICON 14, reveal that people with visual disabilities demand more specific training plans and, above all, focused on the degree of understanding of the works and the viewing experience, that is, the degree of enjoyment that can be experienced. “Currently, audiovisual products are based on an audio description focused on the sense of hearing, sometimes overloading the amount of information received, duplicating it or presenting it insufficiently, which is limiting,” explains Victoria Mora de la Torre, researcher at the URJC and co-author of the study. Furthermore, when improving viewing experiences, it must be taken into account that these are linked to the generation of more immersive and empathetic emotions, basic pillars of audiovisual narrative. The researcher also points out that “audiovisual learning facilitates their approach to the media in a critical way. Consequently, the possible improvement, no matter how small, aimed at increasing the reception experience of a person with any type of visual impairment is a goal that not only improves their own routine, but also that of those around them.

Collaboration with the ONCE Foundation

Conducting a survey among a group of members of the ONCE Foundation has allowed the research team to learn about the experience and needs of the respondents. “It was also essential to start from a review of previous literature of an exploratory nature to proceed with a more in-depth study,” explains Victoria Mora. In addition, the head of the press and multimedia content office of the ONCE Foundation has been interviewed to obtain more specific knowledge about the situation, experience and consumption of the group of people with visual disabilities with respect to the media.

“Ultimately, this work aims to make more visible the need to train a group in media that needs not to be left behind in the process of technological development of society and, at the same time, that needs such knowledge to acquire a critical perspective of the world. that surrounds them, to interact with it, facilitating that this audiovisual and multi-screen environment in which we live today does not become hostile or alienating, but rather a facilitator in the task of shaping their experiences and their media autonomy,” the researcher emphasizes.

From this work, it has been possible to extract a first training proposal that will be applied in the coming months.