With a strong drama background Jo George may seem like a perfect candidate to volunteer for Vision Australia’s audio description team, but the high school teacher believes anybody who is willing could fill the role.
“I was doing volunteering home visits with an elderly lady whose vision began to deteriorate and one of the things she enjoyed was the theatre. I’d never heard of audio description and then I saw a poster advertising it and it sounded like a great way to help people experience the theatre,” Jo said.
While the audition process may have been one of the “most nervous moments” of her life, Jo has quickly come to value her time as an audio descriptor.
“It’s something that I really enjoy doing. I’ve only done it for five years but I’ve described for some clients multiple times and it great to hear that you’ve helped them enjoy and experience something,” she said.
According to Jo, Vision Australia’s audio description program is an example of how Australia gets the service right, however she believes there is still room for improvement. That thought will be a core part of an upcoming international study tour Jo is undertaking of England and the United States where audio description is more prevalent and she hopes to bring back some ideas that could expand audio description in Australia.
“It would be great to take those sorts of things [they do overseas] and try to develop some audio description best practices that could become standard across Australia,” she said.
The study tour is the result of scholarship Jo recently received and she will also use the opportunity to research the impact audio description has on literacy levels.
“There is some research that has been done in America that has drawn links between audio description and improved literacy levels.
“It would be great to look into that and see if there’s room to expand the reach of audio description and use it in areas like education for children who are blind or have low vision and for those that don’t.”
Michael Ward, Vision Australia National Coordinator Audio Description & Talking News, said Jo has been a valued member of the audio description program since joining and believes her studies will benefit the blind and low vision community.
“Jo’s embrace of Audio Description was evident from her very first audition for the role,” Michael said.
“It will certainly be a boost for people who are blind or have low vision in Jo receiving this scholarship,” he said.
More information on Vision Australia's audio description program can be found here.