We’ve all heard the phrase “All work, no play makes Jack a dull boy.” It’s a wise cliche. Entertainment is a crucial part of our lives. It brings us together, helps us unwind, and gives us reasons to laugh and feel joy.But what happens when your sight is limited? What can you participate in? Is it possible to still enjoy popular forms of entertainment like books, movies, and games? Dreamscape Foundation explores the struggles of experiencing entertainment with limited sight, as well as new ways to rediscover the entertainment you and your friends love.
Struggling with Blindness and Its Limitations
Visual impairments change the way we experience everyday life, including entertainment. It’s limitations can cause frustration, especially if you are yearning to experience the things you once loved that were dependent upon sight to enjoy.You try to experience a book, movie, or game like you did before, only to face new challenges, like being unable to read text or losing context in a film or tv show because you can’t clearly see what is going on. Sometimes leaning on your other senses aren’t enough to piece together the missing elements. Thankfully, there are ways to overcome some of these difficulties. Technological advancements have produced new hardware and software to help make entertainment more accessible.
How to Enjoy Entertainment, Even with Vision Loss
One of the ways visual media is becoming accessible to the visually impaired is through audio descriptions. Think of it like the old stories told over the radio prior to the introduction of television. It requires a combination of voiceover talent and imagination.The results are quite stimulating! Take a moment to experience it for yourself through this Frozen trailer with audio description. Close your eyes and let the narrator guide you through the scenes. You’ll find that even though your eyes may not see what’s going on, the narration brings it to life inside your mind, much like audiobooks breathe life into literature.Audio description is becoming more prevalent thanks to the 21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act, or CCVA. However, it’s not the only adaptations to entertainment being made. Video games are also becoming more adaptable to the disabled community through evolving accessibility settings, musical cues, and audio prompts.There has also been a rise in audio games like GMA Tank Commander, which place a keen focus on music, sound, and rhythm to guide your actions within the game. For those who love literature, devices like Kindle and Audible offer the ability to adjust the font type, size, and backlighting as well as narration options. It’s through avenues like these that many forms of entertainment we once found inaccessible have become open to the visually impaired to experience in their own way.
Limited Sight Doesn’t Have to Mean Limited Life
Whether you were born blind or you developed a visual impairment later in life, your lack of sight does not have to limit your enjoyment in life. Dreamscape Foundation’s dedication to making the world more accessible to the disabled is ongoing, but we know too that there are already plenty of joys in life and entertainment that are open to us, and that window is only growing.After all, limited sight doesn’t have to equate to a limited life.