How the Blind Watch TV

Thinking of a blind person watching TV may seem like an oxymoron. And technically, it is. However, if you suspend your disbelief and overlook the word "watch," you'll see that there are many ways blind people can enjoy TV. The reason they don't call it what it is--that is, listening to TV--is because everyone says "watch," and most blind people just aren't offended by this standard way of speaking. Below are some cues blind people use to watch and enjoy TV.

Dialogue. Just like it is in books, dialogue is an important part of most movies and TV shows. The blind use dialogue to follow the storyline, note how people feel, and to find out what's happening in the moment when the characters speak.

Music and sounds. Obviously, if a door slams right after a character shouts, "I hate you!" that character has just stormed off. From the context of the anger, blind people can usually tell where the character has gone, and more. Similarly, music is written to accompany all TV scripts. People who are blind use the music to tell what's going on when no one is speaking. Scary music depicts that something bad is happening, or will happen soon. Listening to the music in cartoons will help you understand all the things you can tell about a TV program just by paying attention to the music.

Narration. Every once in a while, there's a TV show, or even a specific channel, where the programming is described. This description tells what happens on the show, while it's happening. It's read in such a way that it never interferes with the sound of the TV show or movie. Because dialogue, music, and sounds sometimes just aren't enough to get the full effect of a TV program, this narrated description is another way for the blind to enjoy television. However, like closed captioning for the deaf, video description, as it's called, isn't always available. It requires special allocated funding, so very few TV shows and still fewer channels offer it.

Blind people like to watch movies. They like to keep up with current sitcoms, game shows, reality TV shows, and anything else that interests them. Many times they know exactly what's going on in a TV program. But sometimes there's special description written for them, that someone reads, like a voice-over on the program. And sometimes there isn't. In those cases, blind people ask a sighted person what's going on. However, this usually isn't necessary for the blind to enjoy TV.