Noah Carver, a freshman at Jonesport‑Beals High School, began advocating for audio description (AD) when he was eight years old and tackled local television affiliates to provide the service -- and he hasn't stopped since.
    AD is an additional narration track intended primarily for blind and visually impaired consumers of visual media, including television and film, dance, opera, visual art and displays such as those found at science museums. AD equipment can take the form of a headset provided at the point of service, such as a movie theater or museum, or it can take the form of an app that provides the same synchronized service through an individual's cell phone or other device. Basically, Noah explains, he wants AD to have the same universality as closed captioning.
   As someone who has been blind since birth, Noah understands what a difference AD can make. "The narration goes over the movie audio without getting in the way of the dialogue," he says. "It's really impressive. You aren't missing out." At the Museum of Science in Boston, he says, there are "little telephones" next to many of the displays that provide AD service.
     It wasn't always so, and quite often it still isn't. When he was younger his mother, Suzanne Carver, would improvise as an in‑person version of AD. "I would scootch down and try to get the gist to him," she remembers. Now that he's older, she's happy to see innovations finally coming to the fore that allow her son to watch independently, to go with friends to a movie without being left out of what's taking place on the big screen.
     Having the equipment is only half the battle. The other half is making sure that there's a narration to tap into. A year ago Noah began a change.org petition, "Make Movies Accessible to the Blind," which has the goal of ensuring AD accessibility is available in all movies as part of their release. He's three‑quarters of the way to his goal of 7,500 signers, but in that time-span it has already had an impact. "Because of my petition and my speaking about inclusion, it helped set off others telling their stories," he says. "It's directly having an impact."

Making change at eight
     Noah has been making change happen for a while. When  he was eight he was home while sick and wanted to watch  the movie Arthur. It was showing on one of the Maine Public Broadcasting Network channels, and  it was described as having AD. "I tried to turn on the channel, and the audio description was not there." He called Maine Public. After some back and forth, "they got it fixed, and the next day I was able to watch." He pauses, "It gave me an idea of what advocacy can do."
     Noah didn't stop just because he cleared things up with Maine Public and was able to watch Arthur. He began calling regional television network stations asking about AD accessibility. One channel had it. One agreed to put it on, and two others resisted. Noah persisted. "It took me a very long time to persuade them." He enlisted the help of a lawyer specializing in disability rights. "It culminated in me writing a complaint to the FCC [Federal Communications Commission], and they contacted the channels." He adds, "All the local affiliates now provide AD." His tenacity garnered him a 2016 Maine Disability Rights Equal Access for All Award.
     Shortly after Noah's award, the Star Wars fan learned that the series would be releasing a new installment. "I knew they would have AD because it was Disney," he says. "But the challenge became finding a movie theater that had the AD equipment. Augusta was the closest." He thought there had to be a better way. "I should be able to go to a movie anywhere even if they don't have the equipment."

Connecting with AD app designer
     In the meantime, Suzanne Carver had forged a connection with the maker of the Actiview App, a mobile app that provides accessibility services for the blind, low vision, deaf or hard of hearing, and foreign language speaking for movies and other entertainment vehicles. The concept thrilled her son. "It was a no‑brainer to bring your own equipment." The advantages were clear: using his own cell phone and earbuds over either no equipment or equipment that didn't always work.
     The connection with Actiview turned out to be fortuitous. Noah is a big fan of the Hunger Games, had read all the books and was looking forward to watching the movies at home because they included AD. "It wasn't a pleasant experience," says Suzanne. The audio description was so loud that it drowned out the dialogue and other track sounds. "Even if the studio provides it, it doesn't necessarily mean it's accessible," she explains. "We were talking with the chief designer at Actiview. So I took a video of Noah trying to watch the [Hunger Games] video." She adds that the video she shared with the designer ended up going to the film's distributor, Lionsgate. The end result was the addition of the Actiview app in all four of the Hunger Games movies. "The beauty of it is that Noah can listen to it [on his earbuds], and friends don't have to listen to it, too."
     Laws are requiring change, but AD is still spotty and haphazard, says Suzanne. "The FCC is slowly, very slowly, putting laws in effect to make AD available for television," says Noah, but the law only requires a limited number of program hours be AD. "It's not all doom and gloom," he adds. "Audio description has grown in the last five years, but there's still a long way to go."
     To learn more about AD, visit Noah Carver's petition at <www.change.org/p/make‑movies‑accessible‑to‑the‑blind #a11y>.