Letters to the Editor: Cinemas should have audio description for visually-impaired people

A reader says his query about audio description was dismissed by a Cork cinema staff member as 'a very bougie request'

Audio description is provided by many cinemas for visually-impaired cinemagoers. David Redmond was surprised by the response of one cinema to his query whether they provided it. Picture: iStock

A few weeks ago, I phoned a cinema in Cork. When I asked the young gentlemen on the other end of the line if the cinema had audio description for visually-impaired viewers, the poor man was so audibly confused that I didn’t need any description to imagine his facial expression.

I explained that audio description is an extra track of narration to assist blind or low-vision people like me, and that it’s usually delivered through a headset so as not to bother other cinema attendees.