Descriptive TV commentary to be offered for the blind

Officials at Accessible Media Inc. (AMI), a not-for-profit multimedia organization, will try to find the right words when it offers millions of Canadians who are blind or have limited vision a real-time description of Friday's royal wedding. (REUTERS FILE PHOTO)
How do you describe a royal kiss?
Officials at Accessible Media Inc. (AMI), a not-for-profit multimedia organization, will try to find the right words when it offers millions of Canadians who are blind or have limited vision a real-time description of Friday's royal wedding.
AMI has hired experts to create described video of the event -- a first in live described broadcasting.
The organization staged auditions where presenters were asked to describe random footage from the wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer.
The commentators who passed royal muster, Ruth Barrett and Sarah Mennell, will now try to describe the smallest details of the wedding between Charles and Diana's first son, Prince William, and his bride, Kate Middleton.
While the CBC will offer closed captioning, AMI will be feeding in descriptive commentary on The Accessible Channel.
Producer Simone Cupid says: "It differs from colour commentary in the way that we will be filling in the gaps taken for granted by the colour commentator, who's assumption is that we're seeing the visuals alongside them."
They'll need to describe a look or glance.
And even a kiss.
Says Cupid of the expectations for that bit of balcony drama: "We'll have to wait and see. But rest assured it will be magical."

