Bridge Multimedia Celebrates Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD)

Bridge Multimedia provided audio description for video highlighting the first-ever Disability Loop Group launched by the Easterseals Disability Film Challenge

Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD) celebrates the importance of increasing
accessibility and furthering disability inclusion. This includes the media. An important
aspect is the film industry’s recognition of the disability experience and its expression by
artists with disabilities, both in front of the camera and behind the scenes.

Recently, Bridge Multimedia was tapped to provide audio description for a short video about the Easterseals Disability Film Challenge’s (EDFC) Disability Loop Group – the first-ever Disability Loop Group. A loop group is a small team of voiceover actors who record audio for edited video, during post-production. Their background voices are heard in the soundtracks of films, TV shows, commercials, video games, etc. This unique loop group consists of voiceover artists and actors (with both apparent and non-apparent disabilities).

The group was launched with a EDFC workshop held on the Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE) studio lot that included coaching, feedback and advice from animation executives.

The audio description was directed by Ed Lewis, and voiced by veteran actor Tobias Forrest.

Bridge’s Chief Innovation Officer, John Cavanagh said, “Although the entertainment industry is moving in the right direction, there’s still a lot of work to be done. According to a 2023 UCLA report, less than 1% of actors, employed on broadcast and streaming shows, have a physical disability. That’s why awareness-building projects like EDFC’s Disability Loop Group are so important. Not just on GAAD, but every day.”

Occurring on the third Thursday of every May, GAAD was created in 2011 to recognize the importance of making content available to individuals with disabilities. In the spirit of “nothing about us without us,” that includes employing individuals with disabilities to create that content – both on screen and off.

Watch the video below.