If Love Island wants to be truly inclusive of blind people, they need audio description

When I went for an annual review in 2006, aged 26, they registered me blind (Picture: Yvonne Phillips)

Sitting in front of the television, I concentrated hard on the voices and topics of conversation, trying to make out who was talking to who and what was going on.

Not easy with numerous excitable 20-somethings!

Baffled, I gave my guide dog Autumn a stroke. ‘The girls at work will have to catch me up tomorrow,’ I said to her.

Love Island may have included Ron, their first contestant with vision impairment, in their line-up of contestants this year, but, as the British dating game show doesn’t have audio description (AD), it still wasn’t accessible to blind people. Like me.

Something, as a fan of the show, I find frustrating beyond belief.

I was born with the congenital condition Retinitis Pigmentosa, although my mum didn’t notice anything was wrong until I was six months old and started picking things up that were to the side, rather than in front of me.

Although doctors diagnosed me, they had no idea whether my eyesight would deteriorate.

At first, I managed fine. I went to mainstream school, learnt to ride a bike and played out with friends in the street. The worst I had to do was sit close to the television – back in the 1980s, they weren’t the size they are now! – and the blackboard at school.

Gradually, I realised that the sight in my right eye was better than that in my left and when I went for an annual review in 2006, aged 26, they registered me blind.

It was pretty shocking – especially since I didn’t think there was much difference to the year before. But it meant I had to quit my job, and start looking into what benefits I was entitled to.

I’d bought a house aged 20 and was used to being independent, so having to rely on my parents to pay my mortgage while I applied for disability living allowance turned my world upside down.

At the end of 2013, I went on holiday to Gran Canaria with my friends. There, I developed eye floaters, or spots in my line of vision. I thought they were caused by the bright sunshine and would go when I got home.

But they didn’t. In fact, my vision just got worse – and so did my confidence.

I banged my knee on the door to the local shop that I didn’t realise was shut and rather than walking, I’d shuffle along the street, stopping every couple of metres. I’d pretend I was checking something in my bag but I was actually just plucking up the courage to carry on.

Maybe if there had been more people like him – and me – on the show, I’d have been less ashamed when my sight started to fail me (Picture: Laura Bradley)

Looking back now, I can’t explain it but at the time, I felt so ashamed of losing my sight. If someone approached me when I was out, I’d have whole conversations, trying to figure out who they were, too embarrassed to simply ask.  

Gradually, I stopped going out. And it was only when I got my guide dog Autumn from Guide Dogs charity in February 2016, that I rebuilt my life – and myself.

Now, I’ve always been a fan of television, whether that is watching the soaps, sticking on a film or tuning into a reality show.

I have to be honest, I didn’t realise the lack of diversity until various shows and series started including a wider array of people.

Love Island itself, which has been widely criticised, starred Tasha Ghouri, its first deaf contestant last year. And I was delighted when I heard that Ron Hall, who is blind in one eye, would be appearing in the show for the first series in 2023.

Maybe if there had been more people like him – and me – on the show, I’d have been less ashamed when my sight started to fail me. These shows are a great way to illustrate that everyone out there is different, that all of us are facing different challenges.

It’s a great way to teach and educate people about blindness.

Audio description should be as widely available as subtitles (Picture: Laura Bradley)

Yet, sadly, that’s as far as my praise can go. Because although Love Island is inching its way, slowly, slowly, towards inclusivity, it still isn’t accessible to people with vision impairment and blind people, because it doesn’t have audio description.   

And without that, it’s a real struggle for viewers like me to keep up, let alone engage with the show.

For those of you who aren’t au fait with audio description, it’s an additional commentary that explains what is happening on screen, describing body language and expressions and movement. It basically makes the action accessible through sound.

But Love Island doesn’t have that. So when the contestants are introduced at the start of the series, I have to concentrate on matching their names to their voices. Even when I’ve done that, I still miss out on so much. Like when they had the 90s party earlier this season, I’d have loved to have heard a description of some of their outfits (even though my colleagues told me the next day they were rubbish!).

Last month, ITV said it was not yet possible to provide audio description on a daily production like Love Island. A spokeswoman said, ‘We don’t receive a finished version of the programme until after transmission – and although we can provide subtitles live, we don’t yet have that technical capability for audio description.’

But there must be some way around it. 

In fact, audio description as a whole is so hit and miss. When done well, it can be amazing. When I was struggling for something new to watch a couple of years ago, I started Breaking Bad again. I’d seen it years ago, when my vision was still OK – but with AD it was like watching it for the first time! I hadn’t realised how much I’d missed out on.

It was the same with Dirty Dancing. Although I’d watched the 80s classic at least a dozen times, I hadn’t realised that when Vivien was leaving Robbie’s room, she was putting her – presumably torn – tights into her purse. Excuse the pun, but it really opened my eyes. 

I’ve tried some shows when I’ve been really impressed with the audio description in the first couple of series – but then, with no explanation, there was none in the later ones.

And although the soaps are generally good, there is still the odd mistake. I was watching Coronation Street the other night and the audio description mentioned that a character was going into the Woolpack – a pub in Emmerdale! It did make me chuckle.

Another time, I watched a Fast and Furious film and could barely hear the audio description over the revving of engines!

I pay full price for numerous streaming services but I don’t get a full service – just because I have sight loss. I have to trawl through for ages, trying to find a good series or film that has audio description and that I can therefore enjoy fully. 

Audio description should be as widely available as subtitles.  

So Love Island, although I applaud you for becoming more inclusive, being accessible is equally important. Otherwise, you’re just mugging us off!

For more info, visit guidedogs.org.uk 

As told to Sarah Whiteley

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It’s a real struggle for viewers like me to keep up, let alone engage with the show.