Sunday, October 03 2010
Ai-Media wanted to know a little bit more about Media Access Australia (MAA) and the people that make it tick, so we asked Alex Varley, CEO of MAA and Anne McGrath, MAA's Education Manager, a few questions.
What made you take up your positions with MAA?
Alex: My heart and interests were always with the not-for-profit component of the Australian Caption Centre, so when it was split into the commercial captioning company and the not-for-profit organisation I had to follow my heart. I could see that free from commercial conflicts of interest and by effectively self-funding through the sale process, we could achieve great things quite rapidly.
Anne: I had been working as a Teacher/Consultant (Hearing Impairment) with the
Royal Institute for Deaf and Blind Children, and was very actively involved in bringing awareness of the need for captioning through my work. The opportunity to work at
MAA meant that I could focus on working towards purpose designed access solutions for students who are deaf and those with hearing impairment; as my experience showed me that the need was great.
What sector of the deaf and hearing impaired community are you currently focusing on?
Anne: In Education, we are focusing on ways to further spread the reach of the use of captions, to provide accessible solutions for students to vital curriculum support materials that are delivered via electronic media. Students who are Deaf or have hearing impairment need and benefit greatly from captioned media and inclusive teaching practices; from preschool through to university level, to ensure an equitable education.
What is the largest hurdle MAA faces in trying to achieve equality for the D&HI community?
Alex: Which challenge to deal with first, is one that comes to mind. Then there is the piecemeal approach that most people take. A good example is the creation of captions for a cinema release. It so easy for the captions to then migrate to the DVD, download, TV and the director’s cut, but we constantly come up against captions not appearing and the cause is usually human apathy.
Alex, you have been quite heavily involved in the recent captioning initiatives with Australian cinemas (Accessible Cinema), what do you feel the most immediate impact will be for the community and the service providers?
Alex: Accessible Cinema will take 4 years to roll out, so for most people they will still have to wait a while to actually go and see captioned movies. The biggest impact from this initiative, however, is that it has shown that technology can deliver solutions and that some political will, an ability to compromise for the greater good and some sensible discussion, will lead to access outcomes.
Anne, Classroom Access is an initiative that you have supported through your role as the Education Manager at MAA, what does this innovation deliver that improves the learning experience of D&HI children within the classroom?
Anne: Classroom Access Project (CAP) is a
MAA initiative that seeks to demonstrate best practice in accessibility to electronic media for students who are Deaf or have hearing impairment in the mainstream educational setting.
CAP uses simple, affordable, readily available technologies, to deliver captioned educational resources.
Captions are a key part of the
CAP. They give context to the learning experience, and context creates meaning and facilitates comprehension.
CAP assists teachers through in-service training that informs and supports their teaching practice towards a more inclusive model, which has a direct benefit to all students.
What drives you to be involved in this line of work?
Alex: Access is a pretty simple thing to deliver really, if you want to do it. The outcomes affect millions of people, so the rewards of getting it right are huge and benefit everybody in society.
Anne: It is very heartening to be able to work towards solutions in access, knowing that many students will benefit.
Who is the most inspiring person you have met during your time at MAA and why?
Alex: There have been a few along the way including: Graeme Innes, Bill Shorten, John Byrne (who started the whole cinema campaign 10 years ago) and Alex Jones, to name a few. The most inspiring though was the late Ron Miller. Ron was a hearing impaired man who had spent his life helping people. When he retired he spent a lot of his time going to community centres, retail shops, and events in his local Sunshine Coast area where he gave talks about captioning. Ron was so humble and unassuming, yet passionate and dedicated to giving people information and improving the amount of captioning.
I had the privilege of working with him at a number of events over the years and he was always courteous, grateful and passionate about anything he did. He showed me that you can build access step-by-step and by never giving up.
Anne and Alex, the 2010 Captioning Awards where held recently; what innovation / solution do you think will have the biggest impact on the D&HI community?
Alex: There were lots of good innovations, but the
ABC iView captions was the stand out in terms of impact. First it delivers thousands of hours of online programs with captions. Second it’s free and third it is one of the only ones in the world. This shows that it can be done and will be the catalyst for online captioning in Australia and worldwide.
Anne: The
Ai-Live™ Project Digby heralds the potential to positively assist the lives of so many students who are deaf or have a hearing impairment. The provision of accessible education is an investment in the future for so many young people.
What is next on the agenda for MAA?
Alex: There is always far too much to do! Our next big challenge is taking the real interest in
Audio Description and making sure that it appears soon on Australian TV. The cinema program also needs to be bedded down so that it works properly for consumers.
The longer-term challenge though, is making sure that with the rollout of the
National Broadband Network that some people are not left behind – access to a good Internet service is a key to education, health and employment, and doubly so if you have a disability.
Cap That! is a MAA event being held in mid 2011, could you tell us little bit more about it?
Alex: Cap That! is a fun way to raise the profile of captioned access in schools. Any school that has a deaf or hearing impaired student is asked to watch some captioned media during the week of the event (mid 2011). There will also be competitions, teachers’ support and a lot of interactivity. It’s about getting captions into schools.
