Forty years on. Advances of audio description in Russia

The presentation will give a brief overview of the history of Audio Description (AD) in Russia. It will then look in more detail at the developments and changes we see in modern times, such as the growing trend for inclusivity in society and an increasing variety of media solutions available to consumers, which is reflected in the recent changes in state legislation and regulations governing the film, television and interactive media industries. It will cover different approaches that co-exist in the industry as well as current processes that aim to establish overall standards for access services providers. Specifically the paper will look at currently available access services, resources, technological solutions and training opportunities. It willtake recent case studies of voluntary projects, regional initiatives and some commercial services that engage target audiences, and analyse their impact. Finally, the paper will conclude with authors’ views and aspirations for future developments in the area of access services.Key information from this paper is chronologically presented in the poster, which is based on authors’ personal experiences of working in the AVT industry and having overseen the rapid change in diversity of the audiences for film, television and interactive media. Such increasing demand for access services combined with the more recent changes in legislation, making accessibility service provision mandatory, resulted in an apparent shortage of trained professionals and training services in this field.