Kim Jae-won, an announcer, Seomihwa, a National Assembly member, and Heo Woo-ryeong, an announcer (from left) participated in a panel talk. / Photo = Netflix
Netflix held a mentoring talk concert titled “My Voice Can Be a Guide” for visually impaired students at the Jongno Campus of the National Seoul School for the Blind on the 17th.
About 100 middle and high school students and teachers from the National Seoul School for the Blind attended the event where they introduced the profession of audio description narrators. Since last year, Netflix has been running an audio description education program for the visually impaired.
Participating as mentors at the event were Seomihwa, a Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker who is visually impaired, and Heo Woo-ryeong, a former anchor who is also visually impaired and actively working as an audio description narrator. Heo noted, “Audio description serves as another set of eyes for the visually impaired.” He further shared that, “I had little interest in travel content after becoming visually impaired, but Netflix’s ‘Is This Love Translatable?’ and ‘Lee Seo-jin’s What A Ride’ audio descriptions made me want to travel for the first time.”
Heo Woo-ryeong and announcer Kim Jae-won also demonstrated the process of recording audio descriptions. This was followed by a Q&A session covering detailed preparation processes, voice training methods, and experiences that could be beneficial when seeking employment as an audio description narrator.
During the Q&A session, questions about preparatory steps to become an audio description narrator, voice training techniques, and experiences that could broaden career options outside of school were addressed. The students expressed keen interest and anticipation in the potential of expanding their ‘voice’ strength into a professional career.
Netflix stated, “With the belief that ‘every member deserves the best entertainment experience,’ we continue to invest in technology to enhance content accessibility.”