One-fifth of Kiwis need disability access to television

Seven percent of New Zealanders watch TV with audio description, says Newsroom. It’s a proportion set only to increase with the country’s ageing population. Since an increase in funding in 2020, non-profit Able’s output of audio descriptions has increased by 148%, covering almost a third of everything on TVNZ’s channels. “What’s holding us back is broadcasting capability,” CE Dan Buckingham says. “While a platform like Netflix has deep enough pockets to provide a hefty percentage of its content with audio description, that’s not always the case for TVNZ On Demand.”