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Translation and Communication for Accessibility

Module description

Every person with a disability has a right to communication formats that allow them to participate fully in social and cultural life, whether that means an audio description of the action in the latest Netflix series or a simplified explanation of an upcoming medical procedure. Giving access to information and opportunities is a first step; making sure disabled people are agents and co-producers is the next. Translators, communications professionals, and creatives have pioneered accessible formats. This module will introduce you to a range of professional fields and practices. You will learn how to build accessibility into your future work projects. This module is suitable for students of both Translation Studies and Intercultural Communication.

Module aims - intentions of the module

The module will introduce you to the professional field of accessible communication, that is, communication for people with disabilities or other communication challenges. The module will give you a grounding in the theoretical debates and practical discussions that underpin accessible communication. You will learn how regulatory frameworks (at UN, EU, and national level) have driven progress in accessible communication, while theorists, professionals, technologists, and creative practitioners have all shaped the practices in use today. You will learn specifically about audio description, accessible film-making, and Easy Read text. You will learn to evaluate a range of accessible products while showing an understanding that there may be competing priorities and less-than-perfect solutions. We will work with the social model of disability (the idea that people are disabled by the barriers society sets up rather than by their impairments) and with cultural models of disability (which consider the cultural construction of ideas of health, normality, and function, and also attend to questions of cultural representation). This will help you to account for how each country offers different solutions for their disabled citizens.

Building on the lecturers’ research expertise in accessibility in the museum, the module uses the museum as a key example and laboratory. Multimodal communication – through texts, objects, and audiovisual and digital artefacts – is already key in the museum, so that communicating in accessible formats and practices is both a challenge and a creative opportunity. You will study a range of examples from the museum, ranging from the more routine to the more creative. You will have the opportunity to apply your knowledge to the University’s own museum, the Bill Douglas Cinema Museum.

On completing the module successfully, you will be able to offer future employees a sound basic expertise in this important aspect of equal and diverse social practice.

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

ILO: Module-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 1. Understand and critically evaluate the legal and social frameworks for accessibility in the UK and in other countries with which you are familiar.
• 2. Based on a critical evaluation of relevant research literature, explore and analyse in depth how translators and communications specialists produce adapted content for people with a range of disabilities; develop detailed knowledge of specific examples; debate and evaluate developing trends.

ILO: Discipline-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 3. Critically apply key ideas in Translation Studies, Accessibility Studies, and related fields to case studies.
• 4. Develop critical models for explaining the museum as a space of cultural communication; evaluate communication strategies in terms of their accessibility.

ILO: Personal and key skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 5. Apply advanced critical knowledge to real-world organizations, taking due account of the needs of the institution and its visitors/users; be in a position to advise future employees or clients on accessibility issues.
• 6. Work in a team to solve complex problems and to propose resources, activities, or content appropriate to specific user needs.

Syllabus plan

The syllabus will normally move forward in the following order:

1. How Translation Studies and Media Accessibility Studies have contributed to the understanding and development of communication tools for accessibility.
2. Adapting audio-visual products for disabled and other users: Audio Description (AD), subtitling for the deaf and hard of hearing (SDH), respeaking.
3. Adapting written texts for disabled and other users: Easy Read, Plain English, and German ‘Leichte Sprache’
4. Creativity in Accessibility: Accessible Film-Making (AFM), Co-Production, tailored solutions in the museum

Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)

Details of learning activities and teaching methods

Formative assessment

Summative assessment (% of credit)

Details of summative assessment

Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)

Re-assessment notes

Deferral – if you miss an assessment for certificated reasons judged acceptable by the Mitigation Committee, you will normally be either deferred in the assessment or an extension may be granted. The mark given for a re-assessment taken as a result of deferral will not be capped and will be treated as it would be if it were your first attempt at the assessment.

Referral – if you have failed the module overall (i.e. a final overall module mark of less than 50%) you will be required to submit a further assessment as necessary. The mark given for a re-assessment taken as a result of referral will be capped at 50%.

Indicative learning resources - Basic reading

• Fryer, Louise. 2016. An Introduction to Audio Description: A Practical Guide (Routledge)
• Lindholm, Camilla, and Ulla Vanhatalo (eds). 2021. Handbook of Easy Languages in Europe (Frank und Timme)
• Romero-Fresco, Pablo. 2018. ‘In Support of a Wide Notion of Media Accessibility: Access to Content and Access to Creation’, Journal of Audiovisual Translation, 1.1, pp. 187-204
• Waldschmidt, Anne. 2017. ‘Disability Goes Cultural: The Cultural Model of Disability as an Analytical Tool’, in Culture -- Theory -- Disability: Encounters between Disability Studies and Cultural Studies, ed. by Anne Waldschmidt and Moritz Ingwersen (Transcript), pp. 19-27
• (Bibliography follows MHRA Style Guide, 4th edn, 2024)

Indicative learning resources - Web based and electronic resources

• United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities https://social.desa.un.org/issues/disability/crpd/convention-on-the-rights-of-persons-with-disabilities-crpd
• Inclusion Europe easy read guidance: https://www.inclusion-europe.eu/easy-to-read-standards-guidelines/
• Bill Douglas Cinema Museum: https://www.bdcmuseum.org.uk/ 

Key words search

Translation, Communication, Accessibility, Disability, Museums, Curation