Registration is now open for the Audio Description Institute (ADI), taking place virtually September 14-18, 1–5 pm (ET). The course provides training in the craft of writing audio description and is open to sighted and blind participants. The fee is $575, which includes materials; two scholarships are available (details below). To ensure a high-quality learning experience, space is limited, so secure your place today.
Why Learn about Audio Description?
Audio description (AD) provides access to artistic and educational visual images through succinct and vivid descriptions of elements that are crucial to understanding the creator’s intention. Learning the best practices of AD expands audience impact and demonstrates a commitment to accessibility and inclusion.
Who Should Attend the Audio Description Institute?
Anyone interested in:
working as a freelance description writer for film, series, advertising, gaming, etc.
working as a describer in a performing arts program
working as a describer for visual art images and exhibitions
refreshing existing AD skills
adding value to their own or employer’s equity, inclusion, and accessibility initiatives.
What Will I Learn?
audio description history and theory
the Four Fundamentals of Audio Description
active seeing/visual literacy; how to develop skills in concentration and observation
the art of editing what you see
vivid language: The Visual Made Verbal™
“Speak the speech, I pray you” – using the spoken word to make meaning
How Will I Learn?
Sessions will be held virtually from 1pm to 5pm ET, Monday, September 14, through Friday, September 18. Materials will be delivered through a mixture of lectures, discussions, and collaborative writing sessions. Each registrant will receive a PDF of Dr. Joel Snyder's book, The Visual Made Verbal: A Comprehensive Training Manual and Guide to the History and Applications of Audio Description. Participants also receive a certificate of completion.
Who Are the Instructors?
Led by Dr. Joel Snyder, the faculty includes blind and sighted audio description professionals (complete bios can be found below the registration information):
Joel Snyder, PhD, founder of the ADP, creator of the ADI, and audio description writer and voice talent
Joyce Adams, audio description writer and narrator
Susan Glass, freelance writer and poet and retired English professor
Elisa Jansen, audio description writer
Tristan Snyder, chief engineer and voice talent at Imagination Storybooks
Registration and Scholarships
Registration will close on Tuesday, September 8, 2026, and the Zoom links to attend the institute will be emailed later that week. Space is limited, so register using the link below.
Two full scholarships are available; priority will be given to people with disabilities. To be considered for a scholarship, please send an email outlining how and why you are a strong candidate, including your reason for requesting financial assistance and your plans for implementing what you learn in the ADI. Send the email to audiodescription@acb.org by August 23, 2026. Applicants will be notified of the status of their request for assistance by September 1, 2026.
Questions?
Contact Dr. Joel Snyder: jsnyder@audiodescribe.com
More about the ADI Faculty
Joel Snyder, PhD, is one of the first audio describers; he began describing theater events and media in 1981. He is the president of Audio Description Associates, LLC with clients world-wide (access www.audiodescribe.com for more information) and the Founding Director Emeritus of ACB's Audio Description Project (https://adp.acb.org), an initiative he founded in 2009. For six years, he led a staff that produced description for feature films and nationally broadcast series, including "Sesame Street" broadcasts and DVDs. Dr. Snyder has worked with description and trained describers in more than forty states and in more than sixty countries.
Joyce Adams has been producing and writing AD scripts for media and museum tours since 2002. She supervised AD script writers for the Described Media program at the National Captioning Institute, is the author of audio described tours for National Park Service visitor centers throughout the U.S. and regularly pens description for promotional videos produced by Microsoft. Most recently, Ms. Adams wrote the audio description scripts for several episodes of FROM, named by some viewers as "the creepiest show on TV." Ms. Adams along with Joel Snyder and other experts, serves on the ACVREP committee developing a certification program for audio describers.
Susan Glass is a freelance writer and poet whose chapbook, The Wild Language of Deer, was published by Slate Roof Press in January 2022. A retired English professor from San Jose State University and West Valley Community College, Ms. Glass taught English composition, American multicultural literature, creative writing, and interdisciplinary courses with a disability studies emphasis. An active member of the American Council of the Blind since 2013, she advocates passionately for audio description, especially in live venues such as theaters, museums, and parks. She loves hiking with her guide dog Omni and riding her horse, Travis.
Elisa Jansen is a graduate of the ADP Audio Description Institute. She has written audio description for networks and Internet platforms, such as NBC, CBS, Amazon, Hulu, and Netflix, as well as for the classic film Citizen Kane. Her work on promotional content includes descriptions for Walmart, Kimberly-Clark, and thousands of Microsoft videos. Ms. Jansen has provided audio description for museum tours and exhibits, including the Smithsonian, the Nevada State Museum in Las Vegas, and the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Museum.
Tristan Snyder has been in the video description industry for more than thirteen years, including his work as the chief engineer and voice talent for Imagination Storybooks. He has produced hundreds of hours of description for network television, and film. He is an award-winning producer of audio drama, including Ray Bradbury's "Something Wicked This Way Comes" and "The Halloween Tree." As a voiceover artist, Mr. Snyder has voiced many hours of description and performed as a character voice actor for audio dramas and animation.