Dear LPG,

I want to say a little about something that was particularly put together to help blind people to understand what is going on around them, but which I use a lot.

Although it can be said that I, like many of my friends, am definitely getting on in age,   I am one of the lucky ones because I, so far, have no problems with my sight or hearing.  In spite of this and inspired from some advice I have learnt on your pages, I have been to have both tested recently and passed each with flying colours.  

I am a typical older lady of my time and, when I am at home alone, I keep the television on most of the day.  It keeps me company even though I am not watching it most of the time.   That has been said before and will be again but in spite of this I find myself using a facility that comes with my telly and which often provokes the same question when friends come to visit.

The question is to do with the fact that I spend a lot of the time with the AD (Audio Description) feature turned on when I am actually paying attention to the programme on the TV.  The programmes that attract my attention are usually fiction based.  I like drama and the soap operas best I suppose but I have to admit to often not understanding what all those looks that the actors offer us are really trying to convey.  So it is really good to get confirmation as to whether the lady who was told to ‘shut up’ is trying to show the viewer a look of anger, disappointment or embarrassment when her mouth drops open. They all look so similar to me and getting the look wrong means that I am the last to understand what is going on unless the kind lady or gentleman who is whispering the AD stuff is giving me a bit of a hint.

I have to say that I wish real life came with an AD button because it is often really easy to get the reactive looks and expressions so mixed up that you get into a tizzy all because you did not understand the reaction of someone when you said something a bit controversial.  So, if you are like me, you find yourself reading the wrong emotion and then giving what is thought to be a really rude response which leaves you feeling quite silly really.

I think that I am really trying to say two things here…

The first is that Audio Description is a really useful tool for some people in spite of the fact that they can see and hear relatively perfectly, and secondly, in my humble opinion, and in spite of my years of so called experience, I think I am no wiser when it comes to working out how others are reacting to the things I say to them.

Perhaps I am one of those people who worry about other people’s reactions to what I have to say but I will never find out what LPG readers really think this time, which is a relief!

CL, Lewisham

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