Excellence in Audio Description: Preparing Blind Quality Controllers
Hosted by Amy Amantea
Please note: This event topic has changed. “Describe Away” with guest JJ Hunt has been postponed and will return next season.
What does it take to become an exceptional blind quality controller for audio description? How do we train people to provide thoughtful, consistent, and constructive feedback that helps describers grow while ensuring blind audiences receive the highest quality experience?
Join Amy Amantea and Nefertiti Matos Olivares for an engaging one-hour Describers Café conversation exploring the emerging practice of blind quality control. Together, they’ll discuss why blind reviewers are essential to the audio description process, the skills and mentorship required for this role, and how organizations can build meaningful training pathways that strengthen both describers and the audiences they serve.
Whether you’re a blind community member interested in becoming a quality controller, an audio describer, or an arts professional committed to excellence in accessibility, this conversation offers a chance to share ideas, ask questions, and help shape the future of high-quality audio description.
Describer Cafe livestreams are free to attend. Register here to receive links and reminders to all upcoming cafes.
Describer Cafe recordings are available for viewing with a Pro D Account or on a Pay Per View basis.
Guest Bio
Nefertiti Matos Olivares is an award-winning blind, bilingual Audio Description narrator, accessibility strategist, and quality leader. As Workflow Manager for Quality and Inclusion at Descriptive Video Works and a core member of the Social Audio Description Collective, she designs and leads blind-centered quality control workflows, develops equitable production practices, and expands professional pathways for blind and low vision describers. Drawing on her experience as a narrator, QC specialist, project lead, and cultural access consultant, Nefertiti is passionate about fostering collaborative, disability-led approaches to Audio Description that elevate quality, strengthen creative partnerships, and ensure blind perspectives are meaningfully integrated throughout the production process.
