Interview with Manoela Silva, audio describer and researcher

Abstract

Manoela Silva is a professor at the Federal University of Bahia in the Postgraduate Program in Language and Culture, working on “Language Acquisition, Translation and Accessibility”. She has experience as a researcher and/or professional in audio description and other modes of Accessible Audiovisual Translation (TAVa, acronym in Brazilian Portuguese), such as Subtitling for the deaf and hard-of-hearing (SDH) and Audiovisual Translation in Sign Language (TALS, acronym in Brazilian Portuguese). She coordinates a research group, TrAce (Translation and Accessibility), which works in research and professional practice in the different modes of AVT. In the interview, we discussed the performance of her research group, the issue of the importance of Audio description (AD), SDH and TALS for the education of People with Disabilities and, finally, the role of the consultant in audio description. TrAce seeks to discuss modalities that are are not covered by the research on TAVa yet, such as audio subtitling and AD in video games. The fact that TAVa modes are not restricted to the formal school environment, they continue to inform their primary target audience about the world around them and enable them to increase their cultural baggage. The role of the consultant in the construction process of AD projects is important, because through the practice of collaborative writing with screenwriters or the review of ready-made scripts, he/she can contribute a lot to the reduction of visocentrism, since it helps to better understand the target audience, their needs and preferences, and allows minimizing preconceived ideas, preventing ableist lapses.