On March 31st, the Federal Communications Commission released proposed changes to video description rules “…to expand the availability of -- and consumer access to -- video described programming.”

On April 4th, Facebook launched their new object recognition technology that provides a description of pictures posted on their platform. They call this technology  “automatic alternative text.”

As a part of the incremental enforcement of captioning of internet video programming, a new deadline arrives on March 30, 2016.  Distributors of video programming that they have uploaded to the Internet and is later shown on TV with captions, will have 15 days, after the date the programming is first shown on TV with captions, to add captions to it.

By María Victoria Diaz

I had the luck of seeing up close the strength of love and family.  It is the kind of love that you don’t see much and makes us ask ourselves if it is an invention of poets or of Disney’s magic.

Last month, the Colombian Ministry of Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) announced the completion of the Dicapta Foundation project, “Colombia Comprende.”  This project and three others were funded by the Colombian Ministry of ICT jointly with the Ministry of Culture, through the program, “Crea Digital 2014.”  See the press release at the Ministry of ICT.

It’s always good to find a variety of movies and TV programs available when you’re flying.  However, for deaf and hard of hearing people it must be very frustrating not to be able to access closed captioning, especially when they know that some of the movies and TV programs on the flight have already been captioned.

Last November, the Federal Communications Commission – FCC - announced that beginning on November 30, 2015, “video programming distributors (VPDs) must ensure that their televised emergency information is conveyed aurally through the use of a secondary audio stream, when such information is conveyed visually during programming other than newscasts.”

We continued working on new ideas and projects to bring accessible communications to people with hearing and vision disabilities.  We had the privilege to work with long-established partners and enlarge our network with other organizations that share our passion for accessibility. The year ended with the great news of new resources to continue working on our project “Captions and Video Description: Educational Tools for Hispanic Children with Disabilities.”   This was a fruitful year!