Bionotes
Roz Chalmers
Roz is a freelance audio describer, primarily affiliated with the National and Old Vic Theatres in London, as well as the charity VocalEyes. She works under the name eyewitness.
Lesley De Ceulaer
Lesley graduated as a social worker from Hogeschool Antwerpen and subsequently studied criminology at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel. She is the regional chair of VeBeS Antwerp (Vereniging voor Blinden en Slechtzienden), a national Flemish blind association with members across Flanders and in Brussels. She quite suddenly became blind at the age of 9 as the result of an as yet unnamed and unknown eye disease. She loves travelling, listening to talking books and going to the cinema, especially to enjoy films with AD.
Geertje De Ceuleneer
Geertje is an audio describer for television (the Flemish public broadcaster VRT), responsible for both scripting and voicing AD. She has many contacts with the blind community and started her career as an audio describer doing informal AD in the theatre. As an experienced radio voice with a master in translation, she prefers narrative ADs. For a new audio device for small children JOOKI she has recently adapted a children’s book into an audio story together with her experienced VRT colleague Ludo Schats, integrating text and images. Audio description for children’s literature is new in Belgium.
Elena Di Giovanni
Elena is Associate Professor of English Translation at the University of Macerata, Italy. Over the past years, she has been invited to lecture on audiovisual translation and media accessibility at several universities and institutions throughout Italy and around the world. For several years she was Visiting Lecturer at Roehampton University, London, and at Montclair State University, New Jersey. Since 2013, she lectures on cinema accessibility at the Venice International Film Festival, within the European Parliament-funded LUX Prize for cinema. For 12 she has been coordinator of accessibility for Macerata Opera Festival, whose programme saw over 300 participants in 2017. Since autumn, 2017, she manages accessibility for Teatro Grande in Brescia and Maggio Musicale Fiorentino in Florence. She is also partner of Sennheiser, Germany, for testing and improving their MobileConnect system for the delivery of access services.
Hilde Peeters
Hilde obtained an MA in Germanic languages from the Catholic University of Brussels (KUB) and subsequently took MA courses in Cultural Studies at the Catholic University of Leuven (KUL). She has been a staff member at Kaaitheater for 4 years , working in the department responsible for public outreach, with a special focus on the inclusion of population groups that can sometimes be difficult to reach. To this end she collaborates with various local community centres. In the past two years she has been looking for ways to make the aesthetic experience of dance accessible to all.
Hanne Roofthooft
Hanne started a one year pilot study in August 2015 on audio description for post-dramatic theatre financed by the University of Antwerp. A follow-up study started in 2017 and focusses on audio description and audio introduction for contemporary theatre. She is currently preparing a PhD at the Departements of Theatre, Film and Literature Studies and of Applied Linguistics/Translators and Interpreters at the University of Antwerp. Hanne received her Master degree in Film and Theatre Studies from the University of Antwerp in 2014.
Eric Van Damme
Eric is 60 years old and has been blind since the age of 26. In 1978 he obtained a graduate degree in applied communication sciences and PR. He worked in insurances for some time, then did a stint as a “waiter in the dark” and as independent massage therapist. Since June 2012 he has been the national chair of VeBeS (Vlaamse Vereniging voor Blinden en Slechtzienden), an association for a the blind that counts 3500 members in Flanders and Brussels. He likes to stress the importance of the development of AD in terms of quantity and quality.
Maya Van Puymbrouck
Toneelhuis considers it important for everybody to be able to participate in what we offer as a theatre. That’s why we make an effort to ensure that productions are accessible for people with a disability. Toneelhuis offers audio descriptions (AD) during Sunday afternoon matinees for blind and visually impaired people. Maya coordinates this project. She started working with Toneelhuis in 2009. Besides digital communication (newsletters, social media), she focuses on accompanying vulnerable groups to be included in Toneelhuis' audience. Audio description at the Bourla theatre, the Toneelhuis venue, is a successful project due to enthusiastic contributions of the artists and other employees.