Access Board
United States Architectural and Transportation Barrier Compliance Board
1331 F Street, NW, Suite 1000
Washington, DC  20004-1111
Voice: 202.272.0080 or
800.872.2253
TTY: 202.272.0082 or
800.993.2822
Fax: 202.272.0081
E-mail: info@access-board.gov
Web: www.access-board.gov

The United States Architectural and Transportation Barrier Compliance Board is an independent federal agency that developed the ADA Accessibility Guidelines and established the minimum requirements on which the Uniform Federal Accessibility Standards are based.  Free publications on these requirements for making accessible design, construction, and alterations to buildings and vehicles can be downloaded from the Access Board Web site.  The Access Board provides technical assistance and information on the architectural requirements of the ADA and other access-related legislation, as well as on communication, and transportation accessibility.  View the "Publications" page of the Board’s Web site for a list of these free publications.

Audio Description Associates
Contact: Joel Snyder
6502 Westmoreland Avenue
Takoma Park, MD  20912
Voice: 301.920.0218  
Fax: 208.445.0079
E-mail: jsnyder@audiodescribe.com
Web: www.audiodescribe.com

Audio Description Associates provides audio description services for images of theater, media, and visual arts exhibitions for people who are blind or have low vision.  Audio Description Associates also offers audio description training workshops and seminars.

The Media Access Group at WGBH
Boston Office:
One Guest Street
Boston, MA  02134
Voice: 617.300.3600
Fax: 617.300.1020
E-mail: access.wgbh.org
Web: http://access.wgbh.org
 Los Angeles Office:
300 E. Magnolia Blvd., 2nd Floor
Burbank, CA  91502
Voice: 818.562.3344
TTY: 818.562.1919
Fax: 818.562.3388
E-mail: access@wgbh.org
Web: http://access.wgbh.org

The Media Access Group at Boston's public broadcaster, WGBH, includes three divisions: the Caption Center, Descriptive Video Services® (DVS), and the Carl and Ruth Shapiro Family National Center for Accessible Media (NCAM).

The Caption Center helped to pioneer television captioning, and continues to offer captioning.  It subtitling for many types of broadcast and digital media.

DVS provides descriptive narration of broadcast and cable programming, online vide, museum exhibits, and feature films in theaters.

NCAM -- a research, development, and advocacy organization -- is dedicated to the creation and adaptation of media and information technology for use by everyone.

The Metropolitan Washington Ear, Inc.
12061 Tech Road
Silver Spring, MD  20904
Voice: 301.681.6636
Fax: 301.625.1986
E-mail: information@washear.org 
Web: www.washear.org

Founded in 1974, the Metropolitan Washington Ear is a nonprofit organization that provides free reading and information services to people who have vision loss or other physical disabilities, or who cannot effectively read print, see plays, watch television programs and films, or view museum exhibits.  Beginning in 1980, the Ear worked with Arena Stage in Washington, D.C., to advance audio description, a technique that uses trained narrators to describe -- between lines of dialogue -- what is happening on the screen or stage.

Narrative Television Network
5840 South Memorial Drive
Suite 312
Tulsa, OK  74145
Voice: 918.627.1000
Fax: 918.627.4101
E-mail: info@narrativetv.com
Web: www.narrativetv.com/

Narrative Television Network (NTN), founded in 1988, strives to make movies and television accessible to people with vision loss by adding audio description (delivered via broadcast, cable, satellite, and the Internet) to an existing soundtrack.  NTN provides accessible programming for a number of broadcasting and cable networks, and also offers free online movies with audio descriptions.  For a listing of available movies with audio description, please click the following link: http://narrativetv.com/films.htm.

National Captioning Institute, Inc.
NCI Virginia Office:
Contact: Juan Mario Agudelo
1900 Gallows Road
Suite 3000
Vienna, VA  22182
Voice: 703.917.7619
Fax: 703.917.9853
E-mail: jagudelo@ncicap.org
Web: www.ncicap.org
 
NCI California Office:
Contact: Elissa Sarna
303 North Glenoaks Boulevard
Suite 200
Burbank, CA  91502
Voice: 818.238.4201
Fax: 818.238.4266
E-mail: esarna@ncicap.org
Web: www.ncicap.org
 
NCI Texas Office:
Contact: Christy Roney
N. Stemmons Freeway
Suite 200
Dallas, TX  75247
Voice: 214.647.4352
Fax: 214.647.4386
E-mail: CRoney@ncicap.org
Web: www.ncicap.org

The National Captioning Institute (NCI) is a nonprofit corporation that provides live and pre-recorded captioning (Spanish & English), subtitling, and audio description for broadcast and cable television programs, DVD home entertainment, and television commercials, as well as for programs by colleges, corporations, and government agencies.  Click on the following link: www.ncicap.org/request_quote.asp.

Taping for the Blind, Inc.
3935 Essex Lane
Houston, TX  77027
Voice: 713.622.2767
Fax: 713.622.2772
E-mail: info@Tapingfortheblind.org
Web: www.tapingfortheblind.org

Taping for the Blind, Inc., is a nonprofit organization that provides radio programming, custom recording, and audio description.  Services are provided free of charge to clients.  Radio programming is broadcast 24 hours per day and can be accessed online.  To view program listings or listen to programming, click the link: www.tapingfortheblind.org/program_index.htm.

Custom recording provides clients with CDs or MP3s of books not otherwise available on audio.  Description for the blind provides access to the arts through live description of local cultural events, provided by volunteers.