The rationale behind this project is the need to provide greater and better access to audiovisual products for the blind and sight impaired community through the improvement of the process known as audio-description. Audio-description (AD) consists in the insertion of short verbal descriptions illustrating the essential visual elements of an audiovisual product (film material, but also such audiovisual descriptions as used in art galleries and museums) and, in the case of foreign language products, audio-subtitling (AST), designed to make subtitles and other written material on the screen accessible to a blind audience. The members of the consortium have all been working in this area for some years and are steeped in the, yet limited, literature and knowledge regarding this subject. The aim is to provide the means for the launching of courses in institutes of higher education throughout Europe based on a solid background of well researched criteria, leading to the sound professional training and development of describers to work in the industry and as a crucial reference point for professionals already involved in AD.The project is designed to produce sets of guidelines, based on extensive research and experimentation, that will be valid across Europe, providing the drive to create highly professional products for a whole range of potential uses: from digital television and DVDs to mobile telephones and e-books, from art gallery and museum visits to theatre performances. The results of the project will be brought to bear on curricula for the above-mentioned AD courses in higher education, and for the training of describers and describer-trainers.The impact expected from the project is that the issue of access for the sensorial disabled will be given greater recognition within the media industry, at both national and European level and among the blind community itself.