PODCAST · tv
The ADNA Presents
by The ADNA
The Audio Description Network Alliance presents this interview series with professionals and other experts.
Episodes
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269 - Bryan Duarte part 2: Who Gets to Read a Face in Public
Part 2 with Bryan Duarte, co-founder and CTO of HapWare. In the ALEYE app, a wearer builds presets for work, home or date night and picks which cues come through. The options include a smile, a furrowed brow (cmon AD writers, you know that one), a handshake, a fist bump and, yes, the middle…
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268 - Bryan Duarte - Hapware - part 1
Bryan Duarte lost his sight at 18 in a motorcycle accident. He went on to earn a PhD in computer science studying one question: can touch carry what sight usually carries? Today he's co-founder and CTO of HapWare, building ALEYE. It's a wristband paired with a camera that reads facial…
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Timothy Prewitt: Don't Look at the Top of the Mountain
Timothy Prewitt spent 30 years across 16 countries, solving seemingly unsolvable problems like hunger, water, and agriculture. To name a few: Kosovo after the war. Afghanistan. Nigeria. He ran The Hunger Project and iDE, reaching close to 13 million people a year. He also keeps a 35-year silent...
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You Can't Be Fast and Good
Pre-recorded for our live Comic-Con panel, The Track You Never Heard, with Colleen Connor and Anna Capezzera. Colleen is blind and runs Audio Description Training Retreats. She built it with a specific rule: the blind professional teaches, as an equal, instead of getting called in afterward to…
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The $40,000 Bet: Soud Habbas on Trust, Small Bets, and Walking Away
Soud Habbas spent his career building systems for nonprofits working in some of the hardest environments in the world: Jordan, Egypt, Rwanda, and the West Bank. As chief operating officer, he made sure programs actually worked, stayed honest with funders, and didn't put people at risk. In this...
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Maria Miller: Listening, Liberia, and the Girl Who Said "I'm Networking"
Roy Samuelson sits down with Maria Miller, former Senior Private Sector Specialist with the International Finance Corporation. Maria spent 14 years traveling to more than 20 countries, including post-conflict zones, helping governments rebuild the economic rules that determine who can start a...
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264: Connor Scott-Gardner, part 2: Consent, Craft, and What Audio Description Owes Its Audience
Connor Scott-Gardner is a blind accessibility advocate, disability rights writer, and someone who has spent years thinking carefully about what it means to be helped, witnessed, and included. In this second half of our conversation, Connor names something the accessibility world doesn't say often...
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263: Awareness Isn't Enough: Connor Scott-Gardner on What Actually Changes Things, Part 1 of 2
Connor Scott-Gardner has presented at the European Parliament, Westminster, and SXSW. He also goes home, gets tired, and sometimes thinks he hasn't done anything. This podcast will prove that he has done much. In this first conversation, he talks about what genuine support for blind young people...
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Dr. Cynthia Bennett Part 2: What We Lose When We Stop Describing Things to Each Other
Something went wrong during a live show. An aerial performer fell. The Audio Description professional described it as it happened. Then told the audience the performer was okay. No script covered that moment. No algorithm was ready for it. A human was paying attention, and that made all the...
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261 - Quality at Scale: Josh Miller on What Accessibility Actually Costs
Josh Miller came to accessibility through telecom, media consulting, and a business school project at MIT. That project ran headfirst into a quote so high it would have eaten up half the program's annual budget. That collision between intention and financial reality is where 3Play Media was born....
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260 - Dr. Cynthia Bennett: Who Gets Left Out When We Build for Access
Dr. Cynthia Bennett is a blind researcher at Google who studies the AI systems that are supposed to serve blind people. She found out blind people were making Audio Description, and she, a blind person, had no idea. That gap changed how she works. In this conversation, we get into what authentic...
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Episode 259. The Darkroom Returns: On Credits, Craft, and What Belonging Sounds Like
Alex Howard and Lee Pugsley are back on The ADNA Presents, and a lot has changed since their first visit. The Darkroom podcast hosts and co-founders of the Blind Film Critic Society join Roy Samuelson for a conversation about what it means when blind critics evaluate Audio Description -- not just...
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The ADNA Presents: Darian Rodriguez Heyman: You Don't Have To Sacrifice To Do The Right Thing
Darian Rodriguez Heyman has spent thirty years helping mission-led organizations stop reinventing the wheel. He's the author of AI for Nonprofits, founder of Helping People Help, and someone who has thought seriously about why good intentions so often produce predictable, avoidable mistakes. What...
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Blind Film Critics Give the Oscars Their Own Awards
Lee Pugsley and Alex Howard of The Dark Room watched this year's Oscar ceremony with audio description on, and they brought friends. John Stark, and the newest Blind Film Critic Society member Ren Leach, join them to hand out their own awards, debate the night's surprises and snubs, and reflect…
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256: Joanne Levine - At Heart, A Storyteller
Joanne Levine has spent her career making sure people who aren't physically there, could still experience what happened there. As founding head of programming for Al Jazeera English in the Americas, a producer for Nightline and ABC World News Tonight, and a Senior Advisor for Media at the State...
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Scott McCarthy - VP Localization Dreamworks: We breathe in one language and exhale another.
What does it take to make a joke land in a language it was never written for? How do you know when the emotional contract with an audience has held, and when has it broken? Scott McCarthy has been sitting with those questions for more than twenty years. As VP of Localization at DreamWorks…
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J. Michael Collins
J. Michael Collins has 30 years in voiceover, 50+ industry awards, and runs the largest voiceover conference in the world. He also still has things worth saying. In this conversation, J. Michael and Roy talk about why the voiceover industry is unusually decent, what abundance actually means in a...
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Maren Garcia
Voice actor Maren Garcia joins host Roy Samuelson to talk about how she first discovered Audio Description, and why it immediately felt personal. Maren shares the moment she was hired for a full feature film, after being found through the Disabled Voice Actors Directory, a resource built to…
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251 - David Grabias "Brailled It"
Join Roy Samuelson as he chats with Emmy-winning filmmaker David Grabias about his groundbreaking documentary "Brailled It." Grabias shares his innovative approach to incorporating audio description and working with blind filmmakers, challenging traditional views on cinema. Learn how this unique...
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Story Over Sight: Rethinking Audio Description with Alison Eardley
What happens when we stop treating audio description as an afterthought, and start treating it as storytelling? In this episode of The ADNA Presents, Roy Samuelson sits down with researcher and accessibility innovator Alison Eardley, whose work reshapes how museums understand inclusion…
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The ADNA Presents: Rebecca Odum
Audio description is crafted, refined, and checked with extraordinary care, with thanks to quality control specialists. On this episode of The ADNA Presents, Roy Samuelson interviews Rebecca Odom, a blind audio description quality control specialist whose expertise ensures that scripts…
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Why Bob Bergen Endorsed Roy Samuelson for Performer Governor
In this special episode of The ADNA Presents, we're doing something different. And deeply personal. Voiceover icon and longtime Television Academy leader Bob Bergen shares his journey advocating for voice actors, opening the doors to inclusion, and why he's endorsing me, Roy Samuelson, for…
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The ADNA Presents: Tabitha Kenlon: Connection Beyond the Ocular
What happens when you start teaching for connection? In this conversation with Dr. Tabitha Kenlon, an English professor who teaches students across the world (including in Afghanistan), we explore what it really means to see one another when sight isn't the main channel. Tabitha shares how her...
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Layers of Storytelling: Horror, Sound, and the Power of Audio Description
Filmmaker Naomi Ross thought audio description was just an obligation - until it changed the way her whole family watches movies. Join Roy Samuelson as they dive into the power of sound, representation, and what happens when storytelling becomes an invitation instead of a checkbox.
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Bridget Interviews Roy part 3
In this final segment of Bridget's interview, Roy Samuelson pulls back the curtain on a years-long campaign to get audio description performers formally recognized by the Television Academy, a move that opens the door for blind professionals to take their rightful place at the table. He shares…
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Blind Joy, Real Stories, and Audio Description That Hits
A film about blindness that actually gets it right: Roy sits down with Tony Stephens of the American Foundation for the Blind to talk Possibilities, a powerful new doc that reclaims Helen Keller's legacy and centers blind voices, on-screen and behind the scenes. From international buzz to an...
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The ADNA Presents: SOVAS 2025
Think voice acting is just "reading into a mic"? Joan Baker once threw a creative director behind the booth. They sweated, stumbled, and left saying: "I had no idea this was so hard." That's the point. In this episode of The ADNA Presents, Joan Baker & Rudy Gaskins, co-founders of SOVAS (That's...
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The ADNA Presents: Paul Conley: Turning Possibility Into Power
What does hitting snooze have to do with solving a 75% unemployment rate for blind professionals? Everything. In this episode, Roy Samuelson sits down with Paul Conley, Executive Director of the TAD Foundation, to explore how possibility becomes action, and how blind talent are rewriting the…
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From Unicorn to Community: John Stark and the Rise of Blind Film Critics (John Stark Part 2)
In this episode, blind film critic John Stark shares his lifelong passion for movies and how it led him to watch and review over 500 films a year for more than two decades. From his early days reading Entertainment Weekly at age nine and being inspired by Jurassic Park, to becoming a recognized...
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Bridget Interviews Roy part 2: A Voice Actor's Guide To Audio Description Performance Book
What if the voice guiding blind audiences through your favorite show was never credited? Or never even acknowledged? In part two of her conversation with Roy Samuelson, Bridget asks more insightful questions about the unseen artistry of Audio Description (AD). From the SAG Awards adding AD to…
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The ADNA Presents: The Movie Lover Who Doesn't Give Up: John Stark, part 1 2025
Studios hate him. A blind film critic dropped one review on Rotten Tomatoes and suddenly producers are begging him to reconsider… and he might, if they add audio description in film. That's power. That's disruption. That's John Stark. He launched the Blind Film Critic Society with Alex & Lee...
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Bridget interviews Roy part 1: A Voice Actor's Guide To Audio Description Performance Book
Tables turned! Bridget Melton sat in the host chair for The ADNA Podcast, grilling me about my new book A Voice Actor's Guide to Audio Description Performance. We dug into privilege, allyship, and why I open the book by addressing the awkward-but-important question: "Why listen to a sighted guy...
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237 - Jeremy Seda (rerelease)
What does Jiu-Jitsu have to do with digital accessibility? For Jeremy Seda? Everything. In this episode, the North Idaho College IT Accessibility Coordinator shares how his love of storytelling, empathy, and positive reinforcement shapes his fight for inclusion, both in tech and on the mat. With...
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The ADNA Presents: accessibility strategist Erin Lucas
In this episode of The ADNA Presents, accessibility strategist Erin Lucas shares how her career journey took her from art school to government tech, a Chicago startup, and Microsoft, all while shaping a human-centered approach to accessibility. Erin discusses how familiar voices build trust, and...
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The ADNA Presents: Steph McCoy of Bold Blind Beauty (with a call to action)
In this episode of The ADNA Presents, Roy Samuelson sits down with the unstoppable Steph McCoy, founder of Bold Blind Beauty, and all-around inclusion trailblazer. Steph opens up about her personal journey from losing her sight to finding her purpose, building a global community along the way.…
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Tanusree Sharma 2 of 2
What if your voice could be stolen? In Part Two, Dr. Tanusree Sharma reveals the hidden risks behind voice AI: how the same recordings that powered tools like Siri and Alexa are now being cloned, weaponized, and monetized without consent. She introduces PRAC3-a bold new framework blending…
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The ADNA Presents: Synthetic Truths with Tanusree Sharma
What if audio was your only signal of trust in a digital world saturated with AI? In this compelling episode of The ADNA Presents, I spoke with Dr. Tanusree Sharma-assistant professor at Penn State and researcher at the intersection of AI, security, and digital authenticity. We explored how audio...
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233 - Jeremy Seda - A11y Camp 2025
What does Jiu-Jitsu have to do with digital accessibility? For Jeremy Seda? Everything. In this episode, the North Idaho College IT Accessibility Coordinator shares how his love of storytelling, empathy, and positive reinforcement shapes his fight for inclusion, both in tech and on the mat. With...
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The ADNA Presents: Behind the Mic: How We Built Our Comic-Con Panel on Audio Description
Featuring Anna Capezzera, Colleen Connor, and Serina Gilbert. This conversation pulls back the curtain on our upcoming Comic-Con panel about audio description. Panelists talk about why they signed on, what matters to them in this work, and what they hope the audience takes away. Each brings a...
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The ADNA Presents: Yvonne Mastromano: Virginia Voice
In this episode, Roy Samuelson welcomes Yvonne Mastromano, the passionate CEO of Virginia Voice, a nonprofit that's all about making the world more accessible for people who are blind or print disabled. Yvonne speaks from the heart about her deep love of the arts and the power of storytelling…
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The ADNA Presents: Mike Hess
Expanding Market Reach Through the Power of Disability in the Workplace Mike Hess of Blind Institute of Technology highlights the significance of AD expanding market share for movies and other digital content. He emphasize that the market for people with disabilities is substantial, amounting to...
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229 - chatgpt interview with human voice
Last week was the interview with ChatGPT, with it's synthetic voice. Here's the twist - today is the same interview, this time featuring Rebecca Davis, AD Performer, giving her take on the script. Enjoy!
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228 - An Interview With ChatGPT
In this episode, I interview ChatGPT and we explore the multifaceted world of audio description. We discuss the importance of emotional nuance and high quality narration in creating immersive experiences for blind audiences, the challenges of balancing quality with scalability, and the potential...
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The ADNA Presents: Serina Gilbert, QC The Last Of Us, Season 2
In this episode, Roy Samuelson interviews Serena Gilbert, a quality control expert in audio description (AD). Serena explains her passion for AD and how it equalizes the viewing experience for visually impaired individuals, allowing them to engage in water cooler conversations and enjoy shows...
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The ADNA Presents: Alyscia, Independent Filmmaker
Alyscia is an independent filmmaker that believes inclusivity includes disabled audiences, and she's included closed AD in her screenings. She shares her process in this short and insightful interview.
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The ADNA Presents: A Conversation with The Dark Room Podcast
In this exciting episode of ADNA Presents, host Roy Samuelson welcomes Lee Pugsley and Alex Howard from the Dark Room Podcast. Lee Pugsley, a visually impaired actor, producer, writer, and director, shares his passion for storytelling and accessibility in media. Alex Howard, an accessibility...
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Mindy May and Melody Goodspeed: Flourishing Through Inclusion: How Accessibility Transforms Workplaces and Sparks Connection
New for 2025! On The ADNA Presents podcast, host Roy Samuelson dives deep into the heart of disability inclusion in the workplace with two powerhouse guests: Melody Goodspeed and Mindy May. Melody, Associate Director of Development at the American Foundation for the Blind (AFB), shares how...
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The ADNA Presents: Sam Wilkins
The Evolution and Nuances of Audio Description: A Conversation with Samuel Wilkins How does audio description differ between the US and the UK? How is it evolving across TV, film, live theater, and even sports? And what role do audiobook narrators play in shaping immersive AD experiences? In this...
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The ADNA Presents: Bill Larson (2025)
The Mic Drop: Roy Samuelson Chats with Eagles Voice Bill Larson Roy Samuelson interviews Bill Larson, the voice of the Philadelphia Eagles and a passionate audio description performer. Despite their differences, both fields demand precision, preparation, and a deep connection with the audience....
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
The Audio Description Network Alliance presents this interview series with professionals and other experts.
HOSTED BY
The ADNA
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does The ADNA Presents have?
The ADNA Presents currently has 200 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is The ADNA Presents about?
The Audio Description Network Alliance presents this interview series with professionals and other experts.
How often does The ADNA Presents release new episodes?
The ADNA Presents publishes regularly with 200 episodes available. Check the episode list for the typical release schedule.
Where can I listen to The ADNA Presents?
You can listen to The ADNA Presents on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts The ADNA Presents?
The ADNA Presents is created and hosted by The ADNA.
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