Media Access Australia
Media Access Australia (MAA) is Australia's only not-for-profit media access organisation.[1]
People with disabilities, particularly those who are Deaf, hearing impaired, blind or vision impaired, are in many cases excluded from mainstream audiovisual media, with often profound implications for educational outcomes, workforce participation and social inclusion.
MAA works to improve access to audiovisual media, such as TV, cinema, DVDs and new media, by providing information about technological solutions that made audiovisual media accessible to people with disabilities. These solutions include audio description, captioning and mainstream new media technologies. MAA also supports improvements in media access in Australia towards international best practice by identifying mainstream technological solutions and cost-effective ways to promote and implement them.
To this end, MAA works collaboratively with consumer organizations, Government and industry in Australia and internationally.
Background
Media Access Australia was formerly the Australian Caption Centre (ACC),[2] co-founded by Adam Salzer and Alexandra Hynes in 1982. In 2005, ACC sold its commercial operations including captioning services to Red Bee Media,[3] and became Media Access Australia (MAA).
MAA is a uniquely independent not-for-profit organisation, mainly relying on its own investments to fund its activities, rather than donations, or commercial operations.