Susi MichelauHello, I’m Susi, and I’ve been an audio-describer from the beginning of time – that is from the time that audio-description made its debut in North Carolina!

My path to becoming an audio-describer began in the mid to late 80’s when I responded to an on-air request from WCPE radio to the general public. They were asking for people who were willing to be trained to become volunteer radio announcers. Being a very quiet person back then, the thought that motivated me to pursue this adventure was, “Maybe this will help me find a voice and be more vocal.” I was accepted as a trainee and preceded to learn what I had gotten myself into. I became reasonably comfortable with announcing the music, but always felt very concerned about the responsibility of making sure the station stayed on the air and could follow the procedures to get it back on the air if anything happened. It was always assuring to know that the general manager, Deborah Proctor, was always a phone call away. It was through a mutual friend and volunteer radio announcer at the station who informed me of the up-coming audio-description auditions and training in Raleigh. She was also a volunteer at the Radio Reading Service for the blind. Through her I had the opportunity to become an audio-describer and a reader at the Radio Service. We both auditioned and attended that first audio-description training in the fall of 1990.

The national Audio-description service was founded and developed by Margaret Pfanstiehl along with her husband Cody based on the concepts developed in the '70s by Gregory Frazier, a professor at San Francisco State University. Once a promising mezzo-soprano, Margaret was forced to abandon that career by progressive sight loss. She then poured her energies into The Washington Ear, founding the now famous Radio Reading Service for the Blind. The Ear has made all sorts of written material available for the visually impaired since 1976.

The success of that venture convinced her the program could be adapted to film and television. Through an arrangement with PBS, Washington Ear volunteers added audio descriptions to soundtracks from the American Playhouse series, later rebroadcasting the programs for their local audiences. Those efforts netted Margaret Pfanstiehl the first Helen Hayes Humanitarian Award in 1986.

The audio-description program came to the attention of Annette Henry, who at that time was the director of Radio Reading Service for the Triangle area. She pitched the idea to Sharon Herr, the publicity director of NC State University’s Center Stage. Ms. Herr, now Mrs. Moore, in turn convinced the non-profit Arts Access Inc. to obtain a $3,400 grant from the Greater Theater Community Foundation.

The money bought radio equipment and training. Mrs. Pfanstiehl conducted a rigorous audition and a 3-day training for six participants. She was a demanding task master, but her intense personality was balanced by Cody, her humorous and easy-going husband/training assistant. Later I would appreciate why she wanted things to be done in such an exacting way. I went home the first day of training in tears , thinking I wouldn’t be able to do it. By the end of the training, I found myself smiling at the two love birds, Margaret and Cody, who spontaneously started dancing together on the stage at Stewart Theater. We were taking a tour of the theater after the training.

We worked in teams of two during those first years. The secondary would write the program notes and go to the Radio Reading Service to record them on an audio-cassette which was played through the transmitter to our patrons on the day of the performance. Introductory music was included on the tape. We also volunteered to pick up some of our patrons and bring them to some of the performances. One memorable occasion was picking up Dorothy Matano and chatting with her on the way to the theater. I was impressed to hear her tell me that she and some of her other friends who are blind go hiking in the Shenk forest. She said they enjoyed being out in nature, walking on trails or just scrambling up and down hillsides, not concerned at all about getting dirty hands or knees. She helped to expand my idea of what it might be like to be blind or visually impaired.

We have had six audio-description coordinators since its beginning in 1990:  Sharon Moore, Mark Tulbert, Nancy Lambert, Elizabeth Kahn, Linda Curtis, and now Debbie Hippler one of our newest audio-describers. We have had four different trainers, beginning with Margaret Pfanstiehl for the first two trainings, then William Patterson (who I met again at this year’s Leadership Exchange in Arts and Disability), Joel Snyder, and now our own audio-describer/trainer, Elizabeth Kahn.

I am amazed and proud about how the Audio-description service in the N.C. Triangle area has been developed and expanded by the describers and Arts Access throughout the past 16 years. We now audio-describe performances at Theaters throughout the Triangle area, not just in Raleigh. Elizabeth has given her training to other cities in N.C. I think we have one of the best organized services in the country and one of the best websites, thanks primarily to webmaster Fred Brack.

As for me ... I am a CAD drafting designer at Square D/Groupe Schneider going on 16 years. I mentor middle school kids at Wake middle school through my job.  I am originally from farming towns in south western Minnesota. After high school, I spent 4 years in the Air Force working as a Radiology Technician, and was stationed at bases in Texas and Washington State. I came to Durham, N.C., as a new bride. I met and married my former husband while we were in the Air Force. He decided to come back to Durham to pursue his PhD in Clinical Chemistry at UNC, Chapel Hill. I am happy to be living here in the Triangle and after 33 years, definitely call this home.

I live with my handsome Kliburn cat, named Smokey. He is so big that he doesn’t fit very well on my lap. He is not overweight, just big. We have diversity in my household. My friend, Cindy, and her dog, Rudy, are living with me for a while. I have hiked with my women friends every Sunday morning for quite some time, if at all possible. Being a home owner takes up much of my time and I also go to movies, plays (of course), Interplay events and social time with friends.

I am absorbed in being a spiritual person and am dedicated to learning how to give and receive, knowing that this is what life is really about and am learning to appreciate everything in life even the things that are different and scary because of the lack of understanding about the differences.  I am grateful to have the opportunities to meet people who are living with disabilities to learn what their lives are really like and not what I might imagine they are like. It has been very helpful for me to attend the Leadership Exchange in Arts and Disability conventions. I am learning that disabilities come in all flavors, and probably affect more people than not but some are more apparent than others. I was very aware of some of my own, especially at the conference in Arizona. I am learning to accept people as they are, warts and all and allow each person to make their own choices in life even if I don’t like them or think their choices are good for them.

Gosh, I wish I could tell what my future is going to be like. Someone asked me a few months ago what I would like to be and the only thing I could think of right then was that I want to be the embodiment of loving energy to the point that it doesn’t matter whether I speak or not, that just being loving healing energy will be all that is needed. Kind of far out there, huh. I base this on my belief that we are all part of the universal energy grid. Just to be peace and love might help balance or shift all the other energies that are there.

Susi

August 2006

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