There's an ongoing discussion about what to include in AD. Black and blind audio producer Thomas Reid rounds up three articles as well as his own thoughts in a guest post at the Disability Visibility Project.

Is it performative, or is it access, or a combination of both?

A self-description provides information about a person that non-blind people passively glean. This includes identity characteristics such as skin color, gender identity, hair length and texture, wardrobe, and more.

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Self-description is not a magic wand. It will never provide an equivalent experience to what a sighted person gleans from observation. It’s about providing access to information, increasing a Blind attendee’s opportunity to “observe” and participate. For many, it requires a bit of instruction and practice. But what if 15 extra seconds during an introduction encourages all presenters to think about how to make their talks more accessible such as describing their slides, videos, and graphs, offering large-print paper copies of their talk, slowing down for the captioner and interpreter, using a microphone, or at the very least asking the question to the audience, “Can everyone access the information here today?”