Joel Snyder is known internationally as one of the first audio describers. He began describing arts events in 1981 with the world’s first ongoing audio description service in Washington, DC. His work made hundreds of live theater productions accessible to visually impaired audience members; in media, Mr. Snyder has used the same technique to enhance a wide range of programs including PBS' American Playhouse productions, ABC and FOX network broadcasts, feature films, the IMAX film "Blue Planet" and the Planetarium show "And A Star To Steer Her By" at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Air and Space Museum. As Director of Described Media for the National Captioning Institute, he leads a staff that produces description for first-run films, nationally broadcast films and television series including “Sesame Street,” and DVDs.

Mr. Snyder’s Audio Description Associates develops AD tours for museums throughout the United States including the Enabling Garden at the Chicago Botanic Garden, the National Aquarium in Baltimore, the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles, Washington, DC's Smithsonian Institution museums and a host of National Park Service and US Forest Service Visitor Centers.

Internationally, he introduced description techniques in Japan, Israel, Romania, Spain, Portugal, Lithuania, Norway, Poland, Slovakia and Finland; conducted description workshops in London, Prague, and St. Petersburg, Russia; and trained describers for first-ever audio description programs in Sofia, Bulgaria and Moscow, Russia.