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SignUp Chrome Extension

The majority of streaming services have the option of subtitles and closed captions, but not sign language. In order to benefit from subtitles and closed captions you need to be an experienced reader. However, what about children who can't read yet? Or whose reading isn't fast enough to keep up with the captions? How does a deaf child fully appreciate a children's movie without an easy method to do so? Especially, if they can't understand what the characters are saying nor read the captions.
 
A 17 year old, Mariella Satow, asked herself that question when she was teaching herself American Sign Language (ASL). She was looking for TV shows to watch with sign language interpretation to help her learn ASL and found very few that included signing. She realized after doing some research about deaf children, that there was a gap to fill for the deaf community. Mariella spent the summer of 2020 creating an app. The app took her a year to develop, and with the help of the deaf community and ASL teachers, the SignUp app was born.
 
SignUp is a free Google Chrome extension that provides sign language captioning over Disney+ videos. It overlays a small box with a sign language interpreter in the corner of the screen while the movie plays. This allows children who cannot hear or read subtitles or closed captions to watch and enjoy the movie. The app currently is only available for a handful of movies on Disney+. Mariella states that she thought the Disney+ site was a good place to start for the app so that children can have the maximum benefit. She has put in requests to add more films to the app and is planning a British Sign Language version also. She is looking at expanding into other streaming services such as Netflix and Amazon Prime Video as well.
 
For further information on SignUp and/or download the Chrome extension click here
 
Alternatively, if you need further information on how to make facilities or services more accessible and inclusive, please do not hesitate to contact one of our team on (01) 415 12 85 or e-mail