Netflix’s new accessibility feature: To bring expanded language support for audio descriptions and more

Netflix is announcing a series of features aimed at making its content more accessible to those living with disabilities. This includes expanded language support for audio descriptions (AD) and Subtitles for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing (SDH). The expanded language support will start rolling out this month and continue into 2023 with Netflix first adding support for Spanish, Portuguese and French. It plans to add a total of 20 languages for AD and SDH support.
“You will continue to see a gradual progression of more languages for SDH subtitles as well as audio descriptions. Audio descriptions are the narrated track that adds more visual commentary as to what’s taking place in the scene,” Heather Dowdy, Netflix’s Director for Accessibility told over a call.
Netflix is also introducing new badges for shows and films that have AD and SDH. The badges will appear on the web and iOS versions first and will make it easier for users to discover stories suited for their needs. The badges will come to Android as well later on.
It is also launching a new collection, titled “Celebrating Disability with Dimension,” featuring over 50 shows and films with characters or stories about people living with disabilities. It also plans to host Accessibility Screenings in select countries globally to bring its AD and SDH features to life outside of the living room.

Dowdy also explained why the language support feature is particularly important. “On a streaming service before accessibility features such as SDH and audio descriptions, users were really limited to accessing the content in the original language of the production. So if the content was produced in India, then the subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing audio descriptions would be provided in the local language. But with this expansion, we are adding more languages so that users can access more of these global stories that folks are talking about,” she explained.
Heather Dowdy, Netflix’s Director for Accessibility. (Image credit: Netflix)
She also said that Netflix has been working with the disability community to gain feedback and guidelines on how to do better with audio descriptions. “We continue to receive a lot of positive feedback about the quality of the audio descriptions on Netflix. The audio description feature on Bridgerton was one example. Through those guidelines that we’ve worked with the community on, we added things such as hair texture and skin tone, things related to the identity of the race and gender of the characters, which hadn’t been done before,” she pointed out.
Regarding the new badges for content which has AD and SDH titles, Dowdy said that earlier a member would have to go into the content in order to determine whether or not it met their needs. “We’re also making it easier to discover the stories that fit our members’ needs,” she said. Netflix plans to add these badgers to all content on the platform soon.