Netflix is improving its accessibility features

In celebration of Global Accessibility Awareness Day, Netflix has announced it is expanding support and the languages that are available for its audio descriptions and subtitles. 

Starting this month, and running into 2023, Netflix will be expanding the availability of its audio descriptions and subtitles for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing (SDH) across its vast catalog of content, which is no small feat. 

Alongside this increased availability, Netflix is also increasing the number of major languages in which audio descriptions and SDH are available in, allowing for vastly more users to benefit from these accessibility features. The languages that Netflix will be adding support for are Spanish, Portuguese, Korean, and French.

In their blog post, Netflix notes that previously access to accessibility features such as audio descriptions and SDH have been severely limited, with these features often only being available for the language in which the show was produced and made in.

To make sure that the platform’s users get the most out of the expanded availability of its audio description and SDH features, Netflix is also adding new badges to shows and films to indicate when these features are supported on the Web and iOS. 

“By increasing our SDH and AD language availability to over 20 languages, we hope to give all of our members the ability to see their lives reflected on screen, no matter where you’re from, what language you speak, or what abilities you have.”