Netflix aims to make its content more accessible with new features

Netflix (Representative image)

Netflix on May 19 announced a slew of new feature improvements in a bid to make its content more accessible to its members with disabilities, marking the 11th anniversary of Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD).

The video streaming service is expanding the language availability of its audio descriptions (AD) and subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing (SDH) features by 10 additional languages including Spanish, Portuguese, and French, taking the total count to 20 languages. This will be rolled out across its original content library starting this month and going into 2023.

"Before today, you would typically be able to access SDH and audio descriptions in the language of their original productions. By adding more languages for our users, we're making sure that all of our members with disabilities can be included in the conversation that is happening around our content" Heather Dowdy, who currently leads product accessibility at Netflix told Moneycontrol.

"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," Dowdy said.

Audio descriptions and SDH can be accessed through the audio and subtitles option when users are streaming any show or a movie.

Audio descriptions are narrated audio tracks that describe more of what's happening visually in a scene, inserted around the dialogue in any show or movie. Meanwhile, SDH are more comprehensive subtitles that also include information on non-dialogue sounds such as sound effects.

New content badges

Dowdy said they work with the disability community and create audio description guidelines based on their feedback, allowing them to capture even more imagery. "We also collaborate with the disability community on certain productions, depending on the storyline and the creative producer, and have consulted them on set to make sure that we deliver as many inclusive stories as we can to our members," she said.

Dowdy also noted that they constantly get a lot of feedback on closed captions and subtitles, which they review and implement changes on the platform.

Netflix is also adding new AD and SDH badges for its shows and films on the web and iOS to help members with disabilities discover the content that meets their needs. This could help with the easier discovery of their content since prior to these badges, a member would have to actually go into the content and play it to determine if it met their needs, Dowdy said.

Apart from this, Netflix is rolling out its first-ever collection featuring stories by and with people with disabilities in mainstream culture on its service called "Celebrating Disability with Dimension". Dowdy said the collection will feature over 50 shows and films that include storylines or characters living with disabilities.

"With over 1 billion people living with disabilities globally, the opportunity to tell more inclusive stories and bond within our communities over storytelling is tremendous. We will also be hosting Accessibility Screenings in select countries globally to bring our AD and SDH features to life outside of the living room and discuss ways to make entertainment more accessible," she said in a blog post.

Building accessibility features

Dowdy said her focus is on equipping the company's designers and engineers in order to build more inclusive and accessible products.

"We're certainly looking at how we incorporate accessibility into our framework as we build new features. We gather feedback on these features internally, as well as externally working with organizations that give us feedback directly. This feedback loop is very crucial. It helps us prioritise what work needs to happen to make our service more accessible" she said.

Dowdy said these accessibility features also have broader implications since it makes the service more inclusive, and accessible to everyone.

"A lot of our members benefit from our accessibility features. For example, 40% of our members watch our content with subtitles on, which means that there are more users than just members with disabilities accessing it. Therefore, by learning from how we create these features and improve them for people with disabilities, we can then apply the benefit for all of our members" she said.