TV Sign Language Interpreters Bring Hope to Those Living with Hearing Impairment

Using audio descriptions of a movie’s action, the XL Cinema app increases the accessibility of movies to a vision impaired audience. The free app has been used thousands of times and production studios are interested in working with XL Cinema to expand its offerings.

Via legislative efforts, six U.S. prison systems and dozens of jails have made phone calls free for incarcerated people (with governments paying providers instead of families). This has resulted in 600 million additional calls, 6.4 billion more call minutes, over $620 million in savings for families, and improved mental health, family connections, and prison environments.

The ReelAbilities Film Festival promotes awareness and increases the representation of people with disabilities in movies. The festival, which has expanded to several cities across the country, shows award-winning films by and about people with disabilities and also hosts post-screening discussions to bring the community together to celebrate diversity.

The Daily Moth is a daily online news channel devoted to the news accessible to the deaf community. Recently, the channel's focus is on stories about Covid-19 and the fight for racial justice. The programming elevates the perspective of deaf individuals, from deaf first responders to deaf victims of police violence. The channel provides American Sign Language interpretation of news stories, accurate captions, and uses colors and backdrops that make it fully accessible. Securing funding has been a struggle for the channel, but it continues to deliver potentially lifesaving news to the deaf community.

Minnesota is purchasing “track chairs” with all-terrain treads for its parks that people with disabilities can use for free to access more areas and trails.

The Andrew Heiskell Braille and Talking Book Library is a branch of the New York Public Library system that offers a wide array of services for vision-impaired adults and children. They hold the largest physical collection of braille books in the country, as well as thousands of downloadable digital braille books, audio books, and newspaper subscriptions. Included amongst these offerings are also the Talking Books program which records and distributes their collection of 200,000 recorded books, hardware and software tech to help illustrate things like tactile maps or diagrams, and simple community classes.

Education for children with autism can be a costly challenge to procure, but an app called Otsimo aims to democratize education by providing software designed specifically for autistic children. Now 3 years old with over 70 games and 100,000 users in three countries, parents, specialists, and kids testify to its efficacy and engagement.

Through the use of smart glasses, the London’s National Theatre is making theater going accessible to the hard of hearing. A play’s dialogue is displayed in the glasses, and software links the timing of the words being displayed with when they are actually being said on stage.

Web applications designed for people with disabilities have helped users to live fuller lives and reduce the stigma attached to living with a disability. The apps have spread information, make education more effective, and created connections between people.

Love INC has built a free wheelchair ramp lending program to fill a gap left by insurance providers that typically don’t cover them. After securing grant funding and secondhand ramps at steep discounts, Love INC developed an application process, recruited volunteer installers, and now has three ramps in active circulation across the community.