[Slling-l] Google Chrome Extension SignUp Fights to Make Movies Deaf-Accessible

[Mark Mandel]

*Google Chrome Extension SignUp Fights to Make Movies Deaf-Accessible
<https://www.34st.com/article/2022/04/sign-up-deaf-accessibility-mariella-satow-asl-sign-language-open-closed-captions-coda>*

This article is in the April 5 edition of the weekly *34th Street Magazine*,
which is published by the *Daily Pennsylvanian*, the student-run newspaper
of the University of Pennsylvania. From the article:

At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Mariella [Satow] began to learn
American Sign Language (ASL), inspired by an interaction she had with a
Deaf man in a supermarket years earlier. Searching for movies with ASL
captions to help facilitate the learning process, she found a distinct lack
of them. After speaking with hearing parents of Deaf kids, polling the Deaf
community in Facebook groups, and researching statistics, she discovered
that many others shared her desire. She decided to start SignUp, a Google
Chrome extension that adds ASL captions to Disney+ content, which launched
in August 2021.
...
[She is] "preparing to expand to Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, PPBS, and
Hulu in the near future... but I'd love to have all 300 sign languages,
which will take a while."

The extension, which "allows the user to overlay videos of American Sign
Language interpreting onto Disney+ videos"*
<https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/signup-sign-language-capt/gbllbjbhbafgdcolenjhdoabdjjbjoom/>,
can be downloaded for free from *SignUp <https://www.signupcaptions.com/>*,
the project's website, and from the Chrome Web Store
<https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/signup-sign-language-capt/gbllbjbhbafgdcolenjhdoabdjjbjoom/>.
It shows the interpreter in a small rectangular insert, as is a common
format for interpretation of speech. The home page lists 20 videos that are
"currently available with ASL captions on Disney+" and has fields for
feedback and for requesting interpretation to be added to other
movies. Its Media
Room <https://www.signupcaptions.com/press> has links to press stories
(currently 16) about the project. There are also testimonials from parents,
and links to the project's Instagram and Twitter accounts and its GoFundMe
<https://www.gofundme.com/f/58vx8-help-fund-signup-asl-captions-for-disney-plus?utm_campaign=p_lico+share-sheet+spider1v&utm_medium=copy_link&utm_source=customer>
.

Mark A. Mandel
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