Why Subtitles Aren't Enough: The Growing Demand for ASL in Entertainment

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When the Barbie movie was released in the summer of 2023, it generated endless social media buzz and sparked a cultural phenomenon. But some viewers couldn't fully share in the experience.

While movie theaters occasionally offer screenings with closed captioning, American Sign Language (ASL) is the preferred language for many deaf and hard-of-hearing people in the US and parts of Canada. So when HBO Max released a version of Barbie with an ASL interpreter later that year, it marked a major step forward.

Some viewers caught on to jokes they'd missed at the movie theater. Family members were grateful they didn't have to stand in front of the TV and sign the entire film for their kids. Instead, everyone could sit back and watch together. HBO Max has since added more ASL titles to its platform, including The Last of Us, Superman and One Battle After Another.

"It created this amazing dialogue," especially online, says Naomi Waibel, who leads HBO Max's accessibility team, which gathers customer feedback from these initiatives. "People were asking some of the same questions, like, 'Why is closed captioning not enough?'"

That question shines a light on both the significance and the lack of sign language options in streaming and traditional TV and film programming. Closed captioning -- which began as an accessibility measure and is now a staple for viewers across the board -- can help some deaf and hard-of-hearing people better understand what's happening on screen, but it's not a replacement for the emotion and expression conveyed through sign languages like ASL.

"For the deaf community, our first language is ASL," says Nakia Smith, a fifth-generation deaf storyteller and one of four interpreters for the HBO Max series It: Welcome to Derry.

Welcome to Derry, with a sign language interpreter in the lower right corner

From accessibility to inclusivity

Around 430 million people have some form of hearing loss, according to the World Health Organization. Tech companies have increasingly rolled out accessibility features, such as real-time captioning tools on iPhones, Android phones and smart speakers, as well as smartwatch and mobile alerts for critical sounds like sirens or car horns. On the streaming front, Prime Video and Apple TV 4K use AI to enhance dialogue that's difficult to hear over background music and sound effects -- a feature that, like other accessibility offerings, many people can benefit from.

While closed captioning is nearly ubiquitous across television and streaming, ASL content is harder to come by. Sign language interpretation requires skilled human professionals who can capture the context and nuances of the language, which can take more time and resources.

"While captions provide access to words, ASL provides access to meaning," says Blake Nitko, social media manager at the National Technical Institute for the Deaf. "Having the option to view something with ASL interpreters changes the experience from being 'accessible' to 'inclusive.' "Instead of feeling like I'm catching up with text, I'm participating in real time. There's less cognitive load, and I'm not splitting my attention between reading and watching. I'm just watching."

ASL is slowly making its way into more spaces, from sports broadcasts to awards ceremony red carpets to the Super Bowl halftime show. Phones are proving to be valuable accessibility tools as well. Last year, New York City launched a pilot program linking public transit riders to live ASL interpreters through a mobile app, and Aira ASL can also connect people to on-demand interpreters.

These options aren't just helpful for people who are deaf or hard of hearing, says Ariel Simms, president and CEO of Disability Belongs, a nonprofit that advocates for accessibility inclusion. Anyone who uses sign language can find them useful, including parents communicating with preverbal children and those who have difficulty reading or writing in English.

"When we make things more accessible, a lot of people benefit, not just the community we think it's for," Simms says.

Making more viewers feel seen

With a vast library of shows and movies, HBO Max's accessibility team prioritizes adding sign language to titles that are part of the zeitgeist, like Barbie and Sinners, Waibel says. It's also deliberate about releasing ASL and standard versions simultaneously, to underscore that accessibility isn't an afterthought. The team works closely with disability advocacy groups and organizations like Deaf West Theatre to recruit signing talent and ensure authentic representation.

The HBO Max original series It: Welcome to Derry features ASL performers from different backgrounds, including Otis Jones. Jones has also signed titles such as One Battle After Another and Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire and gained national attention for his ASL performance during Kendrick Lamar's 2025 Super Bowl halftime show.

"With a voiceover actor, you're only following one character, whereas for a signing actor, you're signing for multiple characters," Jones says. "Every background noise, every song, everything. So it's much more of a challenge for me." But it's well worth it, he adds. "I know the little kid in me is very proud."

Racial and ethnic diversity is key to ensuring a range of deaf and hard-of-hearing viewers feel seen. Jones, who is Black, says he went to a mainstream school and didn't know many other deaf people growing up. "And every time they do show deaf representation, they never look like me," he says. "So with diversity in signing actors, I know for a fact that the audience will feel more connected."

Smith, the fifth-generation deaf storyteller, uses Black American Sign Language in both Welcome to Derry and Sinners. BASL is a dialect of American Sign Language that was largely a byproduct of segregation in the South and is still used by signers today. It tends to be more expressive and uses two-handed signs where ASL may use a one-handed variant. It also frequently borrows phrases from African-American Vernacular English.

"BASL has seasoning, if you will," Smith says. "It's different from ASL. BASL is more handshakes, more emphasis."

In Welcome to Derry, each signing actor brings cultural authenticity and lived perspective to their scenes. For instance, Smith signs in scenes featuring a Black family, while Mexican and Indigenous actor Sophia Morales appears in portions with Indigenous characters. Actor Justin Jackerson draws from his multigenerational deaf roots to bring emotional nuance.

"The interpreters have their own styles, their own experiences, their own body language," Smith says.

Filling the accessibility gaps with tech

When Mariella Satow started learning ASL during the COVID-19 lockdowns, she became increasingly aware of the shortage of accessible entertainment options.

"Talking to members of the deaf community, I realized that closed captions weren't one-size-fits-all and weren't the gold standard of accessibility that I thought they were," says Satow, who has deaf and hard-of-hearing family members. "That [includes] deaf kids who haven't learned how to read yet or can't read fast enough to keep up with captions or deaf adults who want to watch something in their native language."

So in 2021, she launched SignUp Media, a Chrome extension that overlays a sign language interpreter onto content from streaming platforms like Netflix, Disney Plus and Peacock. SignUp now has 25,000 weekly active users and has translated more than 350 hours across ASL, British Sign Language and Indian Sign Language.

A scene from The Incredibles with a sign language interpreter in the lower left corner

Releasing SignUp as a third-party Chrome extension meant Satow didn't need to partner directly with streaming platforms to offer the feature. People can download the extension from the SignUp website and activate it for supported shows and movies. They can browse available titles or search for a specific one. Once they choose what to watch, a movable, resizable interpreter window plays alongside their selection.

At first, Satow chose films to support based on her childhood favorites, like Toy Story and The Incredibles. Before long, viewers began emailing requests. Now, she says, most supported titles are chosen by the community. A button in SignUp allows people to request shows and movies that don't yet have an ASL interpreter.

Trista Sewell, whose 5-year-old daughter Skylar is deaf, says her family can now watch and discuss movies in depth with the SignUp extension. It's especially helpful since her young daughter can't read yet.

"The words that she is learning to read lose context when she just sees them in the middle of a fast, flashing sentence," Sewell says. "ASL is expressive. Even if there are new-to-her signs in the dialogue, she's easily able to pick up the context and understand what the scene is about."

SignUp works with contracted interpreters -- several hundred in total, Satow says -- and about 90% of them are deaf.

A key aspect of SignUp is that it's free -- and there are no plans to change that. So far, the company has raised $1 million in an angel round.

"I have never wanted to charge the deaf community [for] access to their own language," Satow says. "It's just another barrier to access. You're already paying for the streaming platform. You shouldn't have to pay an additional amount to understand it."

Like HBO Max, SignUp often matches interpreters with projects that reflect their personal or cultural backgrounds. For example, a deaf chef signed Ratatouille, a deaf Pacific Islander performer signed Moana, and an interpreter with a medical background worked on Grey's Anatomy.

"We try to not just match the ethnicity of the interpreter, but the character and the interests as well," Satow says. "You can tell the difference between a regular interpreter and an interpreter who's been cast to play a particular role that they're really excited about."

As more people realize the value and impact of ASL, it's likely to become much more prevalent in the coming years, says SignUp Co-CEO Harriet Seitler.

"We have a pretty strong conviction that there will be a time when sign language is ubiquitous," she says. "This is not an accommodation. It's a language."

The next wave of access

One of the most powerful accessibility tools is the phone in your pocket. The Aira Explorer app has connected blind and low-vision people with live visual interpreters for over a decade, and now the company offers ASL interpretation as well.

Through a growing network of partners -- including airports, universities and retailers -- people who are deaf or hard of hearing can use the Aira ASL app to access on-demand interpreters for free, making it easier to communicate with staff and others nearby. Aira works with deaf-owned agencies that provide sign language interpreting services.

A phone screen showing a sign language interpreter, and another image of a person holding the phone and communicating with the interpreter

"A lot of people say that it's a game changer for them because they find that it's empowering," says Henri Grau, Aira's director of deaf community engagement. "They feel so much more independent with it in their hand, just knowing that they could call an interpreter at any time, anywhere that they need one."

In the future, Grau predicts, AI advancements could allow people to communicate with their smart devices using sign language. But developing AI-based ASL interpretation could be much more challenging.

"ASL has so many variations," he says. "There's a lot of imbalance in the way that sign language is acquired by the deaf community, and that makes it hard to train an AI model to understand and comprehend and reproduce all those variations of the language. So I don't predict AI ASL interpreting replacing live interpreting in the near future."

Satow also emphasizes that entertainment content should always use human interpreters to effectively convey emotion. She notes that for other use cases like education and employee training, AI interpreters could someday help make more content accessible. But we're not there yet.

For now, ASL -- with human interpreters -- is poised to expand to more corners of entertainment and tech.

Major televised events like the Daytime Emmy Awards and the Oscars have added ASL livestreams. The Recording Academy, the organization behind the Grammy Awards, has partnered with disability advocacy groups like Recording Artists and Music Professionals with Disabilities (RAMPD) to bring ASL interpreters on the red carpet, though there's still no ASL livestream for the full televised ceremonies. Members of the deaf community have urged networks to incorporate more integrated ASL components like picture-in-picture interpreter feeds.

Nitko says when companies invest in ASL content, they're not only expanding access, but also acknowledging a language, culture and community that's long been overlooked.

"We're at a moment where technology makes this more possible than ever," he says. "The question isn't whether it can be done, it's whether the industry is ready to treat ASL as equal to spoken language in the entertainment space. I think we're closer to that moment than we've ever been."

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