Netflix has committed itself to making its service inclusive of and accessible to disabled people.
As I wrote last year on multiple occasions, Netflix isn’t a company well known for its prowess in the accessibility space. Under its relatively new director of accessibility, Heather Dowdy, however, the Los Gatos-based entertainment behemoth is slow but steadily rising from obscurity in this regard. The truth of the matter is Netflix cares deeply about making using its service more accessible—and more enjoyable—to everyone.
“We are very much aware that folks are accessing our content using these accessibility features, and we want to keep innovating to make sure that we can reach even more members with disabilities,” Dowdy said to me about Netflix prioritizing accessibility in an interview last year. She added much of what is seen on Netflix are culturally relevant moments, and disabled people deserve to included in those conversations. “I wanted to make sure that technology could continue to be a bridge to providing them access when it comes to entertainment,” she said.
In commemorating this year’s Global Accessibility Awareness Day, Netflix on Thursday published a blog post written by Dowdy, who, very much like myself, is a CODA, in which the executive details the ongoing work the company is doing in terms of serving the disability community.
“While we’ve made strides in accessibility, we know there is always more work to be done,” Dowdy wrote in the company’s post. “Leveraging member feedback to improve the viewing experience for one member living with a disability makes it better for all of us. At Netflix, we strive to make our service more accessible and inclusive for everyone—no matter who you are, where you live, and what you love to watch.”
Among the highlights, Dowdy touted Netflix’s “Celebrating Disability with Dimension” collection. She describes it as “our global collection of series and films with characters or stories about people living with disabilities.” The collection, available year-round, has been recently updated with titles such as True Spirit and I Used to Be Famous. Netflix has put together a sizzle reel for the Disability with Dimension collection that it has posted to its YouTube channel. Elsewhere, Dowdy calls out the increasing number of titles in the company’s catalog that supports audio descriptions and subtitles for the deaf and hard-of-hearing, as well as the ability to customize the look and feel of subtitles—a feature that, until March, was only accessible when watching through the web.
Netflix has a page on its website with an overview of its DEI efforts, including surrounding accessibility. For more pointed information about accessibility support, people can visit the company’s Help Center.
