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These include CoComelon, KPop Demon Hunters, Spider-Man: Homecoming, and more.
Key Takeaways
- Deaf kids and their families can now enjoy more Netflix shows together with free ASL interpretation that makes stories easier to follow.
- Watching movies in ASL helps many deaf children understand and enjoy what they see without relying only on captions.
- This new partnership is an important step toward helping more deaf families feel included and represented during family movie night.
Grab the popcorn—family movie night just got a whole lot more inclusive. Starting July 20, 2026, deaf children and their families can enjoy American Sign Language (ASL) interpretation across 73 Netflix kids and family titles, thanks to a new partnership with SignUp Media.
Until now, many deaf and hard-of-hearing viewers have had to rely on closed captions. But for many of them, it hasn’t been enough. According to SignUp Media, 75% of deaf adults read at a fourth-to-fifth grade level, and most deaf children don’t read fluently until they’re about 12. For those viewers, reading subtitles while keeping up with fast-paced action can be challenging.
“Deaf children may not read yet, or read fast enough to keep up with closed captioning, and deaf adults want to watch content in their native language,” says Mariella Satow, founder of SignUp Media. “Family movie night should mean everyone experiences the story together, not one person doing the work of making it accessible while everyone else watches.”
Here’s everything parents need to know about the new feature.
What Is Signup?
SignUp is the platform powering Netflix’s new ASL interpretation service. It’s a free Google Chrome extension available on all major web browsers on a laptop or desktop computer.
For smart TV, Fire TV Stick, or Google Cast device users, content can be mirrored to the screen or connected to a computer or TV using an HDMI cable. Once accessed, viewers can display, resize, and reposition the interpretation alongside the program they’re watching.
While SignUp has already been available for selected programs on streaming platforms, including Netflix, this marks the first time ASL interpretation for Netflix content has been formally commissioned by the streaming giant.
“At Netflix, we believe great storytelling should be accessible to everyone, and this partnership is a meaningful continuation of that commitment,” Elisa Beniero, senior manager of strategy and innovation at Netflix, says in a statement. “With ASL now joining subtitles, subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing (SDH), dubbing and audio description (AD) as another way members can enjoy our content, we’re ensuring our deaf and hard-of-hearing members have more ways to experience the stories they love.”
Beyond Netflix, SignUp is already available for selected content on platforms, including Disney+ and YouTube.
Which Netflix Titles Are Available To Watch With SignUp?
From today, 200 hours of ASL-supported content will be available across 73 Netflix original and licensed kids and family titles.
These new titles include Octonauts, The Magic School Bus Rides Again, CoComelon, Stranger Things, and films including Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio.
Some of the other supported titles already available include:
- KPop Demon Hunters
- Ms. Rachel
- Spider-Man: Homecoming
- Barbie: Dolphin Magic
- Heartstopper
- The Boss Baby: Back in Business
- Paddington in Peru
The full list of supported titles is available on SignUp’s website.
Who Does the Signing?
Bringing stories to life in ASL requires more than simply translating words—it needs performers who can capture the emotion, personality, and meaning behind them.
For this project, every SignUp performer is deaf and a native ASL signer. “It’s important for deaf children to see deaf adults on screen, doing the signing,” Satow says. “It shows that sign language representation is possible and growing.”
They’re cast not only for their language skills, but also for how closely they reflect the characters and stories they’re interpreting. “We try to match the interpreter to a very high level, not just gender and ethnicity, but character and background as well,” explains Satow. “For this project, we had a Latina Deaf performer bring her own family’s story to Vivo, and an Asian Deaf performer signs Wish Dragon.”
In total, 18 performers worked on the launch, with hundreds more interpreters already onboarded.
Behind each signed program is hours of preparation. Every hour of finished content takes around three to four hours of research, rehearsal, and recording—meaning the 200-hour launch library represents between 600 and 800 hours of work.
What This Means for the Deaf Community
Research suggests hearing loss is one of the most common congenital abnormalities in the U.S., with 1.7 per 1,000 infants born deaf or hard of hearing. As children grow, the prevalence increases. Some forms of hearing loss worsen over time, while others aren’t diagnosed until later in childhood, meaning between 2.4% and 14.9% of school-aged children are estimated to have some degree of hearing loss.
SignUp’s expansion will be a welcome feature for many families, including influencer and advocate for deaf children, Callie Foster, whose son Luca has a mild-to-moderate hearing loss in both ears. Foster tells Parents that SignUp will change her family’s weekly Friday movie nights.
“When I started finding content and entertainment with an interpreter on screen, I quickly realized that it was a gap that was being bridged for him because he could then enjoy it, watch it, understand it in real time and not have to sit there and decode it,” she says.
Foster acknowledges ASL as Luca’s first language and says the deaf community has been waiting for something like this to enter the mainstream. “The deaf community and deaf children will look at this and instead of feeling like they’re the outsider or the outlier, they’re going to feel like, wow, this is finally happening,” explains Foster.
That’s certainly true for Luca, she says. “I know this is going to set a precedent in his mind at this young of an age that it’s not an accommodation; it’s not something he has to work for,” she shares. “It’s something that’s just really given to him and it’s probably going to make him have a sense of belonging.”
Why Subtitles Aren’t Enough
For many deaf children, subtitles aren’t the simple solution hearing people often assume.
“After learning ASL, I started talking with members of the deaf community and it became obvious that closed captions were not the gold standard of accessibility that I thought they were, and that sign language access was the necessary solution,” says Satow. “Signing is a different language, with a different syntax, and a different culture around it. It’s not the same as English.”
According to the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, ASL has its own rules for pronunciation, word formation, and word order. For example, English speakers typically ask a question by raising the pitch of their voices and by adjusting word order. By comparison, ASL users ask a question by raising their eyebrows, widening their eyes, and tilting their bodies forward.
For young children who haven’t yet learned to read fluently, subtitles can also be difficult to keep up with.
“Captions simply aren’t a real option for a huge portion of these kids, so signed content isn’t a nice-to-have, it’s their actual point of access to the story,” says Satow. “One mother told us her 6-year-old daughter watched Moana with the interpreter, and her face was priceless. She was not reading yet, so captions never meant anything to her, and this was the first time she’d had full access to the movie.”
It’s Only the Beginning
Satow’s connection to the deaf community is personal. She has deaf family members and understands the importance of inclusive representation firsthand.
Yet, perhaps the most remarkable part of her story is that her entrepreneurial journey started in her teens.
At 17, while her high school was closed during the pandemic, Satow enrolled in an ASL class—a decision that would eventually lead to the creation of SignUp.
“I fell in love with the language, and I started talking to members of the deaf community,” Satow explains. “I was struck by the fact that despite the explosion of streaming entertainment, virtually no sign language interpretation existed in film or television.
She then raised a few thousand dollars walking dogs in her neighborhood to fund a pilot project, and in August 2021, she launched a Chrome extension with three interpreted titles.
The idea quickly gained momentum within the deaf community. Before starting university, Satow took a gap year and dedicated herself to growing SignUp full time. And here we are.
“Seeing this integration and this collaboration makes me feel and hope that one day this isn’t going to feel groundbreaking or that it’s news,” says Foster. “It’s just something that people deserve; this is a whole community, and it feels like they’ve been forgotten for a very long time. I know this is going to be the start of something really, really beautiful.”
SignUp is available to download now.
Read the original article on Parents
