A generational change in children’s television is now weeks away after an Aussie dad’s Bluey petition to introduce Australian Sign Language (Auslan) was approved by the ABC.
James Wright’s two-year-old daughter was born profoundly deaf and, like many kids her age, she loves watching the hit animated TV show.
But she hasn’t been able to share in the story in the same way as her siblings could.
While subtitles make TV more accessible, the Melbourne dad said they aren’t designed for preschool audiences, especially ones where Auslan is their first language and is different to written English.
Bluey only has one episode with Auslan on the screen, but that’s about to change thanks to James, who told Yahoo Lifestyle the petition win was deeply meaningful for families with deaf members.
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“So many generations of deaf people have come before us who have all been yelling for their human rights for a long time,” he said.
“It’s a long time coming, as the road to equality and access for deaf people in Australia has been a really bumpy one.
“The ABC had listened to the will of the people and admitted that there was a really serious gap in accessibility there, and realised that they could do something about it.”
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How one Melbourne dad helped usher in a major change
James launched a Change.org petition last year and to encourage the national broadcaster to include Auslan interpretations for children’s programming.
“We love Bluey and everything that’s on the ABC and we just really struggled with the idea that these great TV shows were only accessible to two of our three kids, and our youngest daughter had to miss out,” the Melbourne dad said.
“It just seemed really unfair.”
The petition gathered more than 1,4000 signatures and eventually led to a meeting with ABC executives to discuss what could be done.
James said his daughter deserves to watch one of the biggest shows on the planet in her first language. Source: James Wright
The broadcaster has now committed to introducing Auslan interpretation across several children’s programs on ABC iview.
“We’re delighted to bring Auslan to our children’s programming on ABC iview, and to create a more accessible, inclusive and connected experience for all young Australians as they enjoy our much‑loved children’s content,” ABC Director Screen Jennifer Collins said.
Closed Captioning and Audio Descriptions were previously included in the ABC’s TV shows, but Auslan will be introduced on April 13, which is celebrated nationally as Auslan Day.
What is Auslan and what’s the difference between that and subtitles?
Auslan is a fully developed visual language expressed through hand movements, facial expressions and body language.
According to captioning company AI-Media, Auslan has its own syntax, grammar and lexicon, which is “vastly different” to English.
Captions, by contrast, display the spoken dialogue and sound effects as written text at the bottom of the screen.
While that might be fine for some people, it’s not as accessible as you might think.
Those who are pre-lingually dead, who are born deaf or lost their hearing in early childhood, typically learn Auslan as their first language.
This can make it hard for them to process and understand subtitles, as they might not accurately present the right message in the same way as Auslan would.
What the ABC’s change means for deaf kids
As a result of the campaign, some of Bluey’s “most popular episodes” will be released with Auslan interpretation from mid-April.
But it will also see other shows adapted to include Auslan translations, including:
Flower & Flour will also be updated later this year.
The Melbourne dad said Bluey was a natural starting point because of its enormous popularity and global reach. The show has already been translated into more than 20 languages.
The episode ‘Turtleboy’ features Auslan throughout as the character Dougie and his mum communicate through sign language.
James hopes the ABC’s rollout of Auslan for kids shows will expand further to include the back catalog of iconic programs such as Play School.
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After months of campaigning, he said seeing the change become reality was emotional.
“It was such a relief, knowing that our daughter would no longer be excluded from these core cultural experiences” he told Yahoo Lifestyle.
“What’s special is that she’ll grow up in the first generation of deaf kids who can watch the same shows as all Aussie kids.”
“She doesn’t know what any of this means yet. But one day she might look back and think, ‘Wasn’t it great that we pushed for this?’ And hopefully for kids like her, it’ll make a big difference.”
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