Grant-supported research
a11y's pre-operating R&D was supported by a DOST research grant and a Quezon City grant.
Receipt: company fact
Philippines · Pilipinas
Kumusta. Kuwento natin ito.
Our cities gave us free movie tickets.
To movies that still don't speak our language. No FSL. No captions. No audio description.
Being invited is not the same as being let in.
So we are building the way in — ourselves.
This page in Filipino Sign Language
A named Deaf Filipino creator tells this page's story in Filipino Sign Language. The video is the page; the text is its transcript's cousin.
Where the Philippines stands
Closer than it looks.
In plain words
Here is who lives here and what reaches them. Some of it already works. Where a number is missing, we say so instead of guessing.
Narito kung sino ang nakatira dito at ano ang nakakarating sa kanila. May ilan nang gumagana. Kung walang numero, sasabihin namin — hindi kami manghuhula.
Every figure carries its source and says what it measures. Send us a better source and we will use it.
- Deaf and hard of hearing
- 8 million Sourcea11y's working figure for Deaf and hard-of-hearing Filipinos. The national audiometric survey — measured rather than self-reported — separately found moderate or worse hearing loss in 14.7% of adults aged 18–65, 49.1% of adults over 65 and 7.5% of children.a11y, from Philippine Deaf community and partner data, 2026
- Blind and low vision
- 3.5 million Sourcea11y's working figure. The national blindness survey put visual impairment at 1.98% of the population, with cataract alone accounting for 1.06% — a narrower clinical measure than this one.a11y, from Philippine disability sector data, 2026
- Functionally illiterate
- 30% of adults SourceFunctional illiteracy — being unable to use reading and writing for everyday tasks — rather than the inability to read at all, which is far rarer here. Consistent with the order of magnitude reported by the national functional literacy survey.a11y, from Philippine functional literacy data, 2026
- Sign language
- Filipino Sign Language (FSL) · ISO 639-3: psp
- People who sign it
- Under 1 million SourceA small fraction of the Deaf and hard-of-hearing population, which is the pattern everywhere: most people with hearing loss do not sign. An earlier count recorded about 121,000 signers in 2008.a11y, from Philippine Deaf community data, 2026
- Interpreters
- About 1,000 certified SourceCertified interpreters, which is a wider measure than any published register. The only official national directory lists 69 names for the whole country — a voluntary, self-enlisted list and a floor, not a census. The two numbers count different things and the gap between them is itself worth knowing.a11y, from Philippine interpreter sector data, 2026
The gap, in one number
There are not enough interpreters. There were never going to be.
Interpreters are skilled professionals and there will never be enough of them to cover every film, lesson, clinic visit and news bulletin. That is not a criticism of interpreters — it is arithmetic.
Recorded sign language does not replace an interpreter in a hospital room. It covers the enormous amount of content no interpreter was ever going to be booked for — so the interpreters go where only a person will do.
1 : 8,000
One qualified interpreter for every 8,000 Deaf and hard-of-hearing people.
8,000,000 Deaf and hard-of-hearing Filipinos ÷ 1,000 certified interpreters. We show the arithmetic because the two numbers come from different places.
Promised, and delivered
Compliant isn't the same as understood.
The Philippines has already written much of this into law. The distance between the promise and the ordinary day is where we work.
In plain words
The FSL Act promised sign language on the news, in schools and in government offices. Some of it arrived. Most of it has not.
Ipinangako ng FSL Act ang sign language sa balita, sa paaralan, at sa mga opisina ng gobyerno. May dumating na ilan. Karamihan, hindi pa.
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The law says
TV news and public affairs must carry a Filipino Sign Language interpreter inset.
And it works
All three major evening newscasts now do — before the law only one did. Deaf viewers say the inset is often too small to follow comfortably, and no regulator has published a compliance audit.
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The law says
Filipino Sign Language is the medium of instruction in deaf education.
Republic Act 11106; Department of Education figures reported by Bulatlat
In practice
One government school serves Deaf students exclusively, reported to have two Deaf teachers. The education department does not track how many teachers nationwide can sign.
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The law says
Nothing required a way to call for help without a voice.
In practice
There was none for years. A unified 911 with texting for people who cannot speak began rolling out in September 2025, region by region. There is no video relay service.
Ayuda is not access. It gives a man a fish, not a path toward fishing for himself.
An ordinary day
Today, and when this works.
Not emergencies. Ordinary days in the Philippines, as they are now — and as they already are somewhere else.
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The evening news
Today
An FSL interpreter appears in the corner of all three major newscasts — the law worked. Deaf viewers say the box is often too small to follow comfortably.
When this works
An inset big enough to read, on every bulletin — and on the films and lessons after it.
-
School
Today
One government school in the country serves Deaf students exclusively. It is reported to have two Deaf teachers. Nobody counts how many teachers nationwide can sign.
When this works
FSL taught by Deaf teachers, in more than one school, in more than one city.
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Calling for help
Today
For years there was no way to reach emergency services without a voice. A texting option arrived in September 2025 and is still rolling out.
When this works
One number, nationwide, that answers without a voice — as emergency lines elsewhere already do.
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Finding an interpreter
Today
The national directory lists 69 interpreters. Outside Luzon, eight cities appear on it at all.
When this works
Recorded FSL covers the films, lessons and notices no interpreter was ever going to be booked for, so those 69 go where only a person will do.
None of the right-hand column is hypothetical. Every part of it already works in some country — a signed news bulletin, an emergency line that answers without a voice, Deaf teachers in a Deaf school. Just not all of them in the same one.
Where we are
And it's working.
In plain words
Here is what has actually happened: research supported by government grants, a pilot in a Deaf school community, and two city ordinances moving with a11y as the technical partner. Next: cinemas.
Ito ang totoong nangyari na: pananaliksik na sinuportahan ng gobyerno, isang pilot sa isang komunidad ng paaralan ng mga Bingi, at dalawang ordinansa ng lungsod kasama ang a11y bilang technical partner. Susunod: mga sinehan.
A Deaf school community
A telco-funded 2021 pilot brought the platform to a Deaf school community of about 800 users.
Receipt: company fact
Two ordinances
Parañaque's healthcare-accessibility ordinance passed first reading, and its cinema-accessibility ordinance passed first reading, with a11y as technical partner.
Receipt: Sangguniang Panlungsod ng Parañaque records
What changes next
Months, not years.
In plain words
Three things we and the community can put in front of people quickly. Each one is already built — it needs a city, a screen, and creators who get paid.
Tatlong bagay na mabilis naming maipakita kasama ang komunidad. Gawa na ang bawat isa — kailangan lang ng lungsod, ng screen, at ng mga creator na binabayaran.
What one LGU signs, 1,714 more can copy.
The first accessible screening
One cinema, one city, every screening accessible — with the receipts published. The cinema-access ordinance has already passed first reading.
Paid FSL creators
Deaf Filipinos signing films, lessons and public information, and being paid for it. The delivery layer exists; what it needs is FSL in it.
A signed news digest
A regular summary in FSL by paid Deaf creators — small enough to start this year, and how a creator community starts earning.
Who this gets built with
We did not arrive to an empty room.
Deaf Filipinos have been organising, teaching and campaigning for decades. Our work here belongs alongside them, not in front of them.
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Philippine Federation of the Deaf (PFD)
Deaf-led
The national umbrella federation of Deaf organisations, founded in the 1990s by Deaf leaders and a member of the World Federation of the Deaf.
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Pinoy Deaf Rainbow
Deaf-led
The first Filipino Deaf LGBT association, established 2010.
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Benilde School of Deaf Education and Applied Studies
Deaf higher education in Manila since 1991, running the country's first degree in sign language interpreting. A mixed Deaf and hearing institution.
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Philippine Deaf Resource Center
Research-based advocacy on FSL linguistics, education and policy since 2001. Founded by a hearing linguist; listed here because the work matters, not because it is Deaf-led.
These organisations are not a11y partners — they are the people already doing this work here. If we come to this country, it should be alongside them.
People signing in FSL today
This list names real people, so it publishes only once each of them has been checked. Suggest a creator we should include.
Start something
Working with local partners.
LGUs are not unwilling. They just do not have the solution.
Maging creator
Create.Get paid.Be seen.
Sign, caption or describe in FSL, Filipino or English. Deaf creators come first.
GoPartner with us here
Broadcast.Screen.Serve.
Broadcasters, cinemas, schools and services: deliver FSL to your audience.
GoFor LGUs and government
Mandate.Budget.Service.
Ordinance templates, procurement-ready framing, and a contact that answers.
GoI back access
Host.Sponsor.Invest.
Cities, cinema chains, brands, distributors and investors — be part of the firsts.
Go
Know your rights
What you are entitled to here.
In plain words
These are things Philippine law already says you can ask for. If you have been refused any of them, that refusal was against the law — not a favour you were denied.
Ito ang mga bagay na sinasabi na ng batas na maaari mong hingin. Kung tinanggihan ka sa alinman dito, labag iyon sa batas — hindi iyon pabor na ipinagkait sa iyo.
Written plainly, with the law behind each one linked as a receipt. This is the part of the page we would most like a Deaf Filipino organisation to check and correct.
- Your language
Recognised as the national sign language of the Filipino Deaf, and the official sign language of government.
Republic Act 11106 (Filipino Sign Language Act): FSL in deaf education, interpreter insets on TV news, courts, and state hospitals.
Official Gazette of the Philippines — Republic Act No. 11106
- On television
Yes. All three major evening newscasts now carry an FSL interpreter, as the FSL Act requires.
Before the law only one network did it. Deaf viewers report the inset is often too small to read comfortably, and no regulator has published a compliance audit.
Talastasan: A Philippine Journal of Communication and Media Studies
- At school
10,264 Deaf learners are enrolled in special-needs education. One government school serves the Deaf exclusively.
The FSL Act makes Filipino Sign Language the medium of instruction in deaf education. The Philippine School for the Deaf, founded 1907, is reported to have two Deaf teachers on staff; the education department does not track how many teachers sign.
Department of Education figures for school year 2023–24, reported by Bulatlat
- In an emergency
Only just. A unified 911 service launched in September 2025 with texting for people who cannot speak, rolling out region by region.
Before that there was no way to reach emergency services without voice. There is no video relay service. Coverage, and whether it is reaching Deaf Filipinos, is not yet independently reported.
Unified 911 launch, Department of the Interior and Local Government with PLDT