Tim Scannell, Accessibility Consultant:

Enhancing Access for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing by Focusing on Sign Language, Digital Accessibility, and Information Access for Everyone.

Image Description (Alt-text): A black-and-white linocut-style illustration shows a Deaf woman signing toward a simplified figure representing AI. The woman forms the “I-love-you / communication” handshape while her other hand rests open in front of her. She is drawn with realistic detail and a calm, focused expression. Opposite her, the AI figure is abstract and faceless, with a round head, glowing lines like rays around it, and the large letters “AI” printed on its chest. Th

There’s a growing push to use AI sign-language avatars in transport systems. But there’s a serious problem with how they’re being advertised: ❌ AI sign-language is NOT real-time ❌ It does NOT interpret live tannoy announcements ❌ It does NOT support urgent, live communication ❌ It is NOT equal access So why use the phrase “real-time translation” when it isn’t live? We need to question this — clearly and loudly. Image Description (Alt-text): A Deaf person stands alone among fa

Understanding Sign Language Technology AI and machine learning already power two main pathways: 1️⃣ Sign Language Recognition – translating signs into text or speech. 2️⃣ Sign Language Generation – producing signs or animations from text or speech. But there’s a third direction emerging — and it could change everything. The Future of Sign Language Interaction 🤖 Sign ↔ Gloss ↔ Sign Imagine this: A Deaf user walks up to a McDonald’s kiosk or activates Siri. They sign “COF

Recently, I’ve seen growing interest in tools like Sign-Speak and SignGemma — both exploring how AI can better understand sign language, not just display it. 🧠 Sign-Speak focuses on real-time sign-to-text and sign-to-voice translation, giving Deaf users and interpreters more direct ways to communicate.🤖 SignGemma , from Google DeepMind, explores sign language recognition using large-scale AI models. Out there, we already see many providers creating audio-to-text , tex