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! Maligayang pagdating.
The law says FSL. The country is still catching up.
Filipino Sign Language is the national sign language by law. Two city ordinances are moving with a11y as technical partner. Here is what is real, and what changes next.
This page in Filipino Sign Language
Signed by a Deaf FSL creator from the Philippines, credited by name. Recording for launch.
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
- Being sourced
- Blind and low vision
- Being sourced
- Sign language
- Filipino Sign Language (FSL) · ISO 639-3: psp
- People who sign it
- Being sourced
- Interpreters
- Being sourced
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.
Not counted
The only official national directory of sign language interpreters lists 69 names for the entire country.
That absence is itself the finding — a country cannot staff what it has never counted. What we do know applies everywhere: Captions run at 140–230 words per minute; median Deaf comprehension is around 100–140 — and comprehension falls as caption rate rises.
Why captions are not enough · Send us a real interpreter count
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.
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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.
What is already happening here
Real specifics only.
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.
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.
We are still sourcing this country's rights information. Help us get it right.