Netflix published an accessibility update on Global Accessibility Awareness Day, May 21, 2026, with a figure that reframes the subject: nearly a third of its members worldwide use accessibility tools and features to find and watch what they want. That is not a minority use case at the edge of the product.
Search by Language is the interface change
The headline feature is Search by Language, rolled out this year, which lets members find shows and films by language and by accessibility feature directly from the search bar on any device. The distinction matters: previously the question was whether a title supported subtitles, dubbing or audio description; now that support is something a member can search on rather than discover after opening a title.
Netflix ties this to how its catalogue is actually watched. A decade ago non-English series and films accounted for less than a tenth of viewing; today it is more than a third, and in 2025 70% of viewing came from members watching a title from a country other than their own. Language handling is not a localisation afterthought at those proportions.
Audio description grew by a measurable amount
The most concrete number in the update is audio description coverage. Netflix says it added more than 13,000 hours of audio description across 34 languages during 2025, an increase of over 30% year on year. Shows and films across the service carry subtitles, subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing, audio description and dubbing in more than 30 languages.
Netflix names Squid Game and Adolescence among the most watched titles with subtitles, and Wednesday and When Life Gives You Tangerines among the most watched by members using dubbing or audio description — which indicates these features are being used on the service's largest titles rather than a specialised corner of the catalogue.
ASL is promised without a date
Netflix says it looks forward to supporting more languages, including bringing American Sign Language to the service in the near future. No date, no scope and no indication of how many titles that would cover accompany the statement, so it is an intention rather than a commitment.
The company also curates an Amplifying Accessibility Awareness collection each year, highlighting stories about the perspectives of people living with disabilities. All figures here are Netflix's own, published without an external audit, and NexusGG has not independently measured feature coverage.
