Uganda
Oli otya. This is our story.
Our Constitution recognised sign language in 1995. Before almost anyone.
Access on this page: Signed: Ugandan Sign Language — pending How this page is tested
On 8 October 1995 Uganda's new Constitution told the State to promote the development of a sign language for the Deaf — one of the first two constitutions in the world to say so, after a campaign by the Uganda National Association of the Deaf. Twenty-five years later the Persons with Disabilities Act 2020 wrote the screen into law: section 12(4), every television station shall provide sign language insets in all newscasts. Many still do not, and no licence has been suspended for it. The law is ours, and was ours early. The delivery is what we build.
USL video — this story, in our language
A named Ugandan Deaf creator tells this page's story in USL. The video is the page, and the text is its transcript's cousin. This video existing is the reason this page is allowed to exist.
We were among the first to write it down.
Now we make it the first to be delivered — ourselves.
What do you want to do?
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I want access
Watch.Understand.Belong.
Television, film, and services — in USL, captions, or audio description.
Go -
I create access
Create.Get paid.Be seen.
Deaf signers, interpreters, captioners, audio describers — your work, your name, your income.
Go -
I provide access
One API.Every screen.
Platforms, governments, cinemas, companies — deliver real access with one integration.
Go -
I back access
Host.Sponsor.Invest.
The builders who will put a 1995 promise on the screen — be part of the firsts.
Go
More than one of these can be yours. The access is for you, and you can be paid to help make it.
Access in Uganda today
The law now says:
The State shall promote the development of a sign language for the Deaf — Constitution of Uganda, Objective XXIV, since 8 October 1995. Every television station shall provide sign language insets in all newscasts — Persons with Disabilities Act 2020, section 12(4). Government shall promote sign language and interpreters in all public institutions and at all government functions.
And we know the exhausting part: 'all newscasts' has meant, for many broadcasters, none — and no licence has been suspended for the breach. A law without a consequence is a request.
We wrote it down first. The delivery comes next — made by us. That is what ally is: Deaf and blind creators, paid to make the access — USL, captions, audio description — delivered to any screen.
In plain words
The law is on your side. What is missing is the service — and that is what gets built here, with the community.
Why captions alone are not enough → Why sign language
Talk to us
Tell us who you are
Write in your own language. We reply in it.
- Emailpartners@a11y.media
- Video messageSend a signed video — no writing needed
Contact us by form, email, or a signed video message — never voice-only.