Our Impact

We believe in an equal, inclusive Aotearoa New Zealand. Funded by Irirangi Te Motu | NZ On Air, we’re passionate about turning New Zealand content into the shared experience it was made to be. So that everyone, whatever their access need or preference, can share the laughter, and enjoy the show.

880,000+

New Zealanders are Deaf or hard-of-hearing

180,000+

New Zealanders are blind or have low-vision

Able's direct impact in New Zealand

Statistics provided by NZ On Air and Turn On the Subtitles

Words made accessible through captions every week

2,750,000
+
Captions can double the chances of a child becoming good at reading

2
X
New Zealanders watch TV with captions

44
%
New Zealanders watch TV with audio description

9
%

Meet Ursula from Tāmaki Makaurau

Ursula has dark blonde curly hair, green eyes, she has a relaxed smile as she looks at the camera against a blue background.

"When I finally got access to captions, I would watch heaps of shows to make up for lost time. Even today, I love watching movies with captions. I just love it! I would absolutely refuse to watch a movie on TV that didn’t have captions. It’s so important, it must have captions."

Read Ursula's story

Meet Ari from Tāmaki Makaurau

Ari is standing, looking at the camera with a calm expression

"I'm blind. I have a genetic condition that is degenerative, so, when I watch a screen over long periods of time, I get really bad eye strain - I can get headaches and all sorts of bad things. Audio description is incredibly helpful - it's really groovy. It's a similar stream of information - it's just instead of a visual one, it's an audio one."

Read Ari's story

Meet Nancy from Christchurch

"While living in northern Queensland with just my 8-year-old daughter, there was a cyclone approaching and normal TV programs were replaced with the flashing sign “CYCLONE WARNING” - and nothing else. How far away? How soon? My daughter became scared and unable to tell me what the announcer was saying."

Read Nancy's story

How can you make a difference?

Able’s audio description and captioning services are free and available to any and all who need them. If someone you love could use them, pass on the message to switch them on.

How to access captions

We believe in a more inclusive Aotearoa.

Able. Making media accessible.