Add "learn the fundamentals of sign language" to the list of things you can do with Snapchat creative tools.
To celebrate the International Week of the Deaf, Snapchat released exclusive stickers and three augmented reality lenses that teach users the basics of fingerspelling in American Sign Language.
The initiative was spearheaded by Jennica Pounds, a deaf software engineer who works for Snapchat's Snap Lab. She said the lenses were inspired by the experiences of her son, who has struggled in the past to learn ASL. "I’m passionate about this technology because I truly believe it's going to break so many applications wide open. It's tech like this that will help families like mine communicate and grow together," Pounds wrote in the press release.
The various lenses approach fingerspelling in three ways. "Fingerspell Username" teaches users how to spell their own screennames. "Randomizer Fingerspeller" generates various words like "rainbow" or "flowers" for users to spell. And "Random Words" tests users quick recall of finger spelling. You can find the lenses in the "Lens Explorer" section (tap the little smiley face on the camera screen, then go to "Explore").
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The lenses were created with the development company SignAll, which designs AI technology for sign language recognition, translation, and education in order to connect the Deaf community with hearing people.
Before this week's launch, Snapchat had already integrated closed captioning and subtitles options to its Discover page. Expanding on these accessibility features, the new lenses and stickers (which feature Bitmojis using ASL) add a sense of representation within the app's many filters, games, and chat features. They were also created using guidance and feedback from Snapchat team members who are deaf or hard of hearing themselves. "We want all members of our community to feel as though our products are made for them — and that includes native signers," Snapchat wrote.
UPDATE: Sept. 21, 2021, 3:07 p.m. EDT A previous version of this story incorrectly referred to the new features as "filters."This story has been updated to reflect that these features are called "lenses."
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