Youku Launches Accessibility Theater for Visually Impaired Users

On December 3rd, International Day of Persons with Disabilities, Youku announced a partnership with the China Braille Library to build an accessible online video platform. This initiative addresses the needs of China's approximately 17 million visually impaired individuals who previously could not participate in online cultural consumption.

Youku has completed accessibility modifications to its mobile app, enabling screen readers to read module information by page units. Visually impaired users can now navigate and select their preferred films through voice guidance. The first batch of accessible content includes popular movies such as "Dying to Survive," "Pegasus," and "Detective Chinatown 2," available by searching "无障碍剧场" (Accessibility Theater) on Youku.

The collaboration plans to release 100 accessible videos within three years, combining the China Braille Library's expertise in accessible film production with Youku's technology, channels, and copyright resources. This makes Youku the first internet video platform in China to offer comprehensive accessibility services.

In 2018, Youku also launched a color blindness mode for users with red, green, or blue-yellow vision impairments, converting unrecognizable colors using a proprietary algorithm while preserving the original color palette. The initiative is part of the "读光计划" (Reading Light Plan), which also includes Alibaba Cloud's smart home solutions and DAMO Academy's OCR technology to further assist visually impaired users in accessing knowledge and information.