Rebecca Atkinson: Why I created Ultra Access to give everyone a personalised access to TV (BSL)

Tell us about Ultra Access? What is it in a nutshell?

Mixmups with Ultra Access™ powered by Stornaway is a brand-new interactive TV innovation which allows viewers to mix up their own personalised viewing experience, taking TV access way beyond just subtitles, BSL and audio description. The service allows viewers to pick from a menu of features including low background sound, simplified pictures for easier visual tracking, key BSL signs to watch before an episode, and lots more! You can also get shortened storylines, emotional regulation support and a list sensory props, which means that a deaf child who is also autistic for example, can have personalised access, all with BSL overlaid. There are literally 1000s of ways to watch, whatever your child’s needs! It’s total TV magic!

Where did the idea come from?

I created the Ultra Access™ service alongside Mixmups, the pre-school stop-motion animation series I created and launched in 2023 on Milkshake! on 5. I wanted to ensure that all children could access the show.

As a deaf and visually impaired person myself, I knew that subtitles were no use for children who were too young to read English, and with most deaf children born into hearing families, many also didn’t have the BSL comprehension to follow the BSL interpreter. Many streaming services didn’t allow subtitles and AD to be used at the same time, despite some children having sight impairment and deafness. I felt that we needed to serve this audience better.

How long has it taken for it to become a reality /what’s the journey been?

Back in 2020, I had seen a show on Netflix called You vs Wild which used interactive TV technology to allow viewers to choose how the storyline progressed. You could click to send the presenter, Bear Grylls, up the mountain or down the valley.

I wondered if interactive TV tech could be used to allow people to make access choices. Could it be used to turn the BSL interpreter on or off, or turn down the background noise so you could concentrate on the dialogue? I contacted Stornaway, a Bristol based interactive Tech company who specialised in this area and together we have created Ultra Access™. From the initial idea, getting it commissioned by Milkshake! 5, raising the funding and getting the concept made and launched has taken around five years.

Is there a personal element to this?

I grew up partially deaf and didn’t get a TV with subtitles until I was 8. I can remember the magic of suddenly having full access. As an adult I had lost some of my vision which made me really think about how children with all sorts of disabilities access TV content. There hadn’t been any innovation in the TV access space since the 90s, and I wanted to move the service forwards. I think as a deaf and visually impaired Exec Producer, I have been in a unique position to be able to understand the language and viewing needs of a range of disabled viewers instinctively.   

What are your hopes for it now?

I hope people see the potential in Ultra Access and perhaps like many technological innovations of the past which have been led or inspired by deaf and disabled people, it will go on to be taken up by other productions and change lives for the better.

You’ve achieved so much in your work with children. What’s next??!!

There has been a huge change in kids’ industries since I founded the viral Toy Like Me campaign in 2015 which called for better representation for 150 million deaf and disabled children worldwide. I’m pleased to say you can now get Barbie with a hearing aid and many other diverse toys, there is a disabled-led mainstream brand in Mixmups with two lead disabled characters and now Mixmups with Ultra Access powered by Stornaway will give children unprecedented access to a TV brand.

I am currently developing a board game with the children’s book illustrator Kate Read, which celebrates the weird, wonderful and plain normal jobs held by over 80 deaf role models, I am running a Little Bear Club for deaf and CODA children 0-7 and a Bear Ear Clinic role play installation which tours schools in Norfolk as part of my non-profit work at Toy Like Me. I am about to sign a book deal for a range of very exciting children’s books, which I can’t say too much about at the moment, other than they will innovate in the publishing space with something very fresh and new! I love my job and it’s a privilege to be able to use my creativity to entertain, engage and celebrate all children.

Mixmups with Ultra Access powered by Stornaway can found here – https://www.channel5.com/show/mixmups-series