Media Kit
What we talk about when we talk about Deafverse
About Deafverse
- Deafverse is a free, choose-your-own-adventure game that helps deaf youth develop self-advocacy, career readiness, and college readiness skills for high school and beyond. It’s the first game to be built by a deaf team in American Sign Language.
- Educational games have largely been inaccessible to deaf youth until Deafverse. The choose-your-own-adventure format of this game empowers them to make their own decisions and receive immediate feedback on those decisions, strengthening their self-determination, self-efficacy, and identity development.
Game objectives
- Address gaps in services for deaf youth
- Strengthen self-advocacy and self-determination skills
- Support college and career readiness
- Connect deaf youth with role models
The facts
- There are an estimated 265,774 deaf youth ages 14–22 living in the United States, according to our deaf youth data report.
- Many deaf youth are the only deaf person in their school or community, especially in rural settings, where they have reduced access to career-connected learning that typically happens in social networks. Thus, specialized interventions that target this population are necessary.
- A staggering 22.7% of deaf youth ages 16–24 are not going to school or working, which is nearly double the national average of 12.6%.
- Deaf Black, Indigenous, or Native American youth, as well as deafdisabled youth, experience the highest rates of disconnection.
- Around 50% of deaf youth have additional disabilities, and they benefit from multimodal and multilingual resources that allow them to engage with educational content in accessible and engaging ways.
- Only 54% of deaf people were employed in 2021, in comparison to 70% of hearing people in the United States.
- Deaf youth who play Deafverse report increased confidence in their ability to make decisions and advocate for themselves.
Media highlights
- NDC: Deafverse launch
- NDC: Revenge of the Deep launch
- NDC: Deafverse 3.0 launch
- NDC: Deafverse name sign contest
- Ars Technica: Breaking deaf stereotypes and normalizing sign language through gaming
- UT Alcalde: First-ever American Sign Language accessible video game launches on campus
- The Daily Moth: Deafverse segment
- KXAN: Exclusive first look: Austin team launches first ASL-accessible video game
- The Daily Texan: UT’s National Deaf Center develops first ASL-accessible video game
- @DidYouKnowThatASL IG interview with Kent
Images
Videos
- Deafverse trailer: Everyday we make choices
- Deafverse promo: ASL accessible online game for deaf teens
- Deafverse world trailers and promos playlist
- Duel of the Bots badge video playlist
- Revenge of the Deep badge video playlist
- Deafverse takeaways video playlist
- Decide, Act, Believe: Self-determination for deaf youth
FAQ
Have questions? We have answers. Check out our written FAQ, or watch the ASL version.
The team
The game was developed by a deaf team at NDC. Meet the team!
Press contact
Want to write about the game? Contact Zane Fleming, our game program coordinator.