Accessibility and Inclusion: “This Is Who We Are” — PBS Kids, a Role Model for All Media

For more than 50 years, PBS has worked to make its programming accessible to a broad audience. PBS KIDS applies that same mindset to children’s media and digital learning—designing shows and games so that kids with a range of disabilities can participate meaningfully. TGDNN’s News Director Karina Sturm spoke with Vice President of PBS KIDS Digital, Sara DeWitt, about PBS KIDS’ approach to inclusion and accessibility, and Sturm tested several educational games focused on math and science (and had a blast!).

Education and Access

When I press “start,” a boy hops onto a colorful slide, shouts out, ‘Wohoo,’ and glides down. A narrator—almost like a sports commentator—tells me what to do next. I can adjust the slide’s height and run the race again. When I increase the height, a block gets added to the slide and the narrator tells me it’s faster now. Cause and effect becomes tangible: more height means more speed.

A second slide appears with two children on it, slightly higher than mine, and the narrator tells me I want to finish the race first—so I need to adjust my slide again. As I level up, the game adds options that introduce friction: honey, ice, butter, and sand to accelerate or decelerate. When I make a mistake, I’m asked to try again, and I get guided toward the correct option. The learning stays playful, and the challenges get incrementally more complex. Even as an adult, I notice how clearly the game scaffolds the concept.

Slidea-ma-zoo

‘Slidea-ma-zoo’ is one of many games PBS KIDS has developed for children between the ages of 2 and 8. It’s based on PBS’s series ‘The CAT in the HAT knows a Lot About That!’ In the game, Nick and Sally race against Thing 1 and Thing 2 on two adjustable slides. Kids can change height and surface texture and learn about cause and effect through repeated experimentation.

What stands out is not that PBS KIDS makes educational games—many organizations do that—but that accessibility is treated as core design work rather than a last-minute layer. ‘Slidea-ma-zoo’ is fully captioned, and sound can be switched on or off. Other games include audio description or narrated guidance and offer options to change contrast, text size, and more.

When I start the interview, Sara DeWitt, Vice President of PBS KIDS Digital, tells me her kids are in the other room and that she hopes it’s OK if they might interrupt us. She is responsible for digital production and partnerships with PBS KIDS show producers, as well as developing games, streaming video, and maintaining the PBS KIDS website.

“We are very committed to being representative and accessible to as wide an audience as possible. That includes children with disabilities, but also kids across all socioeconomic backgrounds. We want kids to feel like they can see themselves in our shows and that they can play unfettered with our digital content in a way that allows them to learn and grow,” says Sara (see photo below).

Designing with kids, not just for kids

For PBS KIDS Digital, accessibility is not hypothetical. Games are tested early and often, including with children who have disabilities, so barriers show up while there is still time to redesign.

“We partner with many schools to go in to test with kids. Now that schools are closed, we do virtual testing. Even when our games are only at a paper-concept level, it goes in front of kids. Additionally, we have partnerships where we can test with kids with different abilities. The biggest one is with Johns Hopkins IDEALS,” Sara states.

IDEALS stands for ‘The Institute for Innovation in Development, Engagement, and Learning Systems’ at the Johns Hopkins School of Education. PBS also works with CAST, Indiana University Institute on Disability and Community, Harvard School of Education, and Northeastern University. The consistent theme is that PBS KIDS treats disability communities, researchers, and educators as partners in the production pipeline—not an audience they consult only after launch.

The design changes in ‘Slidea-ma-zoo’ show what that looks like in practice. “When we started testing the ‘Slidea-ma-zoo’ game with kids with visual impairments, we started to realize that we didn’t have enough contrast in how the slides were presented, and what the differences were when you put things on the slides. So we shifted the whole way we looked at the fine elements of the slides to make it more accessible. And if we hadn’t tested this with kids with disabilities, we might have not realized that we weren’t being as accessible as we could be even just in a basic design,” Sara explains.

A large catalog—and the reality of legacy accessibility

“We have more than 200 games that were built over the last 15 years, so I wouldn’t say that they are all accessible to all children. Part of it is that technology has changed. They may have been accessible one time, but now because of the different ways that things are presented, they aren’t all. But we are actively working to make as many of them as accessible as possible,” Sara says.

Alongside ongoing remediation, PBS KIDS works with advisors to establish standards and train producers in universal design for learning. Sara references work connected to the Ready to Learn initiative (a partnership involving the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and the U.S. Department of Education) and the way PBS KIDS uses advisors to pressure-test decisions. “And if we have something we aren’t sure about, we even take it to an outside advisor,” Sara adds.

Accessibility 2.0: Railway Hero

Some PBS KIDS games go beyond baseline features like captions and audio description and build accessibility and learning supports deeply into gameplay. One prominent example is ‘Railway Hero,’ developed by THIRTEEN (WNET), PBS’s member station in New York, as part of the show ‘Cyberchase,’ which focuses on math.

“Channel THIRTEEN worked closely with Bridge multimedia to think about how it could be accessible to kids with physical and cognitive disabilities. One of the specific things they built in were customizable screen display options that meant adjustable text size but also color and contrast, as well as audio control options and voice-overs,” Sara explains.

The game includes multiple layers of access and support: options for blind and visually impaired players (including keyboard controls and audio features), captions and other tools for deaf and hard of hearing players, and in-game learning supports so kids can get hints and guidance without being pushed out of the experience. PBS also considered sensory needs by allowing kids to adjust music to reduce the risk of overload.

Real-time contextual feedback: Fish Force

Another design choice that can be accessibility-relevant is adaptive feedback—games that respond to a player’s learning needs in real time, rather than assuming a single “correct” pace.

‘Fish Force’ is a science game where the player launches fish with a cannon onto ice, hits a stuffed animal, and nudges it into a target area—almost like curling. I can adjust the force and the angle of the launcher. As I progress, the game introduces additional variables: obstacles on the playing field, moving penguins, or surfaces like sand that add friction and reduce speed. Each new element expands what the player needs to consider.

When I miss my target—which happens often—I shout out ‘Nooo,’ and Ruff, the narrator, asks me if I am sure the amount of force I used was correct. The game doesn’t just mark me wrong; it nudges me back toward the underlying concept.

“Children need to formulate a hypothesis, and then test it. We wanted to see if we could get this principle across while also helping them understand different kinds of forces and motions. As we built the game with WGBH in Boston, we tried to identify specific places where kids would demonstrate their knowledge of the concept within the gameplay. If they were to master the first level just like that, then the game would jump up a few levels to meet their skills and adapt the challenge. Within those levels, the feedback is also adjusting depending on what they did accurately or what required some more attention or hint,” Sara explains.

Access for children with autism

In PBS KIDS content, characters’ emotions are often labeled and expressed clearly. In the ‘Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood’ app, for instance, children can take a photo of themselves mimicking a character’s facial expression—turning emotion recognition into interactive play.

“We have heard from a few producers that the eye shape and the ability of the character to express emotions has been resonating with children on the autism spectrum,” Sara says.

7-year-old Bridget

Bridget is seven years old, autistic, and additionally has ADHD and anxiety. She loves to bake apple crisp, pumpkin pie, Rice Krispies, and sugar cookies. She also doesn’t enjoy math homework. “I need fun math,” she says.

When I ask her what she means, she explains, “You just have fun while you are doing it. You do it in a fun way. You could do it with sweets. Say, you have ten cheese crackers and ten goldfish. How many does that make? 20!”

Bridget’s media preferences are specific: she likes shows that teach, shows with lessons, and shows that translate learning into stories she can follow. “My favorite show is ‘WordGirl,’” she says. “’Cause she likes to teach people about stuff. So people know the right thing to do. If they want to say a sentence, they might use some of the words that she teaches us to use.”

She also loves ‘Pinkalicious’: “I like that she learns a lesson after she has done something,” Bridget explains. She watches ‘Wild Kratts’ and remembers facts she learned from it: “They teach us about animals. In one show, they taught us about flamingos; that they aren’t pink when they are born, but white,” Bridget explains.

If she could be any character, she would choose Aviva Corcovado from ‘Wild Kratts’: “She makes creature power suits to transform into animals. They just put the power on and become the animal,” Bridget lets me know.

Her favorite game is ‘Ready Jet Go!’: “it’s like a video game. There is this maze, and you have to jump, get coins, and stars, and fly, and pretty much everything,” Bridget says. She also likes the ‘Pinkamagine Fashion’ creator: “You get to choose your outfit, and then you can decorate it any way you want. And they take a picture, and you choose a background,” Bridget illustrates.

When I ask about her future, she surprises me with how clear her priorities are:

“Job?! Well, I would like to be a happy artist. I would just like to work at a happy place and make kids smile. I can draw them, and I can draw what they want to be. I use things that I have and make something pretty.”

Representation matters: disability

Access is about whether kids can use the content. Representation is about whether kids can recognize themselves in it—and whether disability is portrayed as a natural part of human variety rather than a plot device or stereotype. “We feel very strongly about making sure that kids can see a positive representation of themselves, not a stereotype. So there are several shows that feature characters with disabilities,” Sara says.

In ‘Hero Elementary,’ the main character is on the autism spectrum and uses headphones to manage sensory overload. In ‘Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood,’ a girl named Chrissie wears braces and uses crutches, and episodes talk directly about how her braces help her walk. A song line in one episode centers sameness and difference: “In some ways we are different, but in so many ways we are the same,” explaining that Chrissie might look different while still enjoying the same things as Daniel and his friends.

‘Arthur’ is another example with multiple storylines about disability and mental health. The character Buster lives with asthma. Carl is described in the show as having autism. The episode ‘When Carl Met George’ explores how situations can feel different for Carl compared to other children. The show also includes Brian, who experiences trauma and recurring anxiety after a hurricane, with episodes showing him talking to a therapist and learning strategies to calm himself when overwhelmed.

“These characters are not just developed in a vacuum. It’s not writers in a room developing it. The producers themselves, who create the content, work with outside advisors and with communities to make sure that they are representing things accurately. Additionally, through the partnership with the US Department of Education, we have been able to provide advisors to contact when we are representing children with different abilities,” Sara states.

Molly of Denali

PBS KIDS also emphasizes representation beyond disability, including Indigenous storytelling and gender equity. “WGBH Boston produced ‘Molly of Denali’ in partnership with native Alaskan writers and production partners because we wanted to make sure that the characters were really authentic and representing Alaskan native values. That’s what we are thinking about when we are developing new shows: Which audience is not being represented on TV right now, and how can we help showcase their voices in a way that is authentic and true to their cultures?” Sara says.

Sara also points to a familiar industry myth about audiences and gender—and PBS KIDS’ view that compelling storytelling matters more than outdated assumptions. “For a long time, a lot of children shows were more likely to feature a boy character. There are myths in the industry that girls will watch boys, and boys will watch boys, but boys will not watch girls. And I think we have proven a few times that that’s not the case. Young boys will watch stories that feature girls. It comes down to two things: making sure that the story is compelling and that we feature relatable characters,” Sara adds.

17-year-old Ethan

Ethan is 17 years old and is on the neurodivergent spectrum due to his language processing difficulties. He loves playing with his Nintendo Switch, cooking, and playing music. In loud or crowded environments, understanding speech becomes harder.

“It’s kind of hard because I struggle to understand what everyone is saying when it’s too crowded or noisy. I have to go to a school far away, and do a lot of other things after school, like music, tutoring, and occupational therapy,” Ethan says.

His mom, Christine, says he found ways to make media work for him early on. “After watching me log his sister onto the computer to play games with a friend, he logged himself on, turned on closed-captioning, and kept replaying until he taught himself what was being said,” Christine explains.

She also remembers a moment that shows how determined he was to access language:

“later that summer, his grandmother called a bit upset because she had been charged unfairly by the cable company. We laughed when we figured out the reason was that Ethan had subscribed to the Spanish channel to access closed captioning in Spanish,” Christine explains.

Ethan enjoys PBS shows that turn problem-solving into stories. He likes ‘Odd Squad’: “I like when agents fix odd problems, which are math problems. I like to solve the problems along with the actors. I wish I could be an agent! I would be Agent Orion, and I would be in charge of the Maintenance Company because they are really busy fixing household objects all of the time,” Ethan says.

He also likes ‘Super Why’: it “teaches a lot of vocabulary, and I like it when they jump into books to find out how they can solve problems based on the moral of the story. I love the idea of knowing different morals.”

Christine says those lessons shaped how he relates to others: “He is always talking about being a good friend,” even though he had painful experiences as a child. Ethan recalls being excluded after an injury: “Worse was that no one would play with me and the kids teased me because my arms were in casts all the way up to my armpits,” Ethan remembers.

Christine describes how media helped him through that period: “TV shows were his only connection, and when the casts finally came off, Ethan immediately danced and sang along to PBS shows,” Christine says.

When I ask Ethan what he wants to do after school, he answers with a goal that loops back to the entire premise of PBS KIDS: “I would want to be a cartoon writer and write some great shows for kids to watch and learn.”

PBS, a role model

PBS’s accessibility story is long, and it is tied closely to public broadcasting’s role in developing and normalizing accessible media practices in the U.S. PBS member station WGBH in Boston is widely recognized as a pioneer in captioning; one early milestone was an open-captioned broadcast in 1972. Over time, captioning evolved into regularly scheduled closed captioning and broader accessibility expectations across media.

Sara describes accessibility as something PBS KIDS has been thinking about for decades, including early web accessibility: “I have been at PBS for 21 years, and in the first year, we were talking about making a new website for children accessible to families using screen readers. We thought about how to use ALT text to help children to access our site,” Sara says.

“It’s been in the DNA of our organization from the very beginning.”

All images: PBS

This story was first published at Ability Magazine and adapted for this website.