SPOKHAND - Official Partnership Announcement: Spokhand Joins Forces with the ICSD for the Tokyo 2025 Deaflympics

Aug 7, 2025

We are pleased to officially announce our strategic partnership with the International Committee of Sports for the Deaf (ICSD), the global governing body of the Deaflympics.

This collaboration represents one of the most significant milestones of the year for Spokhand, as we prepare to support and promote the Deaflympics Tokyo 2025, which will take place from November 15 to 26.

The Deaflympics are, for many, still underrecognized, yet they are equivalent in every way to the Olympic Games. They bring together over 6,000 Deaf athletes from across the world, and involve large-scale infrastructure and investment, with an estimated budget of 100 million dollars allocated for the Tokyo edition. This is a world-class sporting event, but dedicated entirely to the Deaf community.

About the Deaflympics and the ICSD

The Deaflympics are organized under the ICSD, which plays a role equivalent to the IOC for the Deaf community. Since their inception in 1924, the Deaflympics have remained one of the oldest and most respected international sporting events. They are also officially recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), which further confirms their legitimacy and global importance.

Despite this, Deaf athletes still face a lack of visibility, media coverage, and digital accessibility. That’s where Spokhand comes in.

A Global Campaign for Visibility and Accessibility

This partnership is not symbolic. It is the foundation of a major international communication and accessibility campaign that we are building from now until the end of the Deaflympics in November.

The goals of this campaign are threefold:

1. Promote the Deaflympics to a wider audience, through original, multilingual content;

2. Showcase Deaf athletes, their journeys, their sports, and their impact;

3. Demonstrate the power of AI-powered accessibility, using sign language avatars and international sign translation.

Our first video, released this summer, features a Deaf athlete signing in French Sign Language, combined with a 3D avatar translating into International Sign, and accompanied by English subtitles. This is the first time that such a format has been used to tell a Deaf athlete’s story at this level, a combination of native signing, avatar translation, and text accessibility, all in one.

And it’s only the beginning. We are currently producing a full series of videos, each one spotlighting a different athlete or key moment leading up to the Games. Our ambition is to reach global audiences and to shift the narrative around Deaf athletes from niche to essential.

Why This Matters to Spokhand

At Spokhand, our mission is to build the largest sign language database in the world, and to ensure that technology serves the Deaf community, not the other way around.

Partnering with ICSD is a clear demonstration of our commitment: we are here to work with institutions led by Deaf people, and to support global events that empower Deaf athletes and culture.

The Deaflympics are more than a sporting competition. They are a cultural and political statement: that Deaf people have the right to global recognition, to self-representation, and to accessibility that respects their language and identity.

Join Us in Tokyo

Our team will be on the ground in Tokyo from November 10 to 27. We will be attending key events, meeting with organizations and athletes, and producing content in collaboration with ICSD and local partners.

If you’re attending the Deaflympics and wish to collaborate, learn more, or simply connect with us in person, we invite you to reach out.

This is not a one-off project. It is the beginning of a long-term effort to build better, more inclusive technology, hand in hand with the Deaf community.

Our video

To kick off this campaign, we are proud to share the very first video in our series: an inspiring story featuring Hakim, a Deaf athlete, told in French Sign Language, with International Sign translation via avatar, and English subtitles.

Discover the video here: https://www.instagram.com/p/DM-PUrksVHc/