Florence University of the Arts proudly hosted Fulbright Scholar Madison McNair during the Spring 2025 semester. During her time with FUA, McNair conducted several guest lectures, she engaged in discussions with videography and digital media students to learn how to make their projects more accessible, and she worked alongside the university's Communications Office to develop an article for the student-run publication, Blending Magazine.

In the heart of Florence, during the Spring 2025 semester, Madison McNair quietly conducted groundbreaking work amplifying a community long overlooked–not through sound, but through sign. A Fulbright Research Scholar with a background in journalism and American Sign Language (ASL), McNair has taken her passion for media accessibility across the world to explore and expand the accommodations that are in palace in Italy for the Deaf community.

McNair's path to Florence was not from a route of meticulous planning. Rather, the result of curiosity, intuition, and a willingness to follow unexpected opportunities. A Georgia State University  graduate, she originally dreamt of becoming a news reporter. “That was the goal,” she said. After experiencing the harsh realities of breaking news mixed with the chaos of the COVID-19 pandemic, her aspirations shifted.

While fulfilling a foreign language requirement, Madison chose ASL and discovered something she never expected to find. “I fell in love with American Sign Language,” she said. That spark led to a unique role at Sign1News, one of the first stations in the United States to deliver news in sign language. The experience planted the seed for the goal to advocate for media accessibility on a global scale. 

Enter Fulbright.

McNair did not originally have the Fulbright Program on her radar. During a late-night search of a way to merge her passions of journalism and advocating for the Deaf community, she stumbled upon the opportunity. “I thought it was a scam at first,” she joked. With encouragement from Georgia State and her employer at Georgia Tech she applied to the Fulbright Program, and the rest is history.

Her Fulbright research focuses on the intersection of media and accessibility, particularly how Italian broadcast television accommodates the Deaf community. The journey has demanded flexibility. “Nobody was responding to my interview requests at first,” she admitted. That challenge led her to Rome, where she spent four months teaching ASL and journalism to children aged 6 to 11. The experienced, while unplanned, enriched her work and gave her research a practical, human-centered layer.

Back in Florence, Madison’s research continues through in-depth interviews with Deaf professionals, exploring how they engage with media and obstacles they face. One of her key findings was noticing the stark contrast between accessibility for hearing and non hearing individuals. Italy only offers sign language interpreters on TV during specific hours. Many of the people McNair interviewed rely on streaming services like Netflix and HBO because traditional Italian media fails to meet their needs. “They’re missing out on shared cultural moments,” she said. Examples like Super Bowl or major news events that are inaccessible in real time for many Deaf individuals .

The lack of access isn’t a coincidence, but rather instead rooted in historical injustice. In the 1880s, a conference in Milan infamously banned the use of sign language in education, claiming that spoken language was superior. “Only one of 164 delegates was Deaf,” McNair explained. “Decisions like that have long-lasting impacts.” Italy only officially recognzined Italian Sign Language (LIS) in 2021.

Despite the slow progress, McNair sees gilmmers of hope. HBO's recent efforts to offer ASL-interpreted versions of films like Barbie, Godzilla, and The Last of Us represent a meaningful step forward. Unfortunately such accessibility remains the exception, instead of the rule.

Throughout her time in Italy, McNair has come to appreciate not just the professional development the experience has offered, but the personal growth as well. “Florence exceeded my expectations,” she said, reflecting on her time living abroad for the first time. “The people are so friendly. I had lived in Atlanta my whole life. Moving here was scary, but so worth it.”

As her Fulbright term has come to a close, McNair doesn't know exactly what the future holds. Whether she’ll continue in education, advocacy, or return to journalism is still up in the air. One thing is for certain, right now she is exactly where she is supposed to be. Through her work, she’s not only conducting research, but building bridges between worlds that rarely meet and giving a voice to a community thats long been unheard.