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Disability
is not Inability |
:: Office of the Public Communications to enable disability-friendly
government communication.
13th December 2006
The need for disability-friendly government communication cannot
be over-emphasised. Can the weekly government speech by the Spokesperon
be made inclusive? We had a chat with Mr. Cheboi the Training
Manager at the Office of Public Communications and
quite an enlightened open chap.
Deaf leaders including Washington were of the opinion
that there was need for more disability-friendly public information
as was the case during the Kenyatta Day Celebrations. It is important
that the deaf feel part of the government including political
parties. The idea was that as a first step, the Government Spokesperson
when speaking, speaks to all kenyans. "We need to find ways
to make inclusive public communications' said Washy.
We followed up this issue with the Office
of the Government Communications and through a letter sent
in some proposals for ways to make the Office more disability
-friendly. Among the proposals was to make the najivunia
kuwa mkenya in Kenya Sign Language. How many of the
deaf for example are proud to be kenyans? How can they be proud
if they do not see the same in their language. The government
we found out has made quite an effort since 2002, but do the disabled
people feel part and parcel of all the efforts? Are they even
aware?
Other proposals included that an interpreter be made always available
at the office of Government communications and especially during
the weekly public speech. We had a warm comprehensive discussioon
with Mr Cheboi on the beautiful lounge of KICC (the building need
to attract more revenue) who in the process learnt how to sign
I am Proud to be Kenya in KSL.
He had some tangible proposals which he found are directly attainable
in the short term. one included that all media houses should be
able to make captions
when they are broadcasting the speeches from the government spokesperson.
It was evident that we need to make more effort with the Media
houses to ensure they can for example caption on News bulletins.
The issue of a special pogramme with sign language interpretion
required more discussion.
It was also identified that there was need to have specific live
broadcasts of national interest to be made with sign language
interpretations. This was the case for the Kenyatta day celebrations.
The community would need to build an ability to help identify
which events would be broadcast in sign and how should the costs
be managed.
A review of the PWD ACT
2004 states that the communications of ALL media houses should
be interpreted to include people with special communication needs.
Section 39 of the Disability Act States: All television stations
shall provide a sign language inset or sub-titles in all newscasts
and educational programmes, and in all programmes covering events
of national significance.
It may take some time to be able to implement to the letter the
aspects of the ACT but there is need for broad casting stations
that are funded by the public to make the necessary efforts towards
inclusion.
Disabilitykenya.
Category: Inclusion,
education
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