Closed-captioning for hearing-impaired
Listening to the television plays a huge role in the lives of hearing-impaired person and one of the greatest advantages for these persons is the benefit from closed-captioning. This allows them to see text of what is being said on news programmes, television shows and movies.
The Guyana National Broadcasting Authority (GNBA) has plans to encourage local broadcasters to do closed-captioning for such persons, chairman of the agency, Leslie Sobers said. He said too that, kudos would be in order for broadcasting stations which employ the skill of signers for at least one major daily newscast, and for those who cannot undertake it daily but on specific times in the week.
Sobers gave a reminder of the Persons with Disabilities Act 2012, which stipulates that certain things must be put in place to assist persons with hearing disabilities. He, however, noted that there is no established school that teaches sign language and there are not many persons here who are versed in signing. As such, he said, it will be a bit of an unrealistic expectation for broadcasters to do signing immediately.
However, he reiterated that broadcasters who would go the mile to employ signers should be complimented. According to the GNBA chairman, the agency is also considering other ways of recognising broadcasters whose performance is well above the others. The ideas being floated include an awards ceremony, or for the recipients to be granted a discount in the payment for their licences.
Such recognition, he added, will also have a bearing on the broadcasters’ obligation to be always on top of the game and encourage others to emulate their performance. Sign language (also signed language or simply signing) uses manual communication and body language to convey meaning, as opposed to acoustically conveyed sound patterns. This can involve simultaneously combining hand shapes, orientation and movement of the hands, arms or body, and facial expressions to fluidly express a speaker’s thoughts.
Source: Guyana Chronicle
