By Phitalis Masakhwe
Dependency and lack of privacy characterises the life of a majority of persons with disabilities.
They have to rely on others to read for them emails, letters, newspapers and even interpreting the world around them.
The case of Regional Oduor, a visually impaired philosophy lecturer at the University of Nairobi, best illustrates the issue. Oduor relied on other people, including his students, to read and research for him and that seriously compromised his work as a lecturer and doctoral student.
Courtesy of the World Bank Kenya initiative on access to information technology by persons with disabilities, he is now able to read and access resource materials online.
It is often stated that knowledge is power. Power is a set of relationships where one person has the ability or influence to control others and their actions, or situation and their likely outcomes. Those controlling others or such situations often do so because they possess information or authority that places them a in a superior position than those who do not possess it.
Knowledge, on the other hand, is general awareness or possession of information, facts, ideas, truths, or principles. Knowledge also presupposes communication of information and the storage and transmission of information, especially in an organised manner.
However, for this information to be useful and impart knowledge, and subsequently qualify to be or to give power, it has to be accessible.
While all efforts are being employed to bridge this digital divide particularly between developed and developing countries, little is being done to bridge gap between the disabled and non disabled. That the eventual empowerment and integration of persons with disabilities is pegged on many variables cannot be gainsaid.
But one variable that will determine the rapidity and quality of the same is the extent to which persons with disability, mainly those with sensory and intellectual impairment, access vital information.
Some of this information that is inaccessible could have life saving or threatening consequences. For instance, a lot of health information presented in regular print is not accessible to blind people. Critical information on HIV/Aids, including use of condoms, may be missed out. Critical safety information posted in inaccessible areas of a building may be of little or no value to a person with a physical disability.
Legal position
For people with disabilities, the ability to locate easily the services or facilities they wish to use and being able to move around them easily is very empowering. Accessible information and signage allows them to choose a suitable route and identify services points within the building where they can get further assistance or information to assist them.
On the other hand, information will need to be in Braille, large print, audio, or electronic text for people with visual impairment to be accessible. Luckily there now exists enabling legal framework locally and internationally to support this move.
The Persons With Disabilities Act 2003 is a great stating point. The act says, "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.
accessible information
The encouraging news is that all is not lost. Non-governmental agencies like African Braille Centre and the World Bank initiative on access to information by the disabled are changing the lives of millions of school children through brailing of educational materials to suit the needs of visually impaired children.
Government must lead on this not only through sanctioning violation of this principle but also ensuring that essential public information and communication is accessible to all.
The Media Council and owners’ can also help by making sure that as part of self regulation, their products reach all in partial execution of the requirement of the Persons With Disabilities Act 2003.
—The writer (Phitalis@lcd-enar.org) is a sociologist with a physical disability
