30 April 2008
Improving accessibility of electronic media up for discussion
Australian Human Rights Commissioner, Graeme Innes, today warmly welcomed the announcement of a Discussion Paper on access to electronic media for Australians with a disability by Senator Conroy, Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy.
Commissioner Innes said, “Access to media such as TV, cinema, DVDs and the internet is an important part of all of our lives and yet, despite having the technical capacity to improve access, people with a disability still experience discrimination when it comes to enjoying entertainment or cultural events”.
The Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (HREOC) has worked with the disability community, and the TV, internet, cinema and DVD industries for a number of years to improve the accessibility of electronic media. This work has included improving the availability of captions which assist Deaf people and people with a hearing impairment.
More recently work has focused on Audio Description, which provides audible background information on what is happening visually on the screen or TV, to assist blind people to better understand the action.
“There have been many important improvements over the past few years, particularly in the area of captions for TV programs, but there are many areas where we clearly do not yet do as well as we should,” Commissioner Innes said.
“The release of this Discussion Paper allows us to look at how Australia compares with practices overseas and gives us an opportunity to map out future developments in partnership between Government, industry and the community,” Mr Innes said.
“Failure to grasp this opportunity will inevitably mean that people with a disability will have to rely on existing complaints processes to achieve change.”
Commissioner Innes said that he congratulated Senator Conroy for proceeding with this investigation and would encourage everyone interested in improving access to media to contribute their ideas to this discussion.
The Discussion Paper can be found at http://www.dbcde.gov.au/media_broadcasting/television/television_captioning/television_captioning_discussion_paper along with information about where to access alternative formats.
For more information on HREOC’s work in the area of media access see www.humanrights.gov.au/disability_rights/captioning.htm
Media contacts: Brinsley Marlay (02) 9284 9656 or 0430 366 529
