Why are people who have hearing loss excluded?

There is a mistaken train of thought that says that television news broadcasts are accessible to persons who have a hearing impairment or deafness. This is not true. At least, not for the majority of these individuals.

The basis of the NCPD’s request for all television news broadcasts, public service announcements, opening of Parliament and related speeches to be captioned, is so that over 4 million South Africans who have hearing loss and who don’t use South African Sign Language (SASL), can have equal access to breaking news alongside their fellow citizens. According to the World Report on Hearing, 20% of South Africans (12,4 million) have some form of hearing loss, of which 4,1 million are persons with a hearing disability. Of these, approximately 600 000 are Deaf and use SASL to communicate, while the remaining 4 million are those who are excluded from accessing television news broadcasts.  This group includes older persons – 1 in 3 people over the age of 60, and 2 in 3 people over the age of 70 – who experience age-related hearing loss and who typically prefer using hearing devices, assistive hearing devices and/or captions, above SASL.

So why has this much larger group been excluded?

There are a few possible answers to this. On the part of society –

1. Lack of awareness and understanding

The general public doesn’t understand the diversity that exists within hearing impairment or deafness (lower case “d”) especially as hearing loss is not always visible. Decision-makers like architects, planners, access consultants and the like often don’t have knowledge of accessibility principles, and are incorrectly inclined to view SASL as “one size fits all” option.

2. Hide behind the building regulations

The current SABS 0246 Accessibility of Buildings to Disabled Persons, still in it’s first edition and dated 1993, makes little mention of any accessibility besides that for wheelchair users. Alongside that, the SANS 10400 Application of the National Building Regulations Part S: Facilities for persons with disabilities (2011) is much more detailed, but is now also out of date and urgently in need of updating. Thankfully these regulations are presently being reviewed.

3. Role-players don’t grasp the prevalence of hearing impairment or deafness*

Wheelchair access has had decades of advocacy, resulting in greater accessibility than for any other category of impairment. Sadly, the same cannot be said of accessibility for those individuals WHO HAVE a hearing impairment or deafness* Role-players often believe that the greatest accessibility need is for wheelchair users, as they aren’t aware of the actual numbers of persons with hearing loss, and the impact that inaccessible environments, communication and information systems have on their quality of daily life.

4. Changes viewed as too expensive

An excuse we hear many times is that the cost of changing current information and communication systems to be accessible to this marginalised group is prohibitively expensive and not worth the financial outlay for the “small” number of people it will benefit. This again shows the lack of understanding of the high number of people affected by hearing impairment.

 

From the individual’s viewpoint, there are other factors, namely –

1. Lack of hearing devices, technology and assistive hearing devices

There is a global lack of adequate provision of hearing devices and related equipment.  Studies have shown that of the vast number of people requiring an assistive hearing device, approximately 15% actually receive one. This can be attributed to demand far outweighing supply, and the high cost related with these devices which are often unaffordable.

2. Prevailing stigma

Hearing aids and related devices carry tremendous stigma, often perpetuated by suppliers and medical professionals who market products as being “small and unnoticeable”. This is not the case with other groups of persons who have impairments.

3. Personal denial

The average length of time it takes someone to acknowledge that they have a level of hearing impairment and agree to have a hearing evaluation, is 7 years. Without a suitable hearing device, the individual has no way to access information that is purely audible.  On the other hand, society’s continual ignorance and exclusion is the main contributing factor that people choose not to disclose, in an effort to protect their self-esteem.

 

This is still a tremendous amount of work to be done in raising awareness of the true situation facing individuals who are disabled by inaccessible systems, but we as the NCPD are committed to continuing to speak publicly, making sure that role-players will ultimately understand and take active steps to end this discrimination.