| NEW
DELHI: Prime time news of public broadcaster Doordarshan will now be made available
to the hearing impaired. The
government took this decision acting on a two-year-old plea that was filed by
the National Centre for Promotion of Employment for Disabled People (NCPEDP). As
per the new decision, while the news anchor reads the news, a running scroll or
sub-titles will appear at the bottom of the screen of the TV set to help the hearing
impaired read the news. Acting
on a two-year-old plea of the National Centre for Promotion of Employment for
Disabled People (NCPEDP), the government has agreed that while the news anchor
reads the news, a running scroll or sub-titles will appear at the bottom of the
screen of the TV set. Says
NCPEDP director Javed Abidi, “In other developed countries, sub-titling of
television programming is usual. Even the not-so-developed nations like Thailand
or Saudi Arabia are reaching out to their deaf citizens. But in India, the awareness
has been so low that our policy-makers did not even think of subtitling news as
an option. After we took it up as one of our demands on World Disability Day (3
December) last year, things started moving.” | 
