Regional News of Friday, 16 September 2005

Source: GNA

Assist the hearing impaired - GTV urged

Hohoe, Sept. 16, GNA - Mr Basiru Yusif, a teacher at the Volta School for the Deaf on Wednesday appealed to the Management of Ghana Television (GTV) to be passionate towards the hearing impaired in their programmes especially the news segment.

He therefore, urged GTV to reintroduce the style of news presentation in which summaries of items run across the base of the television screen to enhance the full participation by the hearing impaired. Mr Yusif, speaking to the Ghana News Agency at Hohoe said "anything short of this would mean marginalizing or denying the hearing impaired their right to information, education and entertainment." He observed that in the past GTV news segment from Dutche Welle (DW), Voice of America (VOA) and the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), had short statements following sound on the screen, which facilitated the hearing impaired to better understand the news.

Mr Yusif a regular viewer of GTV from childhood until he reached 15 had his hearing impaired as a result of a prolonged illness. He therefore, appealed to philanthropists, organisations and institutions to assist him to regain his hearing.