As Guyana works to implement the Persons with Disabilities Act, the Guyana National Broadcasting Authority (GNBA) has announced that it will be moving to require television stations to provide either a sign language inset or subtitles in at least one newscast daily, and for special programmes covering events of national significance.
This requirement will see broadcasters fulfilling the mandate of Section 26 of the Act, with calls for such measures to be implemented “within ten years of the coming into operation of the act or a later date that the minister may prescribe.”
A failure to comply with this provision is, according to the Act, an offence for which defaulters will be liable on summary conviction to a fine of $100,000 and a term of imprisonment of six months.
Noting that the law was enacted in 2012, GNBA head Leslie Sobers told broadcasters during a meeting on Friday that all things should be in place for compliance by 2022.
Locally, of some 50,000 people with disabilities, 9.1% or 4,406 have a hearing impairment and about 30% or 14,525 have a visual impairment.
