The absence of closed captioning on most local television programmes restricts the development of persons with hearing challenges, concerned members of the Jamaican deaf community have said.
Speaking via an interpreter, several young adults complained to The Gleaner they felt ignored by local television stations, particularly when news, as well as broadcasts on national issues, were aired, as it was difficult to understand without using an interpreter.
Kamar Groves cited a recent example involving Prime Minister Bruce Golding's broadcast on the extradition of former West Kingston strongman Christopher 'Dudus' Coke, when several deaf persons had to rely on 'pieces' of information to get the full story.
"A lot of my friends did not get the full information on what was happening. I have a friend who lives alone with no one who can hear, and who was depending on me," said Kamar. "I had to ask another person, who can hear, to get a piece and that is only way we can communicate."
Debbie Kennewell, an Australian national, who had arrived in Jamaica days prior to the passage of Tropical Storm Gustav, said she was clueless about the impending danger due to the lack of closed-captioned information on television.
Fortunately for Debbie, an interpreter with whom she was staying, was able to explain to her what was happening.
Closed-captioning technology, which has been used in American television programmes since the 1970s, become compulsory in television sets with screens 13 inches or larger on July 1, 1993, with United States Congress legislative approval.
Although deaf and hearing-impaired persons are typically able to view closed captioning on cable television programmes, this is absent on local television programmes
CVM TV was the first local television station to broadcast its newscasts using closed captioning.
However, members of the deaf community have said it is inconsistent and does not provide information for some news stories whenever it works.
Missing important details
Although many rely on mobile phones to exchange information via text messaging, they are limited to a maximum of 160 characters.
"We really can't get the full information and send the full information. It has to be broken and you miss a lot of important things," said Kamar Groves.
Groves' friend, Kevin McDonald, agrees, noting this sometimes results in the wrong information being circulated due to it being passed on one piece at a time.
Rian Gayle, who has lived and studied in the US, and who holds a US drivers licence, finds the absence of closed captioning on local television programmes extremely frustrating.
"I feel left out when watching television at home, especially when I see my brother and mother laughing, and there's no closed captioning, " said Gayle, who notes deaf persons have to be 'piecing' information together in order to get the full story.
Gayle, who said he recently wrote a new policy regarding closed captioning in Jamaica, said he plans to contact the Broadcasting Commission to see whether they could include it in their policy, making it mandatory for television stations to add closed captioning to their programmes.
However, Broadcasting Commission Executive Director, Cordel Green, told The Gleaner the issue regarding the use of closed captioning in local-television programming is not addressed in existing law.
He confirmed that the matter is currently being addressed through the Government's Digital Switch-Over policy, which takes into consideration the needs of persons with disabilities, and their inclusion in benefits gained from switching to digital-television broadcasting.