Protecting and Empowering Persons with Disabilities in the Context of the COVID-19 Pandemic
Written Report of the Video:
This is Yasunori Shimamoto attending an ESCAP webinar “Protecting and Empowering Persons with Disabilities in the Context of the COVID-19 Pandemic” on 15 May 2020 (Friday), 09:00 to 11:00, Thailand Standard Time via YouTube Live.
On behalf of the WFD RSA, I am happy to be invited to the webinar. One of the speakers mentioned the difficulties of PWDs during the COVID-19 epidemic. Governments of Asian countries should find ways to coordinate the needs of PWDs especially during these times of the epidemic. They should also be a part of the government’s work in response to keep up the communication. Ensuring disability rights and inclusion in the response to COVID-19 may not be easy to achieve, but it surely is crucial.
Due to the COVID-19 epidemic, the meeting is made a webinar format. Everyone including Deaf people can have a recap of the webinar with sign language interpretation which is convenient. However, the size of sign language interpretation was less than one-eighth of the screen. This ratio is quite small for Deaf people to be able to look at clearly. As an increasing number of webinars and virtual meetings will be expected, we would like to take this opportunity to stress the provision of sign language interpretation, and the ratio of sign language interpreting screen shall be standard and constant.
We suggest that the ratio of the screen percentage of sign language interpretation is better at 1:1 for equal access to information. Hearing people access messages mostly through auditory sounds but Deaf people by visual input. Enabling Deaf people to see clearly as hearing people need to hear clearly to receive information are equally important, regardless of the number of Deaf and hearing people there are. Besides, ensuring network stability can also help, not only Deaf people, but everyone understands smoothly and fully of this webinar.
Lastly, I’d like to thank the United Nations ESCAP for their thoughtful arrangements to make sure that no one is left behind. It was an excellent webinar.
Below is a link for your recap of the webinar:
https://www.unescap.org/…/webinar-protecting-and-empowering…
Here are some helpful notes for your reference:
Ensuring Disability Rights and inclusion in the response to COVID-19
https://www.unescap.org/…/ESCAP_Policy_Brief%20%28COVID-19_…
