The mainstream and community-based electronic media houses in Tanzania Mainland and Zanzibar Island are isolating persons with hearing impairment from climate news by not hiring sign language interpreters.

In the wake of global climate threats and the rise of Generative Artificial intelligence (GenAI), the electronic outlets keep distance from encompassing people with hearing impairments in accessing information regardless of being deemed as a constitutional right.

The denial incident does not stop at Tanzanian and African media houses but also within the renowned global giant media houses.

Article 18 (b) of the Constitution of the United Republic of Tanzania 1977 guarantees every person within the country a right to seek, receive and or disseminate information regardless of national boundaries.

In the same vein, Section 5 (1) of the Access to Information Act 2016 requires every person to have the right of access to information which is under the control of the information holders.

The Universal Declaration on the Rights of Disabled Persons, adopted by the United Nations (UN) in 1975, outlines social, economic, civil, and political rights for people with disabilities, emphasizing their right to equal treatment and participation.

In Tanzania, the mainstream and community-led outlets are denying persons with hearing impairment a right to climate-related information to be accessed through television environmental programmes because they are not obligated to by existing laws and regulations.

An investigation uncovered that existing legislations are too general and blunt instruments to hold accountable media owners and advertisers to hire sign language interpreters.

The Ministry of Information, Communication, and Information Technology budget speech for financial year 2024/25 shows that television stations in Tanzania Mainland increased from 65 in April 2023 to 68 April, 2024 an equivalent of 4.6 percent.

On the other hand, the Quarterly Communications Statistics report for the quarter ending December 2024 by the Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority (TCRA) shows that there were 199 licensed online television outlets as of December 2024 alongside 58 Cable Television.

Truth reveals that climate programmes on television and online television are selective to persons with hearing impairment.

This journalist has learned that only four TV stations in Tanzania Mainland have hired sign language interpreters specifically assigned for interpreting news programmes but not for other programmes such as climate change and the environment.

Only two religious cable television stations have hired sign language interpreters, denying people with hearing impairment a right to access news.

None of the online television has hired an interpreter regardless of the fact that 12 online televisions have over one million subscribers which can be translated as reaching a big audience.

Investigations further uncovered that as for Zanzibar Island, there are only three television stations with sign language interpreters alongside four cable television stations.

According to the Tanzania Basic Demographic and Socio-Economic Profile Volume 4A derived from the 2022 Tanzania Population and Housing Census results (PHC) and released in April 2024, at least 27.3 percent of the households in Tanzania own a television set.

The ownership is higher in Zanzibar Island at 45.8 percent compared with Tanzania Mainland 26.8 percent. Analysis by the place of residence indicates that urban areas have a higher proportion (43.2 percent) of households with television sets than rural areas (16.9 percent).

Across regions, Mjini Magharibi has the highest proportion of households owning television (63.6 percent), followed by Dar es Salaam and Kilimanjaro at 51.8 percent and 37.8 percent, respectively.

On the other hand, Kigoma (15.1 percent), Manyara (17.9 percent) and Simiyu (17.9 percent) have the lowest.

The total population in Tanzania is estimated at 61.7 million people as of 2022. 

There are 5,347,397 persons with disabilities in Tanzania (Mainland and Zanzibar), equivalent to 11.2 percent of the total population aged seven and above living with some form of disability.

Of the total persons with disabilities, 539,186 are persons with hearing impairments, a 1.1 percent of total population, about 518,846 live in Tanzania Mainland while the rest 20,340 live in Zanzibar.

There is a slight difference in disability prevalence rates in rural (11.5 percent) and urban areas (10.6 percent) and between Tanzania Mainland (11.2 percent) and Tanzania Zanzibar (11.4 percent).

The prevalence of disability for persons aged seven and above has increased from 9.3 percent in 2012 to 11.2 percent in 2022. Most common type of disability is ‘seeing’ (2.9 percent) followed by ‘walking’ (1.7 percent).

Most persons with disabilities (57.6 percent) reported disease as a major cause of their disability. The use of assistive devices among persons with any form of disability except albinism in Tanzania is very low (less than three percent).

The prevalence of disability varies across regions, ranging from 8.8 percent in Shinyanga to 15.3 percent in Kilimanjaro. Fourteen regions of the total 31 regions have a proportion of PWDs above the national average of 11.2 percent.

These regions are Kagera, Kigoma, Singida, Mbeya, Mtwara, Lindi, Dar es Salaam, Pwani, Morogoro, Tanga, Kilimanjaro, Dodoma, Iringa and Ruvuma.

Four regions have a slightly higher proportion of males with disabilities than females. These are Ruvuma (males 11.1 percent, females 10.8 percent), Rukwa (males 9.4 percent, females 9.2 percent), Kagera (males 12.9 percent, females 12.7 percent) and Manyara (males 9.9 percent, females 9.6 percent).

Results reveal that the use of assistive devices among PWDs is very low. Except for persons with albinism, of whom 20.2 percent are using assistive devices, for other PWDs the use is very low.

For example, 0.4 percent with hearing disabilities use assistive devices for hearing and remembering and 0.8 percent use them for spina bifida and communication each. The use of assistive devices in Tanzania Zanzibar is relatively higher than in Tanzania Mainland.

Persons with disabilities are affected by climate change in a more severe and distinct way compared to others, as stated by the UN Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in 2020.

In its 2022 report, Working Group II of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) emphasized that priority should be given to addressing disability related inequities in climate adaptation efforts.

A report dubbed: ‘the Climate Realities of the Deaf: Evidence from a Climate Vulnerability Assessment of the Filipino Deaf Community 2020’ published by Oscar M. Lopez Center for Climate Change Adaptation and Disaster Risk Management Foundation Inc, stars that policies and laws are not the only remedy to addressing persons with disabilities plight but commitment and appropriate measures to address the vulnerability of these people.

The climate vulnerability assessment revealed that critical information, such as early warnings about impending disasters and climate education, has yet to be made accessible to the Deaf who have unique communication needs.

Another cited challenge was primarily rely on Filipino Sign Language which are practically few. In that regard, impacts of climate related hazards on the Deaf’s physical and mental well-being, and livelihood is of devastating rates.

The Tanzania Disaster Management Regulations 2022 requires the government to establish sectorial emergency information and communication centers at regional and district levels.

The centers, established in accordance with section 5 (1) of the Disaster Management Act 2022, must operate twenty-four hours during emergencies and during normal government working hours (eight hours) in non-emergencies.

On the other hand, the National Disaster Management Strategy 2022 – 2027 requires the government to improve integration of persons with disabilities and other vulnerable groups’ needs and cultural diversity in disaster risk management.

Section 49 (2) of the Persons with Disabilities Act No 9 of 2010  states: “the information service and documentation shall be made accessible to different groups of persons with disabilities in such form as: (a) braille, tactile services and large print; (b) spoken intonation and appropriate technologies and sign language; and (c) computerized information.”

The National Policy on Disability 2004 warns that most government-led campaigns against diseases and natural calamities are not disability friendly.

“Likewise, spoken information is not simultaneously translated into sign language for the benefit of the hearing impaired,” reads the disability policy in part.

The National Environmental Policy 2021 discloses that persons with disabilities play an important role in environmental management issues.

“This community group is impacted differently by environmental challenges due to different roles and responsibilities that connect it intimately to available natural resources.”

To be continued.