The Surprising Benefits Of Training Sign Language Interpreters As News Verifiers In Uganda
Issue Fifteen
Hello! Welcome to the fifteenth issue of Reframing Disability. Thanks for subscribing to this fortnightly resource on disability-inclusive approaches in content. Our meet-up last weekend in Bengaluru was fun, with enriching conversations about accessibility and other things. Hope to meet more of you next time!
In this issue, hear from Ugandan journalist Willy Chowoo about the Ugandan Sign Language Project, find the accessibility tip of the week, media recommendations, inclusive stock photography and opportunities.
Willy Chowoo is an award-winning investigative multimedia journalist based in northern Uganda. He is the founder of Content Tech Media Uganda which trains journalists to tell environmental stories using data. Willy also contributes to various publications including Choice FM Radio and The Elephant. I interviewed him about his initiative to improve news verification for deaf and hard-of-hearing people in his country and learned that it can be replicated in other parts of the world as well.
Verifying news for the deaf community in Uganda
Investigative journalist Willy Chowoo always knew about the menace of fake news on WhatsApp in Uganda. But last year, someone brought his attention to the vulnerability of deaf people to misinformation and disinformation on the chat application and how it perpetuates fear and hate within the community. Because news is not accessible to them, deaf people are unable to countercheck videos they receive on WhatsApp with other news sources. WhatsApp is one of the primary sources of news, he was told, followed by Facebook, YouTube and TikTok.
“I started to look for accessibility in digital policy in Uganda, and found that it doesn’t exist,” Willy says. Of course, he wasn’t surprised. “I know that people with disabilities in Uganda are excluded from many things,” he says. “There is no one in Uganda who is doing fact-checking for the over one million deaf and hard-of-hearing people, so, I decided to do something to address this gap.”
In July last year, with funding from ICFJ’s Disarming Disinformation initiative, he launched the Ugandan Sign Language Project, as a solution to inform and alert the deaf and hard-of-hearing communities about the disinformation and misinformation they are regularly exposed to.
Willy’s idea was to train a community of sign-language interpreters in Gulu, in northern Uganda, where he lives. The training entailed video production on smartphones followed by fact-checking and verification.
Once the sign language interpreters were trained, they could verify any misinformation or disinformation they came across on WhatsApp or social media and inform the deaf community.
Willy selected sign language interpreters who were in constant touch with and had friends in the deaf community. He trained eleven interpreters for five days and then mentored them for two months to strengthen their concepts. “During the mentorship, the sign language interpreters were skilled to become trainers themselves and further train their peers,” Willy says.
During the mentorship period, the sign language interpreters engaged with the deaf community in their area to better understand their barriers to information access and sources of news. They learned that many deaf individuals rely on their hearing relatives and neighbours for information. “Some don’t own smartphones, some can’t afford mobile data, and in deep rural areas, they often lack electricity to charge their phones,” Willy explains. This limits the direct consumption of information and increases dependence on their relatives’ and neighbours’ perspectives, raising their chance of receiving inaccurate news.
Since their training, the sign language interpreters have been working in various ways. Each sign language interpreter has educated members of three families in Gulu about fake news, misinformation, and disinformation. As part of a WhatsApp community for deaf and hard-of-hearing people, they send verified information alerts via text or sign language videos. For individuals without smartphones or mobile data, they use SMS or call their hearing family members to communicate.
Another effective approach sign language interpreters use is to inform deaf people in person. This is easy since they are part of the same communities, live nearby, and meet them often at community meetings and events.
In addition to news verification, sign language interpreters also share important news and information with the deaf community which might not be available to them in accessible formats like sign language.
Together with the sign language interpreters, Willy also trained six radio journalists on digital accessibility for deaf people and digital tools and fact-checking. He thought it would further the cause of digital accessibility in newsrooms if these journalists could deliver verified information in sign language on their digital video channels. As the interpreters are already trained, the barriers to finding them are minimised.
The project faced its fair share of challenges in implementation, Willy says.
Most of the sign language interpreters lacked awareness of misinformation and disinformation to start with. Some had inadequate digital literacy, so the training had to start from the very basics. Two sign language interpreters didn’t have smartphones at the beginning of the training, and Willy’s funding couldn’t cover the cost of purchasing a phone for them. They learned on a colleague’s smartphone and later purchased their own device. All trainees couldn’t afford to buy data for daily online meetings during the mentorship period, so Willy paid for their data for those two months.
Hurdles aside, the project has made an impact.
The WhatsApp group has grown into a community of 400 sign language interpreters, deaf individuals, and their hearing family members. Members share suspicious information they encounter and the sign language interpreters help debunk it. “The deaf community has been very receptive,” Willy says. “They feel heard and want us to train them as well.”
Now that they have the skills, the sign language interpreters are using them in other ways too. “Some of the sign language interpreters have created accounts on TikTok where they support the deaf community with sign language videos,” he says.
Trained journalists have initiated discussions about accessibility in their newsrooms. One of them has even trained his colleagues.
Journalists are also ensuring their guests give a thought to digital accessibility. “They have started questioning their talk show guests if they are doing anything about digital accessibility in their organisations,” Willy says.
Willy is actively seeking partnerships with disability associations and unions as well as sign language unions to expand his work nationally. “We have created a demand for digital accessibility with the government of Uganda,” he says.
Currently, only one TV channel offers all programming in sign language in Uganda, while mainstream television channels feature signed news bulletins and select programmes. Willy is seeking funding and partnerships to launch a new TV channel. “We want to start another TV channel in sign language which would address issues concerning deaf people,” he says.
I love how small steps with a big vision are bringing about changes in accessibility in the Global South. The impact I loved the most? Journalists in Gulu are now engaging directly with deaf people for their reporting because they understand accessibility better and know where to find sign language interpreters.
Every small step towards accessibility counts! Get in touch if you think this kind of initiative should be started in India as well.
Accessibility tip of the fortnight
Sign language and captions in visual content
Since we have discussed Willy’s work with sign language, I would like to reiterate that sign language is the only language for many deaf individuals. It is their native language or mother tongue if they are born deaf and can’t speak. It is also the language in which they get an education and communicate with each other. Language skills develop through hearing, so many deaf individuals may not have a strong understanding of spoken languages. As a result, captions may not be an effective accessibility option for them.
On the contrary, not every late deafened individual learns sign language. So, they prefer captions as accessibility.
Therefore, ideally, when integrating accessibility in visual content, both sign language and captions should be included.
Content creators often opt for captions over the resource-intensive process of finding interpreters to create sign language content, which is why unfortunately sign language in video content is rare.
Media recommendations
Read
The Country Of the Blind: A Memoir At The End Of Sight by Andrew Leland
In his memoir, American author Andrew Leland explores the experience of blindness as he, among other things, negotiates his changing relationships with his loved ones. A New York Times review of this Pulitzer finalist describes Andrew’s prose as “ jazzy and intelligent: loaded with statistics and studies in some places, lyrical elsewhere, with licks of understated humor.”
Watch
Crip Camp is an Oscar-nominated documentary on Netflix about the experiences of a bunch of disabled teenagers at Camp Jened, an inclusive camp in the Catskills Mountains in New York. This 1950s summer activity was more than just fun and friendship. It sparked in the campers the spirit of political activism and advocacy for disability rights which led to the framing of the Americans With Disabilities Act.
Listen
The Enabling Commons podcast hosted by storyteller, researcher and disability advocate Aine Kelly-Costello, includes conversations with activists and experts at the intersections of disability and climate change. Every episode is worth listening to! Available with transcripts.
Disability-inclusive Stock photography
Disability rights lawyer Lainey Feingold has created a list of sites offering stock photos portraying diverse disabilities. As she says on the website, these are “images that don’t perpetuate or contribute to stereotypes of what types of people do what types of activities.”
Opportunities
Climate Justice Photography
“The 2024 Global Contest promotes climate justice. We believe climate change is a human rights issue, so we are looking for images that show people impacted by the escalating climate crisis. They include climate refugees, the very young, the very old, the disabled and injured, the poor, indigenous and island people, and women. Images of climate champions advocating for change, and those helping to mitigate and reverse climate change are welcome.”
For: Documentary filmmakers worldwide
Deadline: 1 August, 2024.
AXS Film Fund
For: Up to five independent documentary filmmakers and nonfiction new media creators of colour living with disabilities
Grant amount: $10,000
Applications open: 1 June, 2024
Applications close: 31 July, 2024
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Warmly,
Priti
This is a very good gesture. we have to continue writing , to make the public aware of the disability work.