Use of Media in Awareness Education About Prevention and Needs of Disability

This 5-page Executive Summary describes this India-based study as having three objectives: examining the role-played by both print and electronic media in creating awareness among the people at large about prevention of disability and the needs of the
disabled; examining the extent of impact among the disabled; and offering recommendations for media to adopt effective communication methodology.

The study suggests that a lack of awareness exists in part because of an ineffective dissemination process about the benefits of existing programmes to people who can use them.

This study conducted by Centre for Media Studies (CMS) for the Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment seeks to evaluate both the print and electronic role of media in generating awareness to the public about prevention and needs of the disabled. According to this study, media is seen as a powerful tool for promoting socio-economic development and awareness of the rights guaranteed for people who are disabled.

The study was carried out 4 urban slums, 4 small towns and 4 rural locations from each city of Hyderabad and Delhi. Two hundred and eighty-eight disabled persons (2 from each category - locomotor, visual, hearing, speech, mentally retarded and spastics) in a total of 24 locations were interviewed. The CMS study included: content analysis of
selected programmes, articles and public service advertisements transmitted, broadcasted and printed in both electronic and print media using a checklist;
interviews of people producing or publishing such awareness generating programmes.

The study concluded that more than 70% of the respondents claimed that they watched programmes on disability on Doordarshan National and Metro channels and that there were advertisements and discussions related to disability.

According to the respondents these programmes and articles made them more confident about themselves and changed the attitude of general people towards the disabled. However, "surprisingly very few said that these articles and programmes create general awareness for prevention of disability or inform them about the government schemes." The respondents expressed their need to be informed about the methods of prevention and cure that could be met by mass media.

Several key recommendations include the fact that disabled people would benefit from television as a preferred media for communication by the Ministry. The study further suggests that the Ministry should work towards creating a diverse disability database so that the media have access to correct information on disability; and the Ministry should constantly monitor programmes to work toward promoting the mainstreaming and integration of the disabled.

Please contact Ms. P N Vasanti: pnvasanti@cmsindia.org for the 5-page Executive Summary.