[Answered] Discuss the challenges in making the entertainment industry more inclusive for persons with disabilities. What are the provisions available for this objective?

A person with a disability means a person with long term physical, mental, intellectual or sensory impairment which, in interaction hinders his full and effective participation in society equally with others. The estimated one billion people live with disabilities worldwide. As per Census 2011 in India there are 2.68 crore Persons with Disabilities who constitute 2.21 percent of the total population of the country.

There are following challenges in making the entertainment industry more inclusive for persons with disabilities:

• In India, the potential of audio description and subtitling to make entertainment content disabled friendly has largely remained untapped.
• The recommendations issued by the Chief Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities (CCPD, principal authority for grievance redressal) do not mention a single recommendation to make entertainment content disabled friendly.
• Production houses may lack the expertise, human resources or adequate lead time before the launch of any new content to make it disabled friendly.
• The film producers do not think there is a large demand for audio description in India. Even if production houses are inclusive in intent, their behaviour excludes the disabled in effect.

Provisions available for making entertainment industry accessible:

• As per the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act 2016, access to information and entertainment cannot be denied to anyone.
• The RPwD Act requires the appropriate government to take measures to ensure that “persons with hearing impairment can have access to television programmes with sign language interpretation or sub-titles.”
• This act also requires the appropriate government to take measures to ensure that “persons with disabilities have access to electronic media by providing audio description, sign language interpretation and close captioning.”
• The government has made a recommendation to the Producers Guild of India stating all films and TV programmes must be “born accessible”, meaning that audio description for blind audiences and captioning for the hearing-impaired people must be part of the production process.
• Delhi-based NGO, Saksham, has engaged with the industry, managing to provide audio description to over 40 films like 3 Idiots, Taare Zameen Par etc.

True inclusion will happen when people with disabilities have a prominent seat at the creative table. Citizens with disabilities must demand accountability from the government, filmmakers, streaming platforms and others in the entertainment ecosystem through the judicial process.