Deaf people hit hard by data price review

Lovemore Chidemo
The recent upward review of data prices by the two major mobile network operators (MNOs) has left everyone in a lurch.

However deaf people have been hit particularly hard in this era of the Covid 19 pandemic. This is especially so coming at a time when most deaf people’s livelihoods all but evaporated at the beginning of the lockdown. Most deaf people survive on vending in the central business district.

For years, deaf people have been at the core of the MNOs’ distribution systems, selling airtime recharge tokens at street corners.

However, the latest data price review has seen them being hardest hit by the very players they helped to sustain. Most deaf people have limited English language literacy, as they are dependent on Sign Language, which is a visual language without a written form. They do not therefore benefit much from newspapers and most TV shows without interpreters.

In-fact only a few programs have closed captions.

The major source of entertainment and news for deaf people is therefore sign language on YouTube, Facebook, Whatsapp and other social media platforms.

This however requires data, which is now very expensive.

Internet has been a boon for deaf people and they embraced it enthusiastically as it made life easier for them.

This was spurred by the emergence of apps like Whatsapp with video calling abilities. Such apps lend themselves easily to Sign Language, a visual language. This allowed deaf people to easily communicate over distances.

During the current Covid 19 pandemic, deaf people have been particularly vulnerable as information has not been readily available to them. It took an urgent High Court order to compel the national broadcaster to provide Sign Language interpretation during updates on the Covid 19 situation and news broadcasts.

To fill in the gap organisations working with deaf people, including Zimbabwe Deaf Media Trust, have been making videos in Sign Language and distributing them to deaf people via Facebook and Whatsapp.

This ensured that deaf people, at least, had access to critical information on how to keep themselves safe from the virus. The data price review could not have come at a worse time. It is now going to be very hard for them to afford the data, especially at a time when they are not allowed to resume vending in the CBD due to the lockdown and any savings are applied towards food supplies.

It is important to note that the UN recognizes that the Internet has become an indispensible tool to the realization of many human rights. The promotion of universal access to the internet should therefore be a priority for all states.

While the data cost reviews are inevitable given the depreciation of the Zimbabwean dollar and rising costs this should not result in sections of society being cut off due to prohibitive cost.

Freedom of expression and access to information depends so much on access to the internet. While others can consume information in the print and on television, for the deaf internet remains the primary source of information. Without the internet it will be very hard for the deaf to know what is happening around them. This can be very dangerous in this time of the Covid 19 pandemic.

There are many other apps that are making life easier for deaf people besides video calling apps. These include LiveTranscribe, a speech to text app that allows deaf people to converse with hearing people by transcribing speech in real time. The app requires data. Deaf news groups have been very useful in disseminating information about Covid 19 and other current affairs. The upward review in data costs will only serve to isolate deaf people at the time when their livelihoods have been decimated. It should be possible for the MNOs to provide subsidized data to registered deaf and other disabled persons in order to cushion them and keep them online because it is a matter of life and deaf for them.

This should be viewed as a form of Corporate Social Responsibility by MNOs to a segment of society that was a very big part of their distribution chain when airtime was sold mostly through airtime tokens. Such costs could also be easily absorbed through the Universal Service Fund to which the MNOs contribute.

It should not be difficult for POTRAZ to operationalize such arrangements and ensure that deaf people continue to enjoy access to the internet and their human rights.

Lovemore Chidemo is a Disability Rights advocate and scholar. He is deaf.