The state cannot allow the deaf not to have access to information
Published on October 17, 2013.
At a time when information is available to everyone through information technology, we as a state cannot allow particular populations not to have access to information, said the State Secretary of the Ministry of Trade and Telecommunications Tatjana Matić.
Speaking of the web portal “Čujemo vas” (meaning: We hear you) whose project was supported by the Ministry of Trade and telecommunications, Matić stated that it is important to the Ministry to get a sense of what the deaf population think is important and essential for their daily life through the information published on that portal.
Matić said that in order for the deaf to integrate into society it is important to know what steps they think the state should take and how they see their reality, adding that the portal “Čujemo vas” expects feedback from the deaf population, as well as information on how ICT can facilitate their life and enable them a faster and better integration into society.
“We communicate with people in different parts of the planet, the world, and yet we have a problem that people living in our immediate vicinity do not have access to information. I believe that this is not good for us nor for the country”, said the State Secretary.
The Ministry of Telecommunications is familiar with the Draft law on the use of sign language, because our Minister Rasim Ljajić used to be the minister of labor from 2007 to 2012. The law is the product of a project – a sign language interpreter, which he and the Ministry supported at that time. It turned out to be a great practice and based on feedback we have come to the conclusion that a law needed to be adopted.“We as a state are obliged to recognize the initiatives of individuals and organizations and support them in order to realize these initiatives and make them sustainable, and that is one of the reasons why we funded this project”, explained Matić. From a total of 125 organizations that applied to the first public competition of the Ministry of Trade and Telecommunications, about 20% of the projects were intended for improving the position of people with disabilities using ICT.Matić said that the Ministry funded 11 of these projects with 9 million and 700 thousand RSD; three of the projects were directly related to the advancement of the deaf and hard of hearing. She added that the relevant Ministry, for the first time, introduced a practice that calls organizations and associations concerned with the improvement of the situation of persons with disabilities to participate in competitions and pointed out that it is a major step forward in the development of society as well as the acquisition of new skills and experiences that will help in the development of new ICT in practice.
