Teletext soon for the deaf

Press, 26 February 1983, Page 2

Teletext soon for the deaf

■PA Wellington ► Deaf or disabled persons <nay be able to watch their favourite television programmes with captions on <he screen later this year. ✓ It was announced in Wellington yesterday that rsBoo,ooo from the 1981 telethon would go towards paying for a Teletext system. :( The system is being introduced by the Broadcasting Corporation, and the $BOO,OOO grant to Rehabilitation International (N.Z.) will enable that organisation to buy 50 per cent of the new system’s Capacity. ;. Mr lan Cross, chairman of the N.Z.8.C., said that no iiate had been set for the Introduction of the system. W it was hoped that a date fy'ould be announced in six' weeks. "Coronation Street" is Jikely to be one of the first to J>e captioned. People would ■not be able to read everyIhing the characters said but would get enough of the ■dialogue to allow them to leep up with the story, Mr fross said. ». Only persons with special Adaptors for their televisions Will see the captions. The Adaptor boards, or decoders, «an be fitted to private television sets .or rented sets, but

not to black-and-white sets. The adaptors are expensive. Going by Australian prices, it could cost $250 for the cheapest adaptor, or $6OO for a good-quality adaptor. That is on top of the cost of a television set. However, disabled persons would be assisted to either buy or rent adaptors or adapted television sets. The grant was announced yesterday by the chairman of the Telethon Trust board, Mr M. J. O’Brien, Q.C. He said $7 million would have been allocated for the disabled by the time the trust winds up later this year. The trust has made a grant of $200,000 to the New Zealand Federation of Voluntary Welfare Organisations for staff training. A further $200,000 has been set aside for a transport feasibility study to .help disabled people become more mobile. Another $lOO,OOO will .provide talking books and large print books for blind people. The sum of $50,000 has been given to the Queen Elizabeth II Arts Council to assist disabled persons involved in the arts. A special grant of $45,000 will help disabled persons to attend a national conference on the disabled, at Hamilton in May.