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Transcript/Script((PLAYBOOK SLUG: BLIND SOUTH AFRICA
HEADLINE: South Africa’s Blind Take on Law Blocking Braille Books
TEASER: BlindSA has challenged copyright laws that
PUBLISHED AT: 05/16/2022 AT 8:50am
BYLINE: Zaheer Cassim
CONTRIBUTOR:
DATELINE: Johannesburg
VIDEOGRAPHER: Zaheer Cassim
VIDEO EDITOR: Zaheer Cassim
SCRIPT EDITORS: DLJ, MAS
VIDEO SOURCES: Original, Zoom
PLATFORMS: WEB __ TV _X_ RADIO _X_
TRT: 3:30
VID APPROVED BY: pcd
TYPE: TVPKG
EDITOR NOTES:))
((INTRO))
[[ Blind South Africans took to the Constitutional Court to challenge an apartheid-era law that prevents books from being easily printed in braille, the written language for the blind. Critics say the law has made thousands of books inaccessible to blind people, affecting their education and job prospects. Zaheer Cassim reports from Johannesburg, South Africa.]]
((NARRATOR))
End the book famine for the blind, that’s the message these South Africans want to convey to the country's highest court.
Two non-profits, BlindSA and Section 27, are in the Constitutional Court to challenge a 44-year-old copyright law that blocks the conversion of books into braille, a system of touch reading for the blind, without the permission of the publishers.
Currently, less than 0.5% of published works are available in accessible formats to the blind in South Africa.
((Jace Nair, CEO of BlindSA, (male - English, 18 secs))
“For the last 44 years blind people’s rights have been violated and in democratic South Africa for 28 years, we have been stifled. So much longer can this continue. The injustices must stop and it must stop now.”
((NARRATOR))
Blind Activist Thandile Butana has had her struggles with this law. She has completed a university degree in social sciences but has delayed her master’s degree because of the difficulty of getting textbooks translated into braille.
((Thandile Butana, Activist, (female in English 12 seconds))
“Unfortunately, we cannot contribute positively to the economy of the country if we are not educated, and education depends on accessibility of books.”
((NARRATOR))
During her undergraduate studies, she would have to pay other students to read the textbooks out to her. Now, this same copyright law is affecting her ability to help her son with his homework.
((Thandile Butana, Activist, (female in English 24 seconds))
“Me not having books that are accessible for my needs, it makes me less of a mum. I can’t help him on my own."
((NARRATOR))
Her struggle is not isolated to South Africa’s blind community. It's a problem for most visually impaired people in Africa. The World Blind Union (WBU) estimates blind people on the continent only have access to between 1 and 7 percent of books.
The Marrakesh Treaty, which allows for exchange of accessible-format books across international borders, has been signed by a number of African nations.
Jackson Agufana, chief executive of Kenya Union of the Blind, says a positive ruling in South Africa could have implications across the continent and put pressure on other countries to join the Marrakesh Treaty.
((Jackson Agufana, Kenya Union of the Blind Chief Executive, (male in English 32 second,)) ((Mandatory CG: ZOOM))
“And I think it will accelerate the pace of other countries, especially countries in Southern Africa, Eastern, Central, West Africa and put pressure on governments to ensure that majority of them who have not ratified the treaty, are able to do, and those who have ratified and domesticated are able to accelerate the pace of implementation of the treaty so that majority of visually impaired people can access books.”
((NARRATOR))
South Africa’s constitutional court has yet to issue its ruling on the copyright law. No one is sure when a decision will be handed down, but South Africa’s blind community is hopeful the ruling will be a positive one and open up a new world of content for the visually impaired.
((Zaheer Cassim for VOA news, Johannesburg, South Africa))
NewsML Media TopicsArts, Culture, Entertainment and Media
NetworkVOA
Location (dateline)Johannesburg
BylineZaheer Cassim
Brand / Language ServiceVoice of America - English
