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percent, or only 5 of them, are found to be accessible to persons with

disabilities.

19. Hearing impaired persons have problems accessing information on

television as sign language is provided in only some news programs. The

National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) has

prepared an announcement requiring television operators to provide sign

language, caption and audio description for news and other programs for

public interest in proportion set out by the NBTC. The announcement has

yet to be published in the Royal Gazette before taking effect. Hearing

impaired persons also have problems accessing information at tourist sites

and that which has direct effect on their safety such as warning in time of a

disaster or an outburst of epidemic, and closure of traffic routes during a

political demonstration.

20. Recommendation: The government should promote research work

and the development of a system, devices or mechanism to support

persons with disabilities’ access to information. The Disabilities Fund may

be used for this purpose. The government should also support the use of

technology to enable hearing impaired persons to communicate with

others in their daily life such as an application for sign language or speech-

to-text translation for smart phones including the provision or lending of

the phones with such application.

Access to justice (Article 13)

21. Persons with disabilities have limitations in accessing justice partly due

to the lack of appropriate services such as sign language interpreters and

other professionals to assist them in legal proceedings. According to Court