Tanzania trains local media on disability reporting

From Daily News Online in Tanzania:

The local media has been urged to use proper language when reporting about disabled people and avoid derogatory references on them.

The Chairperson of the Editors’ forum, Ms Sakina Datoo said this in Dar es Salaam July 1 at a workshop for News Editors that disabled people should be regarded as normal humans who contribute to socio-economic development in the country.

Ms Datoo said that training sessions have to be organized regularly so as to enable reporters to grasp the proper language to use when writing news items about disabled persons.

Ms Datoo also said that religious leaders should try as much as possible to educate the society that disability should not be taken as a matter of superstition but it should be regarded as an act of God.

The Executive Director of the Information Centre on Disability (ICD) Mr Kaganzi Rutachwamago said that disabled people in Tanzania face serious problems of poverty, ignorance, diseases, solitude and lack of involvement in all socio-economic development activities.

Mr Rutachwamago said that the disabled should be regarded as citizens entitled to equal protection under the law and human rights.

“Despite definition complexities, it is not disputed by any scholar or activist in the disability arena that the whole issue of disability is related to social exclusion,” he said.

He urged the media not to write on issues that would hurt the personalities of disabled people - instead they should write on important positive things that would help them acquire their basic rights as members of the society.