A connected world for people with sight loss

Post date: 

Tuesday, 1 April 2014

Category: 

TV, Radio and Film

13 November 2013 The recent ofcom report, Disabled Consumers' Ownership of Communications Services Report states that people with sight loss have a higher than average propensity to use the internet than people with other disabilities.

Forty-four per cent of the people with sight loss have access to Pay TV in comparison to 55 per cent of the general population.

People with sight loss are less likely to have used internet than the general population (62 per cent of people with sight loss in comparison to 83 per cent of the people with no disabilities).

As per the report recently published by Ofcom, Disabled Consumers’ Ownership of Communications Services Report, people with sight loss (who have access to internet) have a higher than average propensity to use the internet for social networking and job searching than people with other disabilities.

So lets take a closer look at how blind and partially sighed people fared at the ownership and access to some of the key products and services:

Television related services

• Pay-TV usage were found to be lower in homes of blind or partially sighted people: 44 per cent of the people with sight loss interviewed had access to Pay TV in comparison to 55 per cent of the general population
• 62 per cent of the people with sight loss used the Freeview or the Freesat service in comparison to 53 per cent of the general population
• 20 per cent of the people with sight loss owned a DAB in comparison to 26 per cent of the general population
• 33 per cent of the people with sight loss had used the internet to watch a video online in comparison to 39 per cent of the people who had no disabilities.

Access to connected devices and services

• Most people with sight loss appeared to be frequent users of internet - 66 per cent claim to access the internet more than once a day
• 62 per cent of people with sight loss had used internet in comparison to 83 per cent of the people with no disabilities
• 11 per cent of the people with sight loss owned a tablet in comparison to 17 per cent of the people who had no disabilities
• 65 per cent of the people with sight loss owned a PC in comparison to 79 per cent of the people who had no disabilities
• 33 per cent of the people with sight loss owned a Smartphone in comparison to 48 per cent of the people who had no disabilities

In light of this report, it becomes even more crucial that we collectively strive to make services that are available online, easier to use for people with sight loss. In the Digital Media and Culture Department, we are trying work with the various service providers for on-demand and catch-up television and film platforms to make the delivery of audio description a reality and their overall player, easier to use for people with sight loss.

Read the complete report on the Ofcom website