The February 11, 2005 law on equal rights and opportunities, participation and citizenship for people with disabilities has led to major advances in many areas.
Since the law was passed, TV channels have been subject to a number of obligations.
The representation of disability is still very marginal on screens: only 0.6% of the total individuals indexed, in 2020, are perceived as being disabled.
This proportion has been relatively stable since 2016, failing to reach the symbolic threshold of 1% (0.7% in 2019 and 2018, 0.6% in 2017 and 0.8% in 2016).
70% of people with disabilities say they are very interested in sport in general. However, in 2020, 0.6% of all indexed individuals will be perceived as disabled.
According to the French National Institute for Statistics and Economic Studies (INSEE), 12 million people in France have a disability ( 18% of the total population).
Among people with disabilities in France, 80% have an invisible disability.
Hearing loss increases by 65% after the age of 65, and 1 in 3 French people will be over 60 by 2035.
Improving the portrayal of disability and the accessibility of audiovisual programs is one of the core missions of the French regulatory authority for audiovisual and digital communication, Arcom, whose action in this area has expanded over the years.
Arcom's role in the field of disability derives from the provisions of law no. 86-1067 of September 30, 1986 on freedom of communication.
The on-air representation of disability is part of Arcom's broader mission to ensure the representation of diversity, in accordance witharticle 3-1 of the law of September 30, 1986:
[...] theAuthority contributes to actions in favor of social cohesion and the fight agains discrimination in the field of audiovisual communication. In particular, it ensures that audiovisuel communication services, given the nature of their programs, reflect the diversity of French society [...].
Arcom's action is focused on three areas:
Each year, Arcom monitors TV channels' compliance with their accessibility obligations, and publishes a report on its website. The Authority is also raising awareness among broadcasters of the importance of quality accessibility, with the adoption of several charters and guides, which you can find below.
Channels whose audience exceeds 2.5% of the overall audience must make all their programs accessible to the deaf or hard-of-hearing.
For the others, a proportion of subtitled programmes is fixed in the agreements signed between the publishers and Arcom.
The law also makes provision for channels whose audience share exceeds 2.5% to make a certain number of programs accessible to blind or partially-sighted people through audio-description.
If you are unable to play the video, please see the transcript below.
All you need to know... The Disability Act.
Since the 2005 law, TV channelshave been required to offer programs accessible to people with disabilities.
In concrete terms, this means offering :
And since 2005?
Arcom encourages channels to go beyond their legal obligations.
Almost all the agreements signed between Arcom and free DTT channels make provision for an obligation to offer previously unseen audio-described programs.
Arcom is also raising awareness among channels to improve the quality of accessibility, with a number of charters and best practice guides.
And since 2020, the AVMS
Directive has paved the way for obligations for certain video-on-demand services.
In addition to accessibility, Arcom is encouraging publishers to take greater account of disability issues in their programs.
(End of transcript)
Arcom encourages inclusion and active participation in the democratic process.
The main national channels are obliged to provide access, by subtitling or sign language, to deaf or hard-of-hearing people to all programs devoted to electoral news.
Other television service editors are required to provide deaf or hard-of-hearing people with access, via subtitling or sign language, to the main programs devoted to election news at peak times, and in particular to make available the retransmission of debates between candidates.
In order to improve access to programs for the deaf and hearing-impaired, Arcom is constantly working with associations representing the hearing-impaired to find out what their expectations and difficulties are in terms of audiovisuel.
In particular, the law makes provision for France Télévisions group channels, as well as those with an audience of over 2.5%, such as TF1, Canal+, M6, C8, W9 and TMC, to subtitle all their programs, with the exception of commercialcommunications(advertising, sponsorship, teleshopping, trailers). Certain exceptions are provided for, notably for songs performed live and sportscompetitionsbroadcast live between midnight and 6am.
Arcom remains very attentive to this issue and, while aware of the investment that this represents for them, regularly reminds TV channels of the need to make their programs accessible to all viewers under the best conditions.
Currently deployed in the UK and Spain, vocalization enables all textual information normally displayed by the receiver on the TV screen to be rendered in the form of a voice message. For example, the receiver's configuration menu, channel name and number, electronic program guide data and audio track are all shown through the receiver's built-in speakers.
The proportion of programs that must include subtitling comes under the control of each channel's audience: channels with an audience share of over 2.5% of the total audience for TV services must subtitle all their programs, while for terrestrial channels with an audience share of less than 2.5% of the total audience for TV services, an agreement with the French Superior Audiovisual Council (which became Arcom on January 1, 2022) sets the proportions of accessible programs.
French Sign Language (French Sign Language) is a gestural and visual language that enables deaf people to communicate with each other by sign. It is based on mimic language, which enables objects, actions and feelings to be expressed by a defined sign, and on a dactylological alphabet, which enables proper nouns or words not yet translated by French Sign Language to be spelled out.
It is particularly taught to deaf children from birth, before they learn to read, to enable them to communicate. It is used by around 100,000 people in France.
On television, the audio track is translated by a sign language performer. There is no legal obligation to translate programs into French Sign Language.
However, some 24-hour news channels have undertaken to offer newscasts translated into French Sign Language.
Arcom ensures that TV channels make their programs accessible to people with hearing or visual impairments.
We also carry out awareness raising and incentive initiatives concerning the integration and training of people with disabilities in the audiovisual media, the development of accessibility quality and the qualitative improvement of on-air representation of disability and people with disabilities.