The policy problem to be discussed in this paper has two fundamental aspects:

1. Deaf are denied access to the largest part of television transmitted information in Romania due to the lack of specific arrangements, legal standards and policies aimed at enabling their access.

2. Deaf and other categories of disabled are denied the right to adequately promote their rights and interests and to have their problems adequately represented in the visual media

In order to find suitable solutions, the problem under discussion should be viewed both in synchronic and diachronic perspective: on the one hand, its constitutive dimensions should be carefully examined, on the other hand the history and current context of the problem should be outlined.

From legal point of view: the proclamation of rights (such as the right to information and to interest representation) is meaningless if the means, solutions, standards, arrangements and specific policies enabling people to exercise their rights are not ensured. There is a gap between affirmation of rights and the possibility of their fulfillment (in the absence of adequate means). Current Romanian legislation in the field neither includes specific provisions to enable access of deaf or other categories of disabled to the television programs, nor provides any guaranteed broadcasting space for the representation of the interests and problems of disadvantaged groups within those programs.

In a political perspective: exclusion from access to information and from adequate participation in the television programs of a particular social group with specific needs is both a cause and an effect of the political marginality of that group. Deaf and other disadvantaged groups find themselves at the edge of Romanian society not just as the result of their exclusion from access to information, but also in relation to other essential aspects of their life: education, employment, social safety and access to culture. The lack of access to important sources of information is only aggravating their situation.

From moral point of view: excluding a specific group of people (who are already in a disadvantageous situation due to their disability) from access to certain essential informational resources is breaking the principle of equity and is amplifying the social disadvantages encountered by the members of that group. The lack of special concern and consideration for the particular needs of deaf and of other categories of people with disabilities is likely to amplify their perception of being regarded as second class citizens, who are less valuable and deserve little attention from the rest of society.

As far as the cultural dimension of the discussed policy problem is concerned, behind the lack of special arrangements for disabled within the television programs there is a homogenizing view on social and cultural needs, prevailing today in the Romanian society. Such view does not appreciate cultural diversity and denies to various minority cultures (including the cultures of disabled) the right to have equal access to the sources of information as well as their right to equal participation in the spiritual and public life of the country.

The social context

The causes of the lack of access of deaf to the visual media originate partly in the communist (and even pre-communist) past, but are also related to the problems encountered by Romania during transition.

 a.lack of legal tradition and almost complete absence of legalist way of thinking

 Romania only had a very short period of constitutional development, mainly during the inter-war period. Communism forcefully interrupted the institutional-legal preoccupations for human rights and the protection of rights, which only began to take shape. Communist system was based on the total disregard of legal norms and arbitrary use of "norms" in order to fulfill the legitimacy needs and other political needs of the regime. After 1989 a new Constitution has been adopted, which formally codified essential international human right standards. However, authoritarian tendencies and the discretionary use of law by those in power remained a persistent phenomenon thereafter.

Under the impact of European integration process and as the result of democratic civil and political activism within the country, certain positive developments in this field can be traced. Even so, in spite of the progress achieved, a large part of political elite is still adopting an ambiguous stance as far as European and international norms are concerned. Romanian Constitution is stating that if there is a contradiction between international norms and internal legislation, international standards should prevail. Political leaders often declare that "what is good for Europe, is also good for Romania". In practice, however, European standards are integrated in the internal legislation rather selectively, slowly and mainly under the pressure of international monitoring bodies and of the deadlines set by the EU or the Council of Europe on the way of the integration process.

On the other hand, the ambiguities of the European legislation in the field, the rather vague and general character of certain norms is also contributing to this phenomenon. As many of the "European norms" consist of principles and policy guidelines of a rather general and abstract character, Romanian political leaders find little difficulty in formally adopting them, since they remain mainly at a declarative level. While in the Western countries with a strong constitutional tradition and legalist way of thinking general principles have an important significance in guiding political action, in states like Romania they are likely to remain just on paper. The main cause is the lack of political will to translate them in effective norms and legislative standards.

This is a rather characteristic feature of political culture in Romania during transition. In practice little has been done to alleviate the economic and social situation of large population groups. Politicians and grass roots opinion leaders nevertheless are often arguing that in a country confronted with increasing poverty, "the interests of millions" who live from today to tomorrow should prevail. They usually emphasize that the main attention should be focused on how to fulfill the needs of the numerically large social segments, rather than to pick up small groups who are in a special disadvantaged situation (such as the disabled).

This argumentation obviously originates in the communist rhetoric, which pretended to work in the interest of "the people" understood in a homogenizing manner. Today political leaders make intensive use of such populist arguments in order to attract votes and support. As disabled people are mostly perceived as a small and silent minority, without firmly articulated and efficiently represented group interests, their specific needs tend to be ignored in the dominant public discourses.

The population of Romania has been integrated under communism in a public education system, which promoted the ideal of the "socialist unitary people". No "negative words", such as "poverty", " disability" or "disadvantage" ever entered the public realm. According to official textbooks used in schools and in all other forms of ideological indoctrination, the country was heading from a bright present to an even brighter future.

It is not surprising, therefore, that today many people find it hard to come in terms with the existence and legitimate demands of various minority and disadvantaged groups. The fact that national minority concerns has been largely politicized in the past decade is also raising popular suspicions about minority issues in general, as they are predominantly perceived as representing a threat to the interests and status of the majority. Politicians, journalists and other segments of the majority elite tend to imply in their public utterances that there are pretentious motives behind minority claims and that a cautious if not outwardly rejecting attitude towards these claims would be the advisable political line. Minorities are often accused in political discourses and in the media of pursuing "privileges" and interests which are contrary to the official nation state ideology.

Driven either by a perception of "public interest" or of a "commercial interest" or by both, public and private television stations are generally rather reluctant to adequately represent in their programs the interests and legitimate needs of minority and disadvantaged groups. When these groups nevertheless appear on the screen, their representation tends to be marked by stereotypes and even hostile treatment (for instance in the case of the Roma and other ethnic minority population). In case of the disabled, silence, rather than misrepresentation is the dominant trend. There is no mentioning or very scarce mentioning of disability and of disabled mainly because they simply do not fit in the idealized (and highly ideological) dominant self-image of the society.

On the other hand, a false sense of patriotism is also playing its part in preventing television broadcasters from adequately dealing with the country's problems. It has been often claimed - particularly by highly influential extreme right political activists - that some sort of international conspiracy exists which aims on undermining the sovereignty, territorial integrity and unity of the country. The presentation in the Western media of horrifying news and images about the orphanages and the street children in Romania after 1989 was often strongly criticized in the Romanian press. It has been argued that those programs had in reality the aim to induce in error Western public opinion and to promote a negative image of Romanians as a nation. By implication, patriotic attitude requires, according to this interpretation, a selective media policy in order to construct a positive image of the country abroad.

Due to the fact that civil society and group interest representation were almost completely destroyed during the communist regime, the institutionalization of advocacy activities on behalf of disadvantaged groups had to start in very difficult preconditions. All agencies and institutions dealing with disability issues under communism belonged to the state and their personnel consisted of state employees. Many of these people found it hard to start a completely new life of organizational and financial independence after 1989. On the other hand, the process of setting up authentic civil organizations, which do not have to bear the burden of past structures and mentality, has also been a slow and problematic process. Lack of financial sources, restrictive tax legislation and the insufficient number of specialists trained to work in a democratic (or democratizing) environment have been among the most important causes of this slow pace of development.

As a cumulated consequence of all factors outlined above, there is a low level of legal and human rights mass culture at a more general level, but in special a law awareness of the rights of disadvantaged groups, including the rights of disabled. The correct understanding of the concept " different, but equal - different and equal", which is of vital importance for ensuring the rights of disabled in the everyday life is particularly far away from the grasp of most ordinary citizens. They are of course not guilty of this. The state and civil organizations should have assumed the task to educate them. For various reasons, some of them I outlined earlier, the Romanian elite failed to satisfactorily respond to this need.

There are several possible options open for improving access of deaf and other categories of disabled to the visual media. However, due to the specificity of the problem under discussion, these options should be seen as complementary, rather than as mutually exclusive. Usually, policy makers think in terms of alternatives. But in the situation where a marginal social segment is striving to get a more open door to the informational resources of the society one cannot speak of policy alternatives in a similar understanding as they appear in other fields of public life.

In principle, there are only two alternatives. One would be the preservation of the present situation, marked by the accentuated exclusion of deaf and other categories of disabled from access to the visual media and from the information transmitted by this media. Needless to say, this would have disastrous consequences for the perspectives of democratic and human rights development of the country. Within the Romanian society and political elite there is a large consensus on the acceptance of European integration, though not the same can be said about the acceptance of European democratic values. As a consequence, there is today an increasing sensitivity within the Romanian political class, concerning anything might damage the image of the country abroad and thus affect the prospects of integration. In such circumstances, preserving a strongly criticized status quo in a field where Romania is lagging far behind the EU Member states and even behind other candidate states, cannot be a real alternative.

Thus, the second - and only viable - alternative is that key political factors recognize the existence of the problem and adopt measures for its attenuation/solution. The following proposals are intended only to provide some ideas concerning possible - and arguably necessary - future lines and modes of action. More detailed proposals and draft texts of proposed legislation will be presented in the final policy paper.

The Government Ordinance 102/1999 concerning “the special protection of disabled and their integration into work” does not include any concrete norms and standards either concerning deaf access to visual media, or with regard to the presence of disability issues and organizations in the television programs. The forthcoming discussion of the Government Ordinance in the two chambers of the Romanian Parliament might provide an opportunity, a policy window for improvement. As the document in its present form makes no reference to informational access issues related to the media with regard to disability, the inclusion of a separate chapter to regulate this field would be recommendable. It would also be advisable to simultaneously modify the relevant sections of the Law of audio-visual media in order to ensure a greater legislative coherence and thus facilitate immediate applicability. The proposed new framework law to regulate the audio-visual domain should also include a chapter concerning disability access, as well as much clear requirements concerning the representation of social diversity, of the plurality of social values and interests, within the television programs.

Another possibility for legislative improvement might emerge with the discussions in the Parliament concerning the modification and completion of the Law project on equal chances, after adopting the Gov. Order nr.127/2000 for preventing and sanctioning any form of discrimination. This proposed legislation is included among the priorities of the current Government for the period 2001-2004, in view of the necessity to fully incorporate the Community acquis.

In order to promote legislative changes improving media accessibility, there would be a need for an intense lobbying and coalition building. The aim would be to increase the sensitivity of legislators and decision-makers concerning the nature of problems faced by disabled and to persuade them to the necessity of enacting a more favorable legislation. Disability and human rights organizations, media leaders, political parties and government agencies as well as individual MP- s and other influential policy makers should be attracted to work for the implementation of this idea. European integration process could have a greater role in stimulating the adoption of a special accessibility regulation if the monitoring of the way the right of information for disabled is respected would be included among the issues tackled in the EU reports on Romania.

 The National Audio-visual Council has an essential role in monitoring Romanian TV stations. As mentioned in the 2000 EU Country Report on Romania, in recent years the Council has intensified its monitoring and sanctioning activity. Staffing was raised from 120 to 138 and the allocation from the state budget was also increased. In spite of these changes, the representation of the plurality of social needs and interests within the Council has hardly improved. According to the legislation in force, the members of the Council are nominated by the major constitutional institutions (Parliament, President and Government) so as to preserve a certain kind of political balancing. Civil society organizations, the self-organizing interest groups of people with shared needs and concerns, can not find their place within this representational structure.

It would be desirable, therefore, that the proposed legislative changes aimed at increasing accessibility and ensuring the adequate representation of social diversity be accompanied by a new regulation concerning the organizational structure of the Audio-visual Council. In particular, the establishment of advisory committees dealing with media appearance and accessibility concerns of various social groups with specific needs and interests (such as the disabled, ethnic minorities, churches, the elderly, women, unemployed etc.) can prove very useful. Such working committees would help, on the one hand, in monitoring the way new accessibility and diversity regulations are respected, and on the other hand would advise the Council and TV stations in specific matters which form the object of their preoccupations. The setting up of these committees would be beneficial even before the new audio-visual media legislation on accessibility and representation of social plurality is enacted, but in this case, their activity will be restricted to their advisory capacity until the new legislation becomes effective.

The special committee working on disability issues should be established within such framework and it should include representatives of all key institutions and organizations having a significant interest in this field: disability and human rights organizations, media experts, radio and TV stations, parliamentary working committees and government ministries. The representative character of the committee and the presence of qualified experts in its framework will allow efficient advisory work and in the same time will provide a permanent forum for dialogue between the key stakeholders.

 c. Continuation of the social dialogue and negotiation process

 At the beginning of this year representatives of the main Romanian TV stations and of the Romanian National Association of Deaf, together with experts of the National Audio-visual Council started a dialogue in order to find mutually acceptable solutions for deaf access to visual media programs. The continuation of this dialogue would be essential not just for reaching an agreement on special deaf TV broadcasts, but also for establishing long-term links, in order to prepare the ground for legislative changes and for setting up institutionalized forms of co-operation.

The continuation of the negotiation process will enable the involved stakeholders to get to know each other better and familiarize with the ways of thinking, values and outlooks of the other side. Given the huge gap which still exist between disabled and the rest of society, confidence building should be regarded as an absolutely necessary perquisite of setting a favorable social background for positive action and long term solutions in this field.

 During the interviews with television station representatives, the idea came up to establish a civil organization with the aim to promote visual media accessibility for disabled. The proposed organization would include disability and human rights activists, policy makers, media experts, businessmen and others committed to work for viable solutions, together with the representatives of disabled. The major aims of the association would be:

• to promote access of disabled to the television transmitted information by information campaigns, coalition building, initiating new legislation, proposing institutional reforms, training of qualified staff and organizing fund raising activities in order to finance the production of special accessible TV programs
• to assist television stations in ensuring the adequate presence and correct representation of disability issues and of disabled in their programs

The association thus would act as a moving force for positive changes, as an information and advocacy center, where there is always an opportunity to meet and discuss what to do next.

As can be seen from the above presentation, all proposals might well be implemented individually. However, given the complementary and mutually reinforcing character of the proposed measures, it would be preferable to consider them as elements of a coherent plan for policy action.

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