Television and video improve the distribution of information

Regular television broadcasts began in Finland in the late 1950s. Television was already presented in the Kuurojen Lehti magazine in 1953, rousing great interest and expectations. In practice, deaf people benefitted little from the device, as television programmes were rarely subtitled, and were often foreign entertainment. Deaf people would also have liked to have seen news and current affairs programmes.

Though in practice, television was of only limited benefit to deaf people, they too had to pay the television licence fee set for the receivers. The Finnish Association of the Deaf requested that deaf people be exempt from the licence fees, as they could not benefit from the sound broadcast by the television, and there was very little subtitling. In addition to the television licence, television owners also had to obtain a radio licence, from which deaf people were only made exempt in 1968.

Deaf people found it important to influence the content of television programmes and ensure that programmes dealing with deafness and deaf people were offered. Another goal was for programmes to be subtitled or signed, but for a long time this only occurred occasionally or randomly. Programmes which taught sign language were broadcast on television in the 1970s.

A real change only took place gradually from the 1980s, when signed news summaries began to be broadcast. In the late 1990s, the Finnish Broadcasting Company Yle’s obligation to provide services in sign language was highlighted when sign language was mentioned in the constitution. In the early 2000s, the goal was set to give signed programmes their own programming slot and to utilise the potential of digital technology. In autumn 2004 a new sign-language current affairs programme called Viikko viitottuna (“The week in sign language”) began.

Television’s potential to serve the deaf improved significantly in the early 1980s when teletext was brought into use. Yle’s Text-TV teletext service began broadcasting in 1981. As deaf people were one of the most important users of the service, they received state funding to procure the equipment.

Even in the early 1980s, Text-TV’s pages contained news and weather forecasts. Soon after its launch, there were also own pages for the organisations for hearing-impaired people. Of the communication channels open at that time, Text-TV was undeniably the fastest, and offered the latest information. It was Text-TV that brought the benefits of television within reach of deaf people, as it was now possible to subtitle programmes even more. In 2005 it was possible to subtitle 20% of Finnish programming.

In the early 1970s, a new method of storing moving images came onto the markets in Finland: the videotape. The Finnish Association of the Deaf was interested in the new arrival, and quickly took it into use. By 1975, the association had its first video recorder and studio camera. Attempts were made to obtain video recorders for associations and individual deaf people to use. The aim was for the Finnish Association of the Deaf to produce its own video programmes aimed at deaf people.

In the 1980s, individual deaf people, schools, and associations were able to have video recorders and monthly signed videos. Little by little, the Finnish Association of the Deaf had built up an entire video unit with professional facilities and equipment. In the early 1990s its video bulletins were distributed to around 1,800 households. The video unit also produced a lot of current affairs and children’s programmes, as well as informative programmes about the deaf community.