The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) has built a partnership with blind and deaf-blind community to promote environmental communication and learning as part of the agency's annual observance of the Deaf Awareness Week.
Through the agency's Strategic Communication and Initiatives Service (SCIS) - Person With Disability Desk (PWDD), DENR launched Tuesday, Nov. 16, a project that aims to enable visually impaired and hearing impaired to gain access to essential information, education and communication (IEC) materials related to the current state of the environment.
The project, entitled “Strengthening DENR’s Partnership with the Deaf/Blind Community,” also aims to boost the agency and the community’s capacities as partners in advocating good environmental citizenships.
DENR Sec. Roy Cimatu said the initiative highlights the agency's agenda to build strong frameworks for disability inclusion and advocacy for disability rights in DENR’s programs.
"The DENR believes people with disabilities have and should have all the same access to our communication tools as others," he said in a statement.
Cimatu also said the partnership is DENR’s commitment to support broad-based and inclusive approaches to address climate-related threats and push for green recovery under the government's pandemic recovery plans.
The launching came with sign language interpretations and Braille translations of DENR's IEC materials.
SCIS Director Hiro Masuda said his call to create disability-inclusive activities such as the production of IEC video and print materials accessible to the deaf and blind "echoes DENR’s putting policy into practice for persons who are most at risk of being left behind due to their vulnerabilities."
“Moving forward, we will institutionalize this undertaking by increasingly engaging them also in tree growing activities and other advocacy efforts. The launch of the IEC materials is just the first installment of a series of IEC materials that will be published in 2022,” he said, adding that all DENR-SCIS field offices will be tapped for the effort.