OTT platforms may soon become accessible to people with disability

The Central Board of Film Certification has come out with an expression of interest to make OTT platforms accessible to people with disabilities, a senior official said.

The EOI (Expression of Interest) comes following the Delhi High Court's direction to prepare audio description, closed captioning and subtitles in Hindi language for the OTT release of the film Pathaan.

Speaking to PTI on the sidelines of an event, Rajesh Aggarwal, Secretary, the Department of People with Disabilities, said the Central Board of Film Certification has come out with an expression of interest to make OTT platforms accessible to people with disabilities and added it is a welcome step.

Soon certification may only be given if the OTT platform fulfils the accessibility criteria of the CBFC, he said.

He also said the housing and urban affairs ministry has come out with the second version of its guidelines for people with disabilities which is much more advanced.

"The culture department has issued guidelines for museums so that blind and deaf people could easily access it," he said.

Aggarwal said the home ministry is looking at how police stations can be made more accessible.

"We are trying that by Diwali 13-14 departments come out with gazette notifications in the matter," he said.