Central Election Commission provides video call service for voters with hearing disabilities

Georgia’s Central Election Commission (CEC) has launched a new service for voters with severe hearing disabilities, which envisages providing the people with all the relevant information related to elections through video calls.

The target group will receive the information via video calls only after being registered on the CEC official webpage.

When registered, they will be able to receive the information they need from operators skilled in sign language.

Voters with hearing complications will have an opportunity to recheck their personal information with the operators in the voters’ list and receive answers on their questions.

The president of the Deaf Union of Georgia, Amiran Batatunashvili, said the service was especially important as it covered the whole of Georgia.

“Voters in Georgian regions who have hearing complications will also be able to use the service,” he said.

Batatunashvili stressed that the new services offered by the CEC is one of the best examples of how to resolve communication problems.

Before last year’s parliamentary elections, the CEC said all of its informational videos and briefings would be presented in sign language so deaf people and those with hearing problems could get all the information they need about the elections in order to make an informed decision on election day.

“We will also provide visual posters in all election districts of Georgia that will help people to learn more about the election procedures,” said CEC head Tamar Zhvania.

The provision of such services is of the utmost importance and one of the signals of Georgia’s European integration.

Unfortunately, Georgia still fails to protect the rights of the people with various disabilities, which remains a big gap between Georgia and developed European countries.

This is particularly regrettable when the country has resources to settle a range of infrastructural problems, which create a number of challenges for people with disabilities.

Professionals in Georgia’s local governments and the proper allocation of funds would settle various problems for the country’s disabled citizens.