The "TİD Practices in Turkey and Access to Services for Hearing Impaired Individuals Panel" was held by the Ministry of Family and Social Services, General Directorate of Services for the Disabled and Elderly, on June  7^th for the occasion of 7^th June Turkish Sign Language (TİD) Day.

Our Deputy Minister of Family and Social Services, İsmail Ergüneş, who spoke at the opening of the online panel, stated that they are making an effort to ensure that all citizens in need benefit from social assistance and social service programs.

Emphasizing that as the government, they stand by the disabled in all aspects of life, from education to health, from economy to social life. Ergüneş stated that he believes that Turkey has the power to be a role model to the whole world in terms of raising the living standards of the disabled and ensuring their future.

Explaining that they strengthened the legal infrastructure with the Law on the Disabled in 2005, Ergüneş said:

"In 2007, our President became the first leader to sign the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. In 2010, we have constitutionally guaranteed positive discrimination for our disabled citizens.

In terms of accessibility, we have made it mandatory for buildings open to public use, open areas such as pavements, pedestrian crossings, parks, public transportation vehicles, and information and communication systems to be accessible. We will continue our training and inspections.”

Emphasizing that as the Ministry they aim to provideservices with 100% accessibility, in this context Ergüneş stated that they have accelerated the efforts for digital transformation and barrier-free communication.

"We are considering transferring the TID Program to the e-government system"

Stating that video telecommunication service is provided for the hearing impaired, Ergüneş said, "We are making preparations for another project for the upcoming period. We will start to provide services 24/7 in all areas for our hearing impaired citizens."

Noting that there are currently 56 personnel as sign language interpreters, Ergüneş said:

"We have also activated the Turkish Sign Language operating program. We plan to transfer it to the e-government system. Our government has broken new ground in Turkey. We have implemented the Autism Action Plan (2016-2019), which is the first and only action plan in Turkey. We are also trying to prepare an action plan that will cover the period 2022-2025.

In addition, we are working on a structure that is organized in 973 districts of 81 provinces and at the same time, an expert is assigned to every 3,000 families."

“We have put great efforts into ensuring that the disabled do not experience any disadvantages”

Orhan KOÇ, General Manager of Services for the Disabled and Elderly, pointed out that the disabled people who have been in care in institutions and at home for the last 1.5 years have experienced difficulties due to the pandemic, and said:

“In this process, we saw that our greatest need is actually access to information. In other words, you are putting forward protective-preventive measures regarding the pandemic, but explaining this to hearing-impaired individuals and their families, and creating behavioral change is not easy. As the General Directorate, through official and one-on-one interviews on the services provided by RTÜK and other ministries, from the course contents on EBA TV through the Ministry of Health, to the public spotlights and contents produced by our Ministry of Health, we have worked hard to ensure that the hearing impaired people do not experience any disadvantages in accessing information during this period.

KOÇ stated that there are new steps and measures to be taken to improve the services and reach all segments of society and said, “I hope this meeting today will draw on this. We will also see the services provided by public institutions, the deficiencies in the services they have provided, and the demands from the field. As a result of the suggestions we will receive at the end of the meeting, we will revise our system.” used the phrases.