By Willy Chowoo
In the heart of Uganda’s rural communities, a silent yet profound struggle is unfolding. “There is no interpreter on any news they send, and also in the news, they always send words, but most of us are not highly educated, so we can’t read and understand well,” laments Joyce Akullu, a 34-year-old woman with a hearing impairment who resides in Teso bar, which lies on the outskirts of Lira.
The women with hearing impairments in these backwaters have been pushed to the fringes of the digital revolution. They are swimming against a tidal wave that continues to halt their progress toward reaching the lofty dream of using Artificial Intelligence (AI) and other digital technologies to improve their lives.
“Most of us don’t know English, so we can’t text or talk using it. We struggle to access digital content because most platforms don’t have sign language interpreters,” says Mrs. Abigail Odur.
Abigail, who lives in Lira district, is also afflicted with a hearing impairment. Her story echoes the struggles of women with hearing impairments amongst Uganda’s rural underclass who will be disproportionately excluded by the evolving digital landscape.
“I tried to search for what I need, there was only voice, I was not able to hear anything, my friends who were there told me to go to an interpreter,” says Patience Gloria Babirye, another woman with a hearing impairment.
Ms. Patience Gloria Babiyre, who is from the eastern Uganda district of Jinja, says most of the information on social media platforms is inaccessible to people with hearing impairments. “Information on social media is not for us; it is so challenging to understand what is being disseminated.”
Anena Judith, 28, a resident of Pece Vanguard on the outskirts of Gulu, says inaccessible content has denied her the opportunity to interact with people online.
“If somebody sends me a message with big terms because I did not go far with education. I cannot read and understand it, because I’m deaf, I prefer to use a video call sign language,” Anena revealed.
Most of the people with hearing impairments in Uganda have barely completed primary-level education due to a lack of access to special needs schools and financial constraints. This directly limits their chances of finding employment.
By 2023, they were estimated to be 1.29 million.
Despite AI technologies offering seamless communication solutions, these women remain disconnected from the opportunities that cyberspace offers. Beyond language barriers, many do not even own mobile phones. For those who do, lacking digital literacy skills is a stumbling block in accessing the internet.
Stark Digital Divide
By June 2024, Uganda Communications Commission (UCC) statistics from the government regulatory body, estimate that the mobile phone ownership in Uganda stands at 44.8 million. 25.8 million gadgets are feature phones, 16.7 million are smartphones, and 2.3 million are basic phones. There are no specific statistics on mobile phone ownership for persons with disabilities.
The situation is worsened by the cost of data bundles, which they can’t afford because of disproportionately low incomes.
Ms. Patience Babirye Gloria, one of the women with a hearing impairment says most of them are denied jobs on the premise of prejudice and bias. “Most of us are not employed, most of the available jobs are competitive and people look at our disability as a stumbling block, so we miss many job opportunities.”
Data bundles in the country, cost as low as shs250 for a day and up to shs 300,000, a month.
Ugandans averagely spend shs8,234 per month for a 4 GB data bundle. By 2023, the number of internet subscribers stood at 27 million. The consistent rise in internet subscriptions is attributed primarily to increased internet access through mobile devices. This growth in internet subscriptions has resulted in an internet penetration rate of 59 per 100 Ugandans.
But Judith Anena who was born without any disability and developed a hearing impairment at the age of two, after suffering from malaria does not know how to browse the internet because she is semi-illiterate.
Anena reveals that it has been her dream to learn how to browse the internet. “I just received calls and chats with my friends on WhatsApp, but going to the internet to search for anything, I still don’t have that knowledge.”
Babiyre says she found it challenging to comprehend information about sexual reproductive health rights on YouTube without captions.
“For my own personal experience, one time, I went to YouTube, the first videos I landed on, didn’t have captions, and there were no subtitles, I tried to search for what I needed, but there was only voice, I was not able to hear anything”, Babirye adds that, “the information on social media is not for us, it is challenging for us to understand”.
In Uganda, the Persons with Disabilities Act enacted in 2019 requires all newscasts on public and private television stations to have a sign language interpreter. However, this doesn’t address the challenge of online content.
The Dependency Dilemma
The low digital literacy rates among people with hearing impairments have worsened the situation. Most women with hearing impairments rely on family members or friends to interpret online content.
Judith Anena, a single mother based in Gulu, is semi-illiterate and relies on her illiterate mother to interpret voice calls.
Anena now uses WhatsApp as a main platform to communicate with her friends with hearing impairments via video calls. “People often call me thinking I can hear, but I always tell them I’m deaf, I can’t hear, and communicate in sign language.”
Winifred Acanda, 31, was given a shot in the arm by her husband. She didn’t initially own a smartphone but her husband, Allan Nume Ogwang, who is a hard to hearing person, implored her to purchase a second-hand smartphone to help her communicate with her friends and family.
Mr. Ogwang notes that his wife is not an ardent user yet and she still needs assistance most of the time.
“I’m happy my wife can now use a smartphone. She connects with friends and family through text messages, WhatsApp calls, and even watches movies,” he narrates with a grin. This story offers a glimmer of hope and bears resonance with disadvantaged communities that can leverage digital technology to improve their lives.
The Heavy Reliance on WhatsApp
With 2.96 billion users globally, WhatsApp has become a vital communication tool for women and girls with hearing impairments in Uganda. Its video-call feature allows them to use sign language for communication.
The incomes of women with hearing impairments are in the lowest rungs and they cannot afford internet charges to be able to communicate frequently with WhatsApp as the video calls consume a lot of data.
For women like Acanda, a mother of five and a market vendor in Gulu, affording daily data bundles is out of reach. “When I don’t have data, I can’t operate my phone to communicate with my friends,” she says.
The situation is no different for Abigail Odur. “Video calls consume data very fast, yet we are poor because we don’t have jobs,” she explains.
The Uganda National Association of the Deaf (UNAD) has implored telecom companies to offer subsidised data packages to persons with hearing impairments.
Mr. Bony Okoda, the General Secretary for Lira Deaf Association and UNAD Board representative in northern Uganda believes that data should be affordable to those with hearing impairments.
“They should also try to favour deaf people, let them also give them some bonus. For example, if I buy MBs for one thousand, some bonus should be added. So that we also enjoy hearing. At least they are lucky. They get them free voice calls. But how about the deaf? So, I think the company should also do something,” he argues.
Barriers to Language and Literacy
Digital literacy among rural women with hearing impairments is alarmingly low. Most available tools, like voice-to-text apps, are in English and require literacy skills, which the majority of these women lack.
“When I use my smartphone, I can’t interpret the language because I’m deaf. If someone sends me a message with complex terms, I can’t understand it,” says Anena.
The situation is compounded by the lack of sign language interpreters in digital spaces. Akullu notes, “We miss out on news because there are no interpreters, and most of us can’t read well enough to understand the text.” She notes
The Uganda Sign Language Policy was introduced in 2017 to promote the use of sign language in various sectors including the media to enhance access for those with hearing impairments. UCC is implementing this policy which, compels television stations to have sign language interpreters. Additionally, UCC is not renewing licences for TV stations without sign language interpreters and subtitles across major newscasts and programs.
However, this is not helping those with hearing impairments as radio remains the number one source of information. According to the Uganda Population and Housing Census survey, it is estimated that 38 % of the population gets information from radio followed by word of mouth at 22%, and television at 14%.
Platforms like TikTok provide some relief, offering visual content that helps women with impairments to de-stress. However, without subtitles or sign language interpretation, much of the content remains inaccessible.
UCC has rolled out digital literacy programs for persons with disabilities. These programs intend to equip people with disabilities with the skills needed to navigate the internet and access the content they need.
Emmanuel Muyombo who heads the UCC regional offices, says he is working with the National Union for Persons with Disabilities (NUDIPU) to improve accessibility and digital skills for persons with disabilities, including those with hearing impairments.
“There has also been training for persons with disabilities to help people who are deaf to be able to use computers and other technologies, and intervention to equip them with hardware, especially in schools,” Muyombo revealed.
A sliver of hope for financially handicapped women
Financial barriers further prevent women with hearing impairments from engaging with digital technologies. Many are unemployed or earn paltry salaries to afford smartphones and data bundles. Anena says there is a need to provide financial support including low-interest loans to prop up their businesses.
“If we are put into groups and funded, it would boost our businesses and allow us to buy data,” she explains. Without affordable data and tailor-made user needs for persons with hearing impairments, platforms like WhatsApp, will deepen the digital divide.
Anena is a talented traditional dancer. She relies on her business acumen to sell liquid soap to support her son and mother. “I started using the smartphone in 2019, I raised the money from the allowances given [to me] by the dance group.”
Acanda says, “I am not well-versed; however, I can chat with my friends through WhatsApp. I always ask my husband because he’s a little well-versed and he has been guiding me in case I don’t know anything,” she reveals.
She now runs a small business at For God Trading Centre and uses part of the money to support her family and occasionally to buy data bundles.
Digital Threats and Privacy Breaches
Uganda does not have an Artificial Intelligence policy. This only exacerbates the digital divide between women with hearing impairments in rural areas. They face the risk of data manipulation and privacy breaches and could be victims of false news, misinformation, and disinformation.
“When you go on social media, you find most of the information without captions, which makes it hard to understand, which kind of information is right or wrong,” Babirye revealed. “We are being misled seeking for information. It is a challenge, and we want this to be addressed because we are being misled especially on the information about sexual reproductive health rights for the information you want to know the family planning methods and their effects.”
In 2019, Google introduced Live Transcribe App, meant to improve technology for those with hearing impairments. However, it is limited to only 70 global languages, leaving out the majority of dialects in Uganda.
Ogwal Alex, a sign Language trainer and the founder of Sound of Silenced Africa Initiative, a non-governmental organisation working with persons with hearing impairments in Uganda says transcribe applications, are not well-suited to handle speech variations.
“It does cater for the local language, it also creates errors especially similar words hence, you can’t get everything. Sometimes the network is also a factor,” Ogwal reveals.
Sandra Naikambo is a 23-year-old Makerere University student pursuing a bachelor of Computer Science. She says that the current legal framework does not provide accessibility to digital content and security for persons with hearing impairments which subjects them to cyber harassment. “The first challenge is security threats, fears of attacks by hackers.”
Naikomba says low literacy levels have exposed the vulnerability of women with hearing impairments.
Several local initiatives are stepping in to bridge the communication gap. Content Tech Media, Uganda, for instance, is digitalising sign language by training interpreters to produce accessible multimedia content. Since 2023, they have empowered interpreters with digital skills to help those with hearing impairments to access digital content.
Glimmer of hope
“We equip sign language interpreters to bridge the communication gap between the deaf and digital information,” says Tito Lutwa, CT Media’s Technologist Officer.
Esther Lanyero is one of the interpreters. She is a popular Tiktoker who produces content accompanied by sign language to benefit those with hearing impairments. She uses her TikTok account to impart skills and share information with those with hearing impairments.
“I think the deaf are not many on Tiktok but my main purpose of opening the account was to spread sign language to everyone so that they can easily communicate with the deaf in the community”, she adds.
CT Media Uganda has trained interpreters to verify information and debunk false news, among persons with hearing impairments.
Tito Okello says they believe signers can be integral in fighting the spread of false news amongst women with hearing impairments. “We have equipped them on how to use digital tools to verify information and debunk it for the deaf, we are trying to provide inclusion for persons with hearing impairments, we want the signers to disarm the spread of false information among the deaf community,” Okello revealed.
Sound Silenced Africa Initiative (SOSA), plans to introduce online sign language training and AI-driven tools for those with hearing impairments.
“We want to digitalise sign language training so people can learn online. AI will make sign language more accessible,” says Alex Ogwal, CEO of SOSA.
Sign language is not homogenous. Different countries have their own sign language. This requires Uganda to develop unique sign language AI tools for persons with hearing impairments.
The Ministry of Information and Communication Technology and National Guidance plans to introduce a national AI policy to regulate content and protect individual data, ensuring that all Ugandans can engage safely online.
Mr. Moses Watasa, the Commissioner for Communications at the ICT ministry says the policy will include provisions for IT support for persons with disabilities.
“We are developing the capability for reviewing content before it is uploaded so that is one of the requirements, it will help people with disabilities. But overall, it should have quality content. That is our benchmark.”
Addressing Structural Barriers
While AI technologies hold the promise of transforming communication and are rapidly growing in Uganda, women with hearing impairments in rural areas remain largely excluded from this progress. Government and private sector initiatives must urgently address the structural barriers preventing these women and girls from accessing AI technologies.
Sign language trainers have urged the government to support schools that offer inclusive education across the country. Ms. Akello Monica, a senior woman teacher at Laroo Primary School—the only government-aided school for inclusive education in the Acholi sub-region—emphasises that providing these schools with technological equipment will help bridge the digital literacy gap in rural communities.
This will be a great opportunity,” Akello notes. “These children will serve as a bridge to their communities by teaching their parents.”
Special needs schools like Laroo Primary are few in Uganda, and even when children complete primary education, many struggle to afford secondary school. There are only a handful of secondary schools that support inclusive education, and even these institutions have limited technological resources.
Akello says the government ought to establish more schools that focus on sign language training to integrate signers into mainstream education, which could greatly benefit persons with hearing impairments. “These children can learn alongside their peers, but this requires schools to have sufficient sign language interpreters to guide them.”
Currently, Kyambogo University is the only institution in Uganda offering both diploma and degree programs in sign language. Whether through tailored digital training or affordable data packages, a concerted effort is required to ensure that women and girls with hearing impairments are not left behind in this digital epoch.
