Nowon-gu Produces Video Newsletter 'Bodeul Nowon' for Visually and Hearing Impaired

Nationwide First: District Newsletter for 'Developmental Disabilities' to Be Published Quarterly from October... Separate 'Braille Newsletter' for Visually Impaired and 'Senior Newsletter' Covering Health, Leisure, and Jobs for Elderly to Be Issued

[Asia Economy Reporter Jong-il Park] Nowon-gu (Mayor Oh Seung-rok) is engaging in communication and empathetic administration with residents by publishing customized newsletters.

First is the video newsletter ‘Bodeul Nowon’ for the visually and hearing impaired. ‘Bodeul Nowon,’ meaning “Nowon news you can see and hear,” is a video newsletter designed so that the visually and hearing impaired, foreigners, and elderly with hearing loss can easily see and hear district news.

Bodeul Nowon consists of sign language for the hearing impaired, comfortable narration considerate of the visually impaired, and large subtitle text, and is produced monthly by carefully selecting major district news. While existing district promotional videos included sign language as an addition, Bodeul Nowon is meaningful as a video newsletter regularly published with the visually and hearing impaired as the focus.

In particular, the sign language interpreter appears at the front of the video, not just in a corner, conveying district news vividly through hand shapes as well as mouth movements, gestures, and facial expressions.

Also, the large text explanatory subtitles are made so that anyone, including the disabled and elderly with hearing loss, can comfortably view them.

The video newsletter is posted monthly on Nowon-gu’s official YouTube channel to ensure easy access for many residents.

Starting this October, the district plans to publish a newsletter for people with developmental disabilities quarterly (January, April, July, October) for the first time nationwide. The existing Nowon-gu newsletter content will be planned, composed, and designed with language and illustrations easy for people with developmental disabilities to understand.

Especially, people with developmental disabilities will directly participate in the newsletter production process to enhance their agency and autonomy. Additionally, to ensure easy access to the newsletter, it will be directly delivered to about 2,800 households with people with developmental disabilities in the district through disability activity support service workers.

Furthermore, the district publishes a ‘Braille Newsletter’ for the visually impaired who can read Braille and sends it monthly by mail. Also, a quarterly ‘Senior Newsletter’ compiling news on health, leisure, and jobs for the elderly is published and distributed.

The district is pursuing diversification of communication channels so that various residents can access news tailored to their needs, moving away from the conventional uniform information delivery.

Oh Seung-rok, Mayor of Nowon-gu, said, “Until now, there has been a lack of customized newsletters reflecting the characteristics of the disabled, making it difficult for them to access district news,” adding, “We will continue to resolve information inequality experienced by the disabled and create a warm, healthy welfare city Nowon where everyone lives together.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.