WE CHAMPION THE RIGHTS FOR ALL AUSTRALIANS TO ACCESS PUBLISHED MATERIAL.
As community broadcasters, RPH Radio Reading Network members are licensed by the Australian Communications & Media Authority (ACMA) to serve a specific ‘community of interest’: Australians with a print disability.
5 million Australians, or 22% of the total population live with a print disability.
A PRINT DISABILITY MEANS THAT A PERSON IS AFFECTED BY A CONDITION WHICH LIMITS THEIR ABILITY TO ACCESS PRINT.
Major causes include:Learning Disability – including dyslexia or attention impairmentPhysical impairment– such as arthritis, spinal disability, multiple sclerosis and cerebral palsyLiteracy impairment – including the ability to speak but not read English.Vision impairment– conditions of the eye which include cataract, age related macular degeneration, and uncorrected refractive error.
There is also an increase in the number of people living with conditions which are defined as ‘profoundly core activity limiting’ and people living longer with life-threatening conditions. A consequence of this is a growing population who cannot access print or published material.
RPH Radio Reading enables all Australians to participate in the community’s cultural, political and social life, irrespective of their ability to read printed material.
OTHER IMPORTANT LISTENER GROUPS
Cochlear implant recipients also benefit from RPH programs. They learn to relate spoken sounds with the words they represent by reading along as they listen to RPH broadcasts of the daily newspaper.
Students of English as a second language find RPH broadcasts helpful for a similar reason. By reading the newspaper as they tune in to RPH’s alternate format programming, they match the sounds with the written words and learn spelling, pronunciation and spoken emphasis.
