Princess Kako calls for greater understanding of hearing loss

Princess Kako of Japan has called for greater understanding of hearing loss at a national welfare convention in Kyoto.

The Princess expressed her hope for a society where everyone can communicate with confidence. She attended the “National Conference on Welfare for People with Acquired Hearing Loss and Hard of Hearing”. She said, “I hope everyone can access a wide range of information, communicate their thoughts to one another with peace of mind and live together.” Her words were translated by a sign language interpreter and the text was displayed on a screen.

Princess Kako is fluent in sign language, but at the request of the organisers, she only used it for part of the ceremony.

Awards were given to people helping to expand closed-captioned television broadcasts. Princes Kako told them, “I felt that the wider availability of captioned programs was a very significant achievement.”