TOWARDS ESTABLISHING A MODEL POLITICAL COMMUNICATION STRATEGY FOR PEople WITH DISABILITIES
TOWARDS ESTABLISHING A MODEL POLITICAL COMMUNICATION STRATEGY FOR PEople WITH DISABILITIES
Senator Floyd Morris
is in his fourth term as a Jamaican Senator, serving as President of the Senate (2013-2016). He was the first blind person to become President of the Senate. He holds a Master of Philosophy in Government and BA in Mass Communication from the University of the West Indies. His research looks at the inclusion of persons with Disabilities in Jamaican life. He runs an international consultancy, presents a talk radio show and is a member of the National Advisory Board for Persons with Disabilities in Jamaica. He is married to Shelley-Ann, is a sports enthusiast and a deft domino player. His motto is“It is nice to be nice.”
Communication is one of the most interesting subjects to affect mankind. It can make or break relationships. It can retard or advance the development of peoples and it can isolate individuals into poverty. In this article, the author will focus on the situation of persons with disabilities, using the Jamaican context as a point of departure. In structuring this article, an examination will be made on some of the theoretical issues relating to communications and how they apply to persons with disabilities. The author will then examine what and who constitutes a person with a disability and examine the communication challenges confronting persons with disabilities. An example will also be outlined of how the Jamaican Parliament has implemented measures to communicate to one of the distinct groups within the community of persons with disabilities in Jamaica. The author will conclude by making some recommendations as to what strategies governments should use to effectively communicate with this vulnerable group in Jamaica and the broader English-Speaking Caribbean. Theoretical Considerations In his 1948 article titled ‘The Structure and Function of Communication in Society’, Harold Lasswell postulated the view that: “A convenient way to describe an act of
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communication is to answer the following questions: who says what; in which channel; to whom; with what effect” (Lasswell, 1948, p.216). In this argument, Lasswell breaks down the elements involved in communication and sees ‘who’ as the communicator who formulates the message; ‘what’ the content of the message being communicated is; the ‘channel’ as the medium through which the message is communicated; ‘whom’ is the individual recipient or audience and ‘effect’ is the outcome of the message. This theory as articulated by Lasswell has been widely utilised by intellectuals and is recognised by communication scholars such as McQuail and Windhal, 1993. The theory on communication as posited by Lasswell, even though basic in its formulation; is important to this article because for us to understand how to effectively communicate with vulnerable groups, we have to understand how the communication process works. In this context, we have to understand who is speaking and delivering the message; the content of the message being delivered; who are the persons the message is intended and what the effects are having on the intended audience. It must be noted that critics of the model as adumbrated by Lasswell have indicated that the theory is incomplete because
it does not provide an avenue for feedback. Stewart Hall for example, posits that the model is too linear in its outlook and that the communication process is more circular. He therefore developed the encoder/decoder model of communication in which he opines that the communication process entails the process of: production; circulation; consumption and reproduction (Hall, 1972). From the latter definition and approaches for communication as articulated by Hall, we have seen a more targeted and focused approach in order to get effective communication. In this context, communication practitioners, especially those in the realm of political communication; have been adopting a more systematic and scientific approach towards developing their communications plan as a means of making it more targeted and focused. Scientific modellings, such as polling, have been used to solicit information from an intended audience on specific issues in order to craft a communication strategy. This is what Habermas regards as “strategic communicative action” (Habermas, 1985). What we have not seen, especially in the Jamaican context, is a use of this modern approach to communication to develop specific communication strategies for vulnerable groups such as persons with disabilities.