Beyond the news bulletin: Kenya sign language and deaf audience inclusion across Kenyan television genres

Abstract

Kenya Sign Language (KSL) is established in Kenyan television news, but its use across other genres remains uneven. This study examined how mainstream television producers engage Deaf audiences beyond routine news bulletins by determining where KSL is integrated, the technical formats used and the institutional factors that trigger inclusion. Guided by Critical Disability Theory, the study used an interpretivist qualitative multiple-case design. Twenty-one participants were selected purposively and through snowball referrals: nine television or film producers, two communications-regulator officials, two KSL interpreters, two psychologists and six Deaf television users. Data from semi-structured interviews, policy documents and focused broadcast observations were analyzed thematically. KSL integration was selective and event-driven, occurring mainly during elections, national ceremonies, public-health briefings and other civic broadcasts. The interpreter inset remained the dominant format, with limited genre-specific adaptation, while regulation, editorial decisions, client budgets and advocacy pressure largely determined inclusion. The study concludes that Kenyan television provides conditional accessibility: Deaf audiences are treated more consistently as recipients of public information than as routine participants in entertainment and television culture. Broadcasters should incorporate accessibility into commissioning and pre-production, develop genre-sensitive KSL formats, conduct Deaf-user testing and improve audience measurement.