DVD to add captions for deaf

"Family violence is an issue that affects everyone" Ms Mathers said. Photo / Mark Mitchell

A recently-released anti-violence DVD will now have captions so it can be used by deaf and hearing-impaired communities.

The DVD, titled Enough is Enough, is a 27-minute documentary in memory of Patricia Ann McGrath, who was killed violently in January.

The Green Party disability spokeswoman, Mojo Mathers, said this week the lack of captioning was a serious omission that needed to be rectified as soon as possible.

"Family violence is an issue that affects everyone, including deaf and hearing-impaired communities," Ms Mathers said.

"It is disappointing that those responsible did not ensure that a DVD covering such an important health and safety issue was captioned.

"Under the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, government has a responsibility to ensure that all public funding provided for public communications is in an accessible format. This includes captions."

Northland District Health Board CEO Nick Chamberlain said the board commissioned the captions last week with a company that was so taken with the documentary it offered to assist the project.

"Family violence is an issue that affects everyone, including deaf and hearing-impaired communities, which is why captions for Enough is Enough have been commissioned," Dr Chamberlain said.

"Once the subtitles are completed, we will duplicate 600 DVD copies that will be distributed free throughout New Zealand."

He said family violence was epidemic in New Zealand and the Northland Health Board's intention was to spread the message, "enough is enough", to as many people in the community as possible, including those who were deaf or hearing-impaired.

The captioned version will also be uploaded to YouTube for public viewing.

The DVD project was funded by New Zealand Police, the Ministry of Social Development, the It's Not OK campaign and the Northland DHB.