Let’s embrace sign language for inclusivity

Children performing during the International week of deaf people at Jacaranda hotel in Nairobi on September 22, 2022.

Children performing during the International week of deaf people at Jacaranda hotel in Nairobi on September 22, 2022.

Photo credit: Evans Habil | Nation Media Group

What you need to know:

  • More than 70 million people are deaf with a whopping 80 per cent of them in developing countries.
  • There are more than 300 sign languages.
  • Preserving sign language for linguistic and cultural diversity [helps] to ensure [that] it unites us and that the hearing impaired are not left behind in the development agenda.

Last week, the world marked the International Week of the Deaf with the theme “Building inclusive communities for all”.

The annual International Day of Sign Languages (IDSL) was also celebrated, on Friday under the theme: “Sign languages unite us”.

In December 2017, the United Nations General Assembly declared September 23 as the IDSL, with the aim of helping to create awareness of the importance of sign languages in realising the human rights of hearing-impaired persons.

The event commemorates the day the World Federation of the Deaf (WFD) was established.

According to WFD, more than 70 million people are deaf with a whopping 80 per cent of them in developing countries. There are more than 300 sign languages.

During these commemorations, we need to adopt early access to sign language. We should also offer services, including quality education, in sign language for the hearing impaired to ensure their proper growth and development to achieve international goals. 

Preserving sign language for linguistic and cultural diversity [helps] to ensure [that] it unites us and that the hearing impaired are not left behind in the development agenda.

It is good that we commemorate this day by learning a bit of sign language. That will be good for the hearing impaired as it will make them feel part of society.

Just as it feels good when somebody talks to you in your own language, the deaf are not an exception.

Awareness

If the rest talk to them in a language they can comprehend, it will be a plus for society. Raising awareness is equally important as many people are unaware of the many sign languages and the number of people who rely on sign language across the globe.

Therefore, take this as an opportunity to enlighten others about sign language and the hearing-impaired.

The national sign languages are key to ensuring the inclusion of the deaf in society.

Just like spoken languages, signing includes the phonetic, syntactic, morphological, syllabic and pragmatic levels of an organisation.

Deaf children use them as their mother tongue and natural language. They foster the building of identities and communities of these children.

We must also appreciate our television stations that have taken the initiative to ensure that the hearing-impaired are not left behind, especially during news bulletins.

Almost all have the interests of the hearing-impaired catered for by having a sign language translator for prime-time news.

This is to ensure the hearing-impaired are also informed since information is power. 

The state should build institutions that empower and assist the hearing-impaired. Embrace sign language for inclusivity.

Philip Ofafa Otolo, Siaya