The story of the deaf church discusses the efforts of the deaf to belong, to be recognised as fellow human beings. The story about the international day of disability reminds us that we have among us people living with disability. Often these people - the deaf included - remain at the periphery of society. They are seen as a burden. Because they are discriminated against, these people cannot benefit from the myriad of programmes designed mainly for able-bodied people. Take the education system for example. Because deaf people tend to learn slowly, they need programmes that appreciate their form of disability and allow them maximum benefit. We are told that many of the deaf children in secondary schools have the learning ability of a Standard Three pupil. The education system, free as it is, fails to appreciate the needs of these learners and passes them to the next level regardless of their poor performance in class. And many of them perform poorly not because they are dunderheads, but because the system simply does not cater for them. We cannot overemphasise the importance of having an inclusive system whose focus should be to improve the quality of life of deaf people, and indeed that of others living with various disabilities, to the standard enjoyed by the rest of society. That our society has ignored the communication needs of deaf people is without doubt.
Part of the problem stems from a lack of full understanding of their communication needs, and how to best go about meeting them. For deaf people, communication means sign language, and sign language means interpreters - a service many people know little about. We need to stop and ask ourselves: Who interprets the President's State of The Nation Address for the deaf? Who interprets court processes for them? Who explains to them new developments around them? Do we warn them when we know a storm will be coming? How do we cater for them at restaurants, hotels, theatres, doctors' and lawyers' offices, banks, pharmacies, retail stores, auto-dealerships, museums, airports, buses, libraries, parks and schools? While it is true that other people with disabilities need to be catered for, it is equally true that the needs of deaf people are different. A deaf person has the same challenges as the speaker of a foreign language who cannot hear or understand when you warn him to get out of the way because the train is coming. As a nation, we are guilty of discriminating against the deaf. The church has failed to cater for these people's communication needs. And so has government. Government must put in place legislation that compels organisations to provide for the communication needs of deaf people, and ensure that there is compliance. That should start at the classroom level where the needs of the deaf child should be taken seriously.
