SA Sign Language Charter being drafted

AS PART of celebrating International Deaf Awareness Month, about 60 representatives from community organisations and institutions met at the Khayelitsha Resource Centre yesterday to discuss a draft of the South African Sign Language Charter.

The charter had been drawn up by the Pan South African Language Board (PanSALB) to advocate for the rights of deaf people, increase public awareness of sign language and educate the public about the local deaf community.

This is according to PanSALB executive head Sally Maepa, who said two consultative workshops had been held in Mpumalanga and Limpopo earlier this month.

“The reason why the charter had been developed was because of the challenges faced by deaf people. Deaf people always had the challenge of access to information. Another challenge is of fake interpreters and a lack of access to social justice.”

Maepa said the workshops were aimed at redressing the inequality and ill-treatment of approximately 70 million people living with the disability across the globe.

The representatives split into four commissions to discuss the draft charter, with the aim of potentially proposing changes to it if necessary.

The representatives were from the National Institute for the Deaf, Sign Language and Education, Deaf Federation of South Africa (Deafsa), three Cape deaf schools and their teachers, clinics, Correctional Services, Justice Department and provincial government officials, she added. “This month is also dedicated to educating the public about deafness, hearing loss, deaf culture and South African sign language.”

She explained that this year’s campaign is organised under the theme “Make it happen with SASL officialisation” and that this year’s workshop includes debates and public consultation regarding the draft. More workshops would be hosted in Durban, Bloemfontein, Northern Cape, North West, Eastern Cape and Gauteng today and on September 21, 26, 27, 28 and 29, she said.