Association for the deaf bounces back after setbacks

Botswana Association of the Deaf (BOAD) has this year bounced back to commemorate Deaf Awareness Week following a dry spell caused by a lack of funds and the Covid-19 pandemic.

The organisation that promotes and advances the rights of deaf people in Botswana commemorated Deaf Awareness Week - an international week that recognises deaf communities and organisations – last week under the theme, ‘Building Inclusive Communities For All, A crucial part of awareness, A sense of belonging among people with all sense of hearing loss.’

The Deaf awareness week intends to raise awareness on issues of hearing loss, deafness, deaf culture and sign language and celebrating diversity of the Deaf community in Botswana. The week-long commemorations included visits by the organisation to different deaf families, who had an opportunity to share their challenges and experiences, and what changes they would like to see. Speaking at the celebratory event at the close of the week, Gaborone City Deputy Mayor Oduetse Tautona said there is a need to support and protect the linguistic identity and cultural diversity of all deaf people and other sign language users. He noted that the commemoration week is borne out of a commitment to guarantee social inclusion and effective participation in social development and general economy of the nation. BOAD’s mandate is to build capacity in the Deaf community in Botswana, influence public policies, set the agenda for meaningful inclusive development and provide comprehensive human development services that benefit deaf people at all levels of society. They also lead in the advocacy, international relations, policies and laws relating to deaf people of Botswana. However, the organisation has not had it easy.

Executive Director, Shirley Keoagile has in earlier interviews catalogued some of the challenges plaguing the organisation. Among them lack of funding that ultimately affects their advocacy role and limits their efforts to serve their members effectively and efficiently. Education of the deaf people across board is another challenge, which they believe has not been effectively addressed by the Inclusive Education Policy, which aspires for an inclusive education, which allows access to quality education for all people despite their disability. Because of the inadequate education that they receive, deaf young people end up unemployed and without an education. The limited number of sign language professional interpreters is also a challenge, which cut communication of vital messages to the deaf. For example, HIV/AIDS messaging should always reach the deaf in an effective manner, but this is not always the case. At the break of Covid-19, the deaf community complained bitterly that pandemic messages were not reaching most of their members. This caused panic and fear in the deaf community because they were anxious as to what is being communicated to the public at the height of the pandemic. The advocacy scope of BOAD is broad covering a lifetime and impacting future generations in the areas of early intervention, education, employment, health care, technology, telecommunications, and youth leadership among others.