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allAfrica.com: Ghana: Why Neglect the Deaf? (Page 1 of 1)
The deaf can do everything except hearing. People ignorantly refer to them as also dumb, an assertion they greatly oppose since they can express themselves. Their speech or articulatory organs are well functioning. The deaf can laugh, smile, cry, shout and do all other things that the abled bodied does except hear.
The greatest challenge for the deaf is communication which affects how well they can interact with their hearing counterparts in society. Let the deaf walk into a bank or other service providers and they really find it difficult assessing any service. They are left to their own mercies when they visit the hospitals, police stations, law courts and others places of work.
Sometimes, those who take time off to help them also behave in such a way that they sometimes feel very helpless and often feel very intimated or disgraced. Unfortunately, the condition they find themselves in is through no fault of theirs. It is very painful and disheartening to know that even close relatives of sound impaired including parents and siblings can't communicate with them. They usually find themselves very lonely which brings about a lot frustration. This is why many are of the perception that the deaf easily gets angry, which tends to be true because nobody tends to care and explain things to them.
There is no better way for the nation to accept and recognize them than to take keen interest in the study and learning of the Sign Language. Even though they are in the minority, this is their humble plea.
This calls for a serious intervention from the government to assist the Ghana National Association of the Deaf (GNAD) through funding to organize Sign Language Workshops in all regions and districts to produce more interpreters.
According to Ebenezer Addo Asamoah, the National Administrator of GNAD, it will be very helpful for institutions to volunteer and learn the Sign Language in order to ease the frustration between the deaf and service providers.
Statistically, very few of the deaf are employed both at the public and private institutions, and the major reason for this is the communication gap. Employees know they will find it very difficult communicating with them. But it is not encouraging for our deaf brothers and sisters to remain unemployed because we can't communicate with them. We need to get the deaf who are qualified into employment.
Lack of skills is also another challenge facing the deaf. In order to rectify this situation, Mr. Asamoah has urged the government to establish vocational training centers in all districts to enable the deaf acquire skills for the job market as it is enshrined in Act 215. There is also the need to remind the government of the tax rebate which employers must receive for employing Persons With Disabilities, (PWDs).
Since many of the deaf are unemployed, there is the temptation for some of them to go begging and because their disability is not visible until communication is needed, some of the deaf resort to tricks like letters soliciting help, envelopes for donation which the GNAD uproars.
In response to how such people should be treated, Mr. Asamoah said that such demands shouldn't be honoured by the public. "Any such demand should also be channeled through the National Headquarters to ascertain its genuineness" he cautioned.
Generally the deaf community in Ghana has very low education which makes them the poorest of the poor in society and painfully ignorant of what happens in the country and the world at large.
Presently there are fourteen basic schools nationwide which is grossly inadequate. A visit to these schools shows that there is a tall list of children who couldn't be admitted due to lack of facilities. Imagine a densely populated region like the Ashanti Region which has a large number of deaf having only one basic school for the deaf.
Even though averagely, there is a school for the deaf in each region there is the urgent need for more schools to be constructed and the need for improvement in the existing ones in the form of infrastructure; classrooms, dormitories and accommodation for staff.
Teaching the deaf is one of the most difficult teaching assignments for research has shown that to teach one deaf child is equivalent to teaching six hearing children. This then calls for more well trained and motivated staff.
There is only one Senior Technical School for the Deaf in the country which is at Mampong Akuapem, one vocational School at Beecham in the Brong Ahafo Region and a new integrated Senior High School at Navrongo in Upper East Region.
This simply means that the deaf youth are being told your education ends at the basic level. The situation is worse at the tertiary level. They are forced to do a lot of lip reading on their own. They have to watch and read the lips of lectures who most of the times teach in the absence of interpreters.
For example, at the Presbyterian Training College, in Akropong, Akuapem there is only one interpreter for 5 deaf students, one in the first and two in the second and third years respectively. The University of Education, Winneba has a number of deaf undergraduates but no interpreters.
As the Commissioner of Human Rights and Administrative (CHRAJ), Dr. Emil Short, put it "over the years People Living with Disabilities (PWDs) have been deprived of a variety of rights such as healthcare, education, employment and participation in cultural and social activities, and mainstreaming disability in the educational system is a strategy for achieving equality for PWDs".
PWDs continuously face discrimination in all aspects of life. Some view disability as a punishment for sins committed either by themselves or their ancestors. In some cultures, they are not supposed to come out early in the morning because it is believed to be a very bad omen.
Discrimination in marriage is greatly affecting PWDs. Disability is perceived to be hereditary so some families do not want their children to marry a PWD. There is no guarantee that when a deaf marries a hearing person, their offspring will be deaf. These among many misconceptions need to be corrected.
According to Mr. Emile Short "It is very sad that the concerns of the deaf have been neglected. I paid a visit to Kwame Turkson, who is deaf, at a village in Nsawam in the Eastern Region. This man was going to visit a friend one night in the company of three friends. When they got to the place, they were approached by people who asked they were heading towards to. Because they couldn't talk, they mistaken for thieves. One of them went to his room, brought an acid and poured it on Kwame who became blind afterwards."
When I got to his home in the company of the President of the GNAD, communicating in sign language to him, this is what he had to say. "I am deaf and blind, I can't hear, I can't see, my father has died, my elder brother who inherited my father has also died. I am now left with my weak old mother. My wife has left. Oh God, what have I done to deserve this" he said, and started crying. Kwame is now deaf and blind.
As I end on this sad note, let us all note that PWDs especially the deaf are not "foreigners". They need to be supported, loved, cared and most importantly provided given quality education and employment opportunities just as all Ghanaians. Please let us all help to make a difference in the lives of the deaf.
The deaf can do everything except hearing. People ignorantly refer to them as also dumb, an assertion they greatly oppose since they can express themselves. Their speech or articulatory organs are well functioning. The deaf can laugh, smile, cry, shout and do all other things that the abled bodied does except hear.
The greatest challenge for the deaf is communication which affects how well they can interact with their hearing counterparts in society. Let the deaf walk into a bank or other service providers and they really find it difficult assessing any service. They are left to their own mercies when they visit the hospitals, police stations, law courts and others places of work.
Sometimes, those who take time off to help them also behave in such a way that they sometimes feel very helpless and often feel very intimated or disgraced. Unfortunately, the condition they find themselves in is through no fault of theirs. It is very painful and disheartening to know that even close relatives of sound impaired including parents and siblings can't communicate with them. They usually find themselves very lonely which brings about a lot frustration. This is why many are of the perception that the deaf easily gets angry, which tends to be true because nobody tends to care and explain things to them.
There is no better way for the nation to accept and recognize them than to take keen interest in the study and learning of the Sign Language. Even though they are in the minority, this is their humble plea.
This calls for a serious intervention from the government to assist the Ghana National Association of the Deaf (GNAD) through funding to organize Sign Language Workshops in all regions and districts to produce more interpreters.
According to Ebenezer Addo Asamoah, the National Administrator of GNAD, it will be very helpful for institutions to volunteer and learn the Sign Language in order to ease the frustration between the deaf and service providers.
Statistically, very few of the deaf are employed both at the public and private institutions, and the major reason for this is the communication gap. Employees know they will find it very difficult communicating with them. But it is not encouraging for our deaf brothers and sisters to remain unemployed because we can't communicate with them. We need to get the deaf who are qualified into employment.
Lack of skills is also another challenge facing the deaf. In order to rectify this situation, Mr. Asamoah has urged the government to establish vocational training centers in all districts to enable the deaf acquire skills for the job market as it is enshrined in Act 215. There is also the need to remind the government of the tax rebate which employers must receive for employing Persons With Disabilities, (PWDs).
Since many of the deaf are unemployed, there is the temptation for some of them to go begging and because their disability is not visible until communication is needed, some of the deaf resort to tricks like letters soliciting help, envelopes for donation which the GNAD uproars.
In response to how such people should be treated, Mr. Asamoah said that such demands shouldn't be honoured by the public. "Any such demand should also be channeled through the National Headquarters to ascertain its genuineness" he cautioned.
Generally the deaf community in Ghana has very low education which makes them the poorest of the poor in society and painfully ignorant of what happens in the country and the world at large.
Presently there are fourteen basic schools nationwide which is grossly inadequate. A visit to these schools shows that there is a tall list of children who couldn't be admitted due to lack of facilities. Imagine a densely populated region like the Ashanti Region which has a large number of deaf having only one basic school for the deaf.
Even though averagely, there is a school for the deaf in each region there is the urgent need for more schools to be constructed and the need for improvement in the existing ones in the form of infrastructure; classrooms, dormitories and accommodation for staff.
Teaching the deaf is one of the most difficult teaching assignments for research has shown that to teach one deaf child is equivalent to teaching six hearing children. This then calls for more well trained and motivated staff.
There is only one Senior Technical School for the Deaf in the country which is at Mampong Akuapem, one vocational School at Beecham in the Brong Ahafo Region and a new integrated Senior High School at Navrongo in Upper East Region.
This simply means that the deaf youth are being told your education ends at the basic level. The situation is worse at the tertiary level. They are forced to do a lot of lip reading on their own. They have to watch and read the lips of lectures who most of the times teach in the absence of interpreters.
For example, at the Presbyterian Training College, in Akropong, Akuapem there is only one interpreter for 5 deaf students, one in the first and two in the second and third years respectively. The University of Education, Winneba has a number of deaf undergraduates but no interpreters.
As the Commissioner of Human Rights and Administrative (CHRAJ), Dr. Emil Short, put it "over the years People Living with Disabilities (PWDs) have been deprived of a variety of rights such as healthcare, education, employment and participation in cultural and social activities, and mainstreaming disability in the educational system is a strategy for achieving equality for PWDs".
PWDs continuously face discrimination in all aspects of life. Some view disability as a punishment for sins committed either by themselves or their ancestors. In some cultures, they are not supposed to come out early in the morning because it is believed to be a very bad omen.
Discrimination in marriage is greatly affecting PWDs. Disability is perceived to be hereditary so some families do not want their children to marry a PWD. There is no guarantee that when a deaf marries a hearing person, their offspring will be deaf. These among many misconceptions need to be corrected.
According to Mr. Emile Short "It is very sad that the concerns of the deaf have been neglected. I paid a visit to Kwame Turkson, who is deaf, at a village in Nsawam in the Eastern Region. This man was going to visit a friend one night in the company of three friends. When they got to the place, they were approached by people who asked they were heading towards to. Because they couldn't talk, they mistaken for thieves. One of them went to his room, brought an acid and poured it on Kwame who became blind afterwards."
When I got to his home in the company of the President of the GNAD, communicating in sign language to him, this is what he had to say. "I am deaf and blind, I can't hear, I can't see, my father has died, my elder brother who inherited my father has also died. I am now left with my weak old mother. My wife has left. Oh God, what have I done to deserve this" he said, and started crying. Kwame is now deaf and blind.
As I end on this sad note, let us all note that PWDs especially the deaf are not "foreigners". They need to be supported, loved, cared and most importantly provided given quality education and employment opportunities just as all Ghanaians. Please let us all help to make a difference in the lives of the deaf.