Miss-Delectable
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The Herald Online **News**
THE plight of thousands of members of the deaf community came under the spotlight during Deaf Awareness Week in which sign language was promoted in government departments.
Deaf Awareness Week, which started on Monday and ends on Sunday, aims to increase understanding of sign language, in particular, and the deaf culture in general.
The department of sport, recreation, arts and culture and the Pan South African Language Board launched a Sign Language Awareness Campaign this week.
Bhisho sport, arts and recreation head Bubele Mfenyana said the department wanted to help give a platform for the sharing of ideas among deaf people and their families.
“We also want to promote the development of deaf human resources and employment and the sign language. We also provide a platform where families of deaf people can come together and share their challenges and to explore what constitutional or policy rights are in place for the deaf people.”
Mfenyana said the department wanted to establish people‘s needs and what training was needed.
“We want to train government staff in sign language. It is important that whenever the president or any other official speak there will be a sign language interpreter,” he said.
There was also the need to address the unemployment of deaf people.
The Port Elizabeth Deaf Association has been visiting schools, clinics and municipal departments educating them on the importance of sign language.
Acknowledging deaf awareness week in Nelson Mandela Bay were a SA National Defence Force medical unit who handed sweet treats to children at Reuben Birin School for the hearing impaired.
Nelisa Davashe, 15, who lost her hearing at the age of six, spoke through a sign language interpreter, teacher Willie Goosen.
The Grade 8 pupil said she dreamt of being a news sign language interpreter.
Since the school has classes up to only Grade 8, Nelisa will continue her schooling in Pretoria.
She lives in Motherwell with her parents and two siblings. Although nobody at home does sign language, she is content and says she lip reads and when words are hard to lip read they are written down for her.
Her family is supportive and she confesses that it would be nice if her older brother and sister could communicate in sign language.
In her spare time she prefers to read and spend time with her hearing friends.
“I don‘t like the underwriting of English words when there‘s a programme on television. It is distracting. I‘d rather watch the picture,” she said.
Nelisa is an intelligent pupil and believes she has a bright future ahead of her.
Teacher Willie Goosen, who completed a diploma in deaf education, said the department of education initiated a further training sign language course for staff at the Reuben Birin School.
Goosen said sign language lessons were based on the facial expressions and signs of the hands which would determine the structure of the sentence.
THE plight of thousands of members of the deaf community came under the spotlight during Deaf Awareness Week in which sign language was promoted in government departments.
Deaf Awareness Week, which started on Monday and ends on Sunday, aims to increase understanding of sign language, in particular, and the deaf culture in general.
The department of sport, recreation, arts and culture and the Pan South African Language Board launched a Sign Language Awareness Campaign this week.
Bhisho sport, arts and recreation head Bubele Mfenyana said the department wanted to help give a platform for the sharing of ideas among deaf people and their families.
“We also want to promote the development of deaf human resources and employment and the sign language. We also provide a platform where families of deaf people can come together and share their challenges and to explore what constitutional or policy rights are in place for the deaf people.”
Mfenyana said the department wanted to establish people‘s needs and what training was needed.
“We want to train government staff in sign language. It is important that whenever the president or any other official speak there will be a sign language interpreter,” he said.
There was also the need to address the unemployment of deaf people.
The Port Elizabeth Deaf Association has been visiting schools, clinics and municipal departments educating them on the importance of sign language.
Acknowledging deaf awareness week in Nelson Mandela Bay were a SA National Defence Force medical unit who handed sweet treats to children at Reuben Birin School for the hearing impaired.
Nelisa Davashe, 15, who lost her hearing at the age of six, spoke through a sign language interpreter, teacher Willie Goosen.
The Grade 8 pupil said she dreamt of being a news sign language interpreter.
Since the school has classes up to only Grade 8, Nelisa will continue her schooling in Pretoria.
She lives in Motherwell with her parents and two siblings. Although nobody at home does sign language, she is content and says she lip reads and when words are hard to lip read they are written down for her.
Her family is supportive and she confesses that it would be nice if her older brother and sister could communicate in sign language.
In her spare time she prefers to read and spend time with her hearing friends.
“I don‘t like the underwriting of English words when there‘s a programme on television. It is distracting. I‘d rather watch the picture,” she said.
Nelisa is an intelligent pupil and believes she has a bright future ahead of her.
Teacher Willie Goosen, who completed a diploma in deaf education, said the department of education initiated a further training sign language course for staff at the Reuben Birin School.
Goosen said sign language lessons were based on the facial expressions and signs of the hands which would determine the structure of the sentence.