Miss-Delectable
New Member
- Joined
- Apr 18, 2004
- Messages
- 17,160
- Reaction score
- 7
Kenya Times Newspaper
IN order for the deaf to participate in building a better tomorrow, we must do more and better now. We must incorporate their perspectives, their ideas, their skills and energy. Not just as beneficiaries of programmes, but also as participants in defining and carrying out such programmes. We must confront the inequalities and social issues that fuel deaf stigmas.
The stigma associated with the deaf is sometimes so harsh; some parents have hidden deaf children at home to avoid embarrassment while other people think deaf people are dumb, abnormal or mad.
With the global crumbling of centralised structures, strategies meant to empower the deaf can only succeed if they are geared towards attempts to change dependency. The ability to get things done is shifting from the central government to communities. Good examples back here at home are the Constituency Development Fund, the Youth Enterprise Development Fund and newly, the Women Development Fund where the government is supporting various communities to provide local solutions to national problems after noting that it is at the local levels where problems hit hardest.
We need to put into top gear among the deaf offsets of stagnation like higher education, acquisition of skills, economic empowerment and assertiveness. We need more sign language interpreters to check deaf exploitation, disseminate news, knowledge and new policies. Sign language competency should be made a requirement for receptionists, public relation officers and personal assistants to public figures to enable the deaf receive better and faster services from private and public offices.
There is need for well facilitated and professionally managed specialist deaf organisations to assist the deaf in areas of education, job hunting, job placement and representation in decision making organs. For a start, a composite deaf friendly polytechnic or college would be a good starting point to spur up deaf professionals, like lawyers, doctors, motivational speakers and the rest.
There is enough evidence in science and religion that God created no junk. Where one leg is short, the other is long. The materialism so highly developed in the West is balanced by great poverty and economic hardships in the East while the presence of so many religious teachings and systems so highly developed in the East is balanced by societies in the west that are essentially bereft of deep appreciation of the invisible world. The deaf are gifted and can do anything a hearing man can do except hear! More professionals should take up sign language for public service and mentoring the deaf into their fields. With more symbiosis at work places, deaf graduate’s technical prowess should find better use.
There is little information about HIV/AIDS among the deaf but the fact that they are prone to short lived marriages make them more susceptible.And like everyone else, the need for privacy on their HIV/AIDS test results keep many of them from deaf unfriendly VCT’s which require them which require them to go into the counselling/testing room in the presence of an interpreter. Where the doctor or counsellor doesn’t know sign language, the medics also find themselves in a dilemma as they are bound by their ethical and professional responsibility to only do what is in the interest of their patients. There are few deaf friendly VCTs and police stations and even where they are, they are far apart.
Despite many radio stations in the country, these are of no benefit to the deaf unless they have an interpreter. The Internet and newspapers don’t come cheaply. Where possible, public television stations should have footnotes explaining what the news is all about. The only good thing that has happened to the deaf communication is the SMS services offered by the mobile telephone subscribers. The other sectors, both public and private should also explore more ways that could enable the deaf participate in mainstream development.
The writer is the coordinator of Furaha Center for the Deaf, an organisation that aims to assist those whose vulnerability has been brought by hearing impairment.
IN order for the deaf to participate in building a better tomorrow, we must do more and better now. We must incorporate their perspectives, their ideas, their skills and energy. Not just as beneficiaries of programmes, but also as participants in defining and carrying out such programmes. We must confront the inequalities and social issues that fuel deaf stigmas.
The stigma associated with the deaf is sometimes so harsh; some parents have hidden deaf children at home to avoid embarrassment while other people think deaf people are dumb, abnormal or mad.
With the global crumbling of centralised structures, strategies meant to empower the deaf can only succeed if they are geared towards attempts to change dependency. The ability to get things done is shifting from the central government to communities. Good examples back here at home are the Constituency Development Fund, the Youth Enterprise Development Fund and newly, the Women Development Fund where the government is supporting various communities to provide local solutions to national problems after noting that it is at the local levels where problems hit hardest.
We need to put into top gear among the deaf offsets of stagnation like higher education, acquisition of skills, economic empowerment and assertiveness. We need more sign language interpreters to check deaf exploitation, disseminate news, knowledge and new policies. Sign language competency should be made a requirement for receptionists, public relation officers and personal assistants to public figures to enable the deaf receive better and faster services from private and public offices.
There is need for well facilitated and professionally managed specialist deaf organisations to assist the deaf in areas of education, job hunting, job placement and representation in decision making organs. For a start, a composite deaf friendly polytechnic or college would be a good starting point to spur up deaf professionals, like lawyers, doctors, motivational speakers and the rest.
There is enough evidence in science and religion that God created no junk. Where one leg is short, the other is long. The materialism so highly developed in the West is balanced by great poverty and economic hardships in the East while the presence of so many religious teachings and systems so highly developed in the East is balanced by societies in the west that are essentially bereft of deep appreciation of the invisible world. The deaf are gifted and can do anything a hearing man can do except hear! More professionals should take up sign language for public service and mentoring the deaf into their fields. With more symbiosis at work places, deaf graduate’s technical prowess should find better use.
There is little information about HIV/AIDS among the deaf but the fact that they are prone to short lived marriages make them more susceptible.And like everyone else, the need for privacy on their HIV/AIDS test results keep many of them from deaf unfriendly VCT’s which require them which require them to go into the counselling/testing room in the presence of an interpreter. Where the doctor or counsellor doesn’t know sign language, the medics also find themselves in a dilemma as they are bound by their ethical and professional responsibility to only do what is in the interest of their patients. There are few deaf friendly VCTs and police stations and even where they are, they are far apart.
Despite many radio stations in the country, these are of no benefit to the deaf unless they have an interpreter. The Internet and newspapers don’t come cheaply. Where possible, public television stations should have footnotes explaining what the news is all about. The only good thing that has happened to the deaf communication is the SMS services offered by the mobile telephone subscribers. The other sectors, both public and private should also explore more ways that could enable the deaf participate in mainstream development.
The writer is the coordinator of Furaha Center for the Deaf, an organisation that aims to assist those whose vulnerability has been brought by hearing impairment.