DeafSA
Presentation to the
Joint Constitutional Review
Committee
Introduction
DeafSA represents about one (1) million Deaf people in South
Africa
Recognised internationally by inter alia the World Federation of
the Deaf (WFD)
Founded in 1929
Provides services to the Deaf community on a national level
Registered in terms of the Non Profit Organisations Act
1994 DeafSA transformed:
– constitutional change
– Deaf majority members serving on all the organisation’s
management structures
– self-representation enabled DeafSA to be accepted as an
ordinary member of the World Federation of the Deaf (WFD)
DeafSA’s Mission
“To promote the interests of the Deaf and
hard of hearing effectively on a national
level in Southern Africa.”
Purpose of Presentation
To give effect to one of DeafSA’s objectives as listed in our constitution,
which is:
To pro-actively facilitate and successfully lobby for the acceptance,
recognition, development, utilisation of resources/interpreter service of
South African Sign Language, as a medium of communication with Deaf
persons, as the 12th official language.
DeafSA regards this objective as a key towards effectively promoting all
other interests of Deaf people
Legislation
DeafSA has thus far contributed towards the following legislation and
codes of good practice:
Recognition of SASL as Deaf people’s primary mode of
communication in terms of the South African Constitution Act No
108 of 1996.
Recognition of SASL as a medium of instruction for the purpose of
educating Deaf Children – SA Schools Act.
Education White Paper 6 (DoE 2001).
Codes of Good Practice for People with Disabilities –
Telecommunications and Broadcasting Industries (ICASA March
2006).
White Paper on an Integrated National Disability Strategy, whereby
the disability in general is premised on the social model away from
the previous
medical model (Office of the Deputy President 1997).
Codes of Good Practice on the Employment of People with
Disabilities (DoL 2002).
Developing and Promoting
South African Sign Languagee
Comprehensive business plan detailing the process of developing
and promoting SASL with the ultimate purpose of having SASL
recognised as the12th official language.
National Deaf March during which a memorandum was handed to the
Minister of Education to demand that SASL be used as a medium of
instruction at all schools for the Deaf in line with the SA Schools Act
- Educational Task Team (ETT) was established.
Successfully registered the unit standard for SASL as an additional
language with SAQA.
Position Paper for SASL and SASL Interpreter Services.
Training of SASL interpreters:
– Registered course with SAQA (NQF Level 5)
Accreditation of SASL Interpreters according to International
Practices.
What is SASL?
Visual language.
SASL was developed naturally and Deaf people have used SASL to
communicate for centuries in spite of its history of oppression by
the wider society. SASL will continue to exist for many more
centuries to come, in line with the saying:“As long as there are Deaf people, there will be Sign Language.”
SASL is a fully-fledged natural language, which developed through
use by a community of users namely Deaf people.
It has its own grammatical rules (syntax).
SASL is a true language
SASL can express the entire range of human experience.
Sign Language is not universal
Status Of Sign Languages
Around The World
WFD encourages the national federations of the Deaf (including
DeafSA) to work towards official recognition of Sign Languages for the
purpose of communication accessibility for Deaf people.
The countries in which Sign Languages have been accepted,
recognised and/or protected are listed below:
Austria
Hungary
Spain
Belgium
Canada
Colombia
Cyprus
Czech Republic
Finland
Flanders
France
Ireland
Italy
Lithuania
New Zealand
Norway
Poland
Portugal
Slovakia
Sweden
Switzerland
Thailand
The Netherlands
Uganda
United Kingdom
United State
Venezuela
Germany
Slovenia
Why Recognizing SASL as a
12th official language?
“Often individuals and groups are treated unjustly and suppressed by
means of language. People who are deprived of linguistic human
rights may thereby be prevented from enjoying other human rights,
including fair political representation, a fair trial, access to education,
access to information and freedom of speech, and maintenance of
their cultural heritage”. Overcoming Linguistic Discrimination, ed.
Tove Skutnabb-Kangas and Robert Phillipson (Berlin 1995).
Bill of Rights.
Responsibility to ensure that Deaf people are not deprived of their
human rights on the basis of their disability.
SASL holds the key to a Deaf person’s enjoyment of virtually all
his/her human rights.
While Deaf people are considered a minority group, at the count of one
(1) million they are a much larger group than some of the users of the
currently official languages.
South Africa, as a caring society, can no longer continues to
ignore such a large group.
Constitution of South Africa
Not only committed to correcting the past marginalisation, but also to
listen to the people’s outcry and compete as strongly as possible with
the rest of the world.
A quote of four (4) pertinent points from the preamble to the
constitution is listed below:
– “...Heal the divisions of the past and establish a society based on
democratic values, social justice and fundamental human rights;
– Lay the foundation for a democratic and open society in which the
government is based on the will of the people and every citizen is
equally protected by the law;
– Improve the quality of life of all citizens and free the potential of
each person; and
– Build a united and democratic South Africa to take its rightful
place as a sovereign state in the family of nations.”
Recommendations
A Task Team composed of representatives from of DeafSA and
Department of Arts and Culture should be established with immediate
effect for the purpose of monitoring the process of promoting and
maintaining SASL, which includes implementation of various projects.
Parliament should effect constitutional amendments so that SASL
becomes a 12th official language with immediate effect or within a
period of six (6) months calculated from October 2006.
The Department of Arts and Culture should provide funds for the
development of SASL training materials, which include visual SASL
dictionaries. This process should start by not later than March 2007.
The Department of Arts and Culture should provide the necessary
funds for the development of curriculum for the training of SASL
instructors so that SASL instruction becomes a recognised
profession. This process is to start by March 2007.
The Department of Education should liaise with the tertiary education
institutions for the purpose of revising the curricula for public service
professionals such as Doctors, Social Workers, Paramedics,
Police, etc., to include inter alia SASL and Deaf Culture. These
curricula should become effective from 2008.
Recommendations (Continue)
A comprehensive inter-departmental training programme for all the
public service personnel on SASL and Deaf culture should be carried
out with funding from each government department, with effect from
January 2007.
As a short-term solution relevant to point f) above, SASL interpreters
should be made available at as many public service institutions, as
possible, with immediate effect so that Deaf consumers can receive
services in SASL. Funding for SASL interpreter should come from
each public service institution.
The Department of Arts and Culture, in partnership with DeafSA and
private sectors should run a mass awareness campaign to sensitise
the public at large on SASL and Deaf culture starting in January 2007.
The Department of Arts and Culture should liaise with DeafSA on how
to implement recommendation 7A of the White Paper on an Integrated
National Disability Strategy, particularly the continuous development
of SASL interpretation as a profession.
The Department of Education should liaise with DeafSA with
immediate effect to discuss ways of implementing
recommendation 9B of the White Paper on an Integrated
National Disability Strategy, for the betterment of
Deaf education.
“Sign Language is a real language, equivalent in
status to any other language. Deaf persons can sign
about any topic, concrete or abstract as economically,
as effectively, as rapidly and as grammatically as
hearing people can. Sign Language is influenced by
entirely equivalent historical social and psychological
factors as spoken language - there are rules for
attention-getting, turn-taking, story telling, there are
jokes, puns and taboo signs, there are generational
effects observed in Sign Language, metaphors and
‘slips of the hand’ ” (Penn, 1993, p.12).