By: ANG Reporter
Solidarity Helpende Hand has welcomed the decision that sign language will become the 12th official language in South Africa.
This follows a unanimous vote by the National Assembly to amend Article 6 of the Constitution to acknowledge South African sign language as one of the country’s official national languages. As soon as President Cyril Ramaphosa has ratified the amendment bill, it will be one of the country’s official languages.
Sign language is the only means of communication for many people with a hearing impairment. According to Suzette Oosthuizen, head of Solidarity Helpende Hand’s National Forum for People with Disabilities, those people’s right to be “heard” has been neglected too long in a hearing world. This exacerbates the many challenges they already face daily.
“Sign language uses hand gestures and body language to convey messages. Because it is used for communication just like spoken language, linguists consider both sign and spoken language natural. In all communities with deaf people, sign language develops over time. Gestures are also used by hearing persons who cannot physically speak,” says Oosthuizen.
She says a common misconception is that all sign languages worldwide are the same or that the same sign language is used worldwide. Although some countries’ sign language shows similarities with that of other countries, each country has its own sign language. An International Sign Language does exist, but it is a pidgin – a very simplified form of language used between language communities that do not understand each other’s languages, and that cannot satisfy all communication needs.
Oosthuizen adds: “We hope that the recognition of sign language as an official language will also lead to further adjustments to facilitate the living world of persons with hearing impairments. We would like to see the deaf community included in daily events. Visual news channels can, for example, use subtitles so that persons with hearing impairments can follow relevant news events.”
According to Oosthuizen, Solidarity Helpende Hand is taking the first step to enrich the lives of people with hearing impairments with the third LIG concert, which will be held on 28 July at the Sol-Tech campus in Pretoria. (LIG stands for Love In Disability.) The entire concert will be interpreted in sign language.
“It is the responsibility of every person in every community to act with understanding and respect towards every person who has to perform daily despite a disability,” she says.
