DEAF AWARENESS BROCHURE

The Municipality wishes to express it appreciation to the PE Deaf Association and the Deaf Federation for providing some of the information provided in this brochure.

Table of contents
DEAFNESS: STATS AND FIGURES
SEPTEMBER IS DEAF AWARENESS MONTH IN SOUTH AFRICA
ABOUT SOUTH AFRICAN SIGN LANGUAGE (SASL)
SOME DO’S AND DON’TS WHEN SIGNING
DEAF EDUCATION
MEDICAL ASPECTS OF DEAFNESS
SIGN LANGUAGE INTERPRETERS

This brochure has been compiled to create greater awareness of the Deaf in Nelson Mandela Bay and the need to support and communicate with them through sign language.

Did you know that the Deaf culture has its own history, shared values, social norms, customs and technology? The term “Deaf” is written with a capital “d” – in the same way as one refers to “Jewish people”, using a capital “J”.

DEAFNESS: STATS AND FIGURES

The word Deaf is used to describe a whole range of conditions relating to deafness: according to figures from the World Health Organization, there are currently 278 million deaf people across the world.

The Central Statistical Services (CSS) estimates that there are approximately 412 421 profoundly deaf people and approximately 1 237 264 extremely hard-of-hearing people in South Africa. The total number of Deaf and hard-of-hearing people is estimated at 5 million.

SEPTEMBER IS DEAF AWARENESS MONTH IN SOUTH AFRICA

South Africa again celebrates Deaf Awareness Month in September.

Deaf Awareness Month is about recognizing the deaf people in our community as well as looking back at the achievements of pioneers in deaf culture. Deaf people inhabit a world with no sound, so that they chose to speak with their hands.

The theme of Deaf Awareness Month 2010 is “Promoting the language of the Deaf – from legislation to action, the time is now!”

This theme aims to improve understanding of deafness by highlighting the range of communication methods used by deaf children and adults, such as sign language and lip reading and to encourage hearing South Africans to support the deaf in their community and learn sign language.

ABOUT SOUTH AFRICAN SIGN LANGUAGE (SASL)

Did you know that South African Sign Language (SASL) is probably our oldest indigenous language?

Sign Language is the most basic human right of the Deaf Community. It has become widely recognised and protected in various legislative and governmental policies (and even acknowledged as a language equal in status to the 11 official languages in the country).

South African Sign Language (SASL) is a fully formed, proper language; a language with a history, a linguistic structure and rules, a language that changes over time and has different dialects in different areas… a language just like English, Afrikaans, Dutch or any other spoken language. Sign Language may in fact be the most underrated language in the world!

Why not learn Sign Language?

Being able to Sign (communicate using Sign Language) means you can have Deaf friends, help a Deaf person be understood by people who do not understand Sign Language, become a Sign Language interpreter (yes, this is a real career!) communicate with other hearing friends in loud places, chat with your mouth full of food!!… the list goes on… The possibilities are endless when you have an extra language under your belt!

From a more scientific point of view, studies show that if children learn Sign Language before they learn to speak, they will be communicating long before they would’ve had they only been taught a spoken language! This means that baby has much lower stress levels, and fewer tantrums, as he or she does not struggle as much to be understood! Studies also show that learning Sign Language doesn’t inhibit spoken language, in fact, it helps it! The connections, or sinapses that are formed in the brain when a visual language is learnt, are the same as those formed when a spoken language is learnt. This means that once you’ve learnt one language as a foundation, other languages will come more easily!

Of course, the best time for language learning is from birth to 3 years old… but that doesn’t stop you and your friends and family from learning SASL today!!

SOME DO’S AND DON’TS WHEN SIGNING:

Do’s include:

• Tap gently on his or her shoulder to get attention.
• If beyond reach to tap, wave in the air until eye contact is established.
• Switch lights on and off to get attention.
• Establish a comfortable distance between you and the person you are communicating with.
• Establish eye contact before beginning communication. SASL is a visual language and therefore eyes are used to process the message. Eye contact is also used as a turn-taking technique, especially in group discussions where everyone looks at the next speaker.
• Wait for you turn to start signing.
• Keep your face clear of obstructions, e.g. hair, scarf.
• Show that you are attentive by nodding slightly – if you are expressionless, it conveys inattentiveness.

Don’ts include:

• Do not touch elsewhere on the body, e.g. head, face, stomach or use a fist/punch or kick or throw things to get attention.
• Do not stand before the light from a window.
• Do not pass between two people signing - or excuse yourself if you have to.
• Do not stand too close.
• Do not look away during the conversation, as that denotes termination of communication.
• Do not sign with hands full of objects, e.g. cup, books.
• Do not eat or chew anything while signing.
• Do not stand in a dark spot.

Note: It is offensive to use the terms ‘deaf and dumb’ and ‘deaf mute.

DEAF EDUCATION

Deafness does not affect a person’s intellectual capacity or ability to learn, but children may lack the language stimulation experienced by children who can hear. A delay in learning language may cause a deaf child’s academic progress to be slower that that of hearing children. Deaf children who receive early language stimulation through sign language, however, generally do well academically.

The current situation...

• Diagnosis of hearing loss or deafness happens as late as 4 years old, in some cases 8 years old!
• Dear children often enter Grade R with little or no language.
• One in 10 babies in SA is born with some degree of hearing-loss.
• The average Deaf school-leaver leaves school with a reading age of 8.
• 75% of the Deaf Community is functionally illiterate.
• 70% of the Deaf Community is unemployed.
• Only 12 schools for the Deaf offer Grade 12 and are concentrated in 3 provinces.
• Only 2 FET Colleges in South Africa employ Sign Language Interpreters.
• 600 000 South Africans use South African Sign Language as their primary language.
• Only 14% of teachers in schools for the Deaf can sign fluently.
• South African Sign Language is not a school subject.

MEDICAL ASPECTS OF DEAFNESS

Hearing loss categories

In people who have suffered a hearing loss, three groups are classified, namely:

* Hard of hearing persons, with a minimum to moderate hearing loss who still use their sense of hearing as primary mode of communication in spoken language;

* Deafened people (post-lingual deafness) who acquired hearing loss after the acquisition of spoken language and depend on their visual sense for information for the purpose of spoken/written language: and

* Deaf persons (pre-lingual deafness) who acquired hearing loss before the acquisition of spoken language and whose primary mode of communication is Sign Language and who belongs to the Deaf culture.

Protect your own hearing

The most widely used measure of sound strengths (sound level) is decibel (dB). The sound level of speech of typical conversation distance is between 65 – 70 dB, while 85 dB are potentially hazardous and dangerous. Early signs of trouble are ringing noises in the ear (tinnitus) and temporary dullness of hearing after an intense noise exposure.

Protecting your hearing is very important, since it cannot be restored once it has been damaged.

• Sounds that are sufficiently loud can damage your sensitive inner ear structures, producing hearing loss.
• Noise exposure through loud sounds of short duration, such as an explosion or gunfire, can produce immediate, severe and permanent loss of hearing.
• Longer exposure to less intense but still hazardous sounds causes a gradual hearing loss, initially without the victim’s awareness, e.g. high volume music, recreational vehicles, aeroplanes, industrial machines, and woodworking tools.

• Avoid very loud noise, especially for any length of time.
• Factory workers and persons working in noisy industrial, mining, road, military or constructions environments must wear hearing protection whenever noise levels are loud.
• Avoid listening to very loud music, especially through earphones. At raves, stand far from the speakers and go outside at regular intervals to give your ears a break.

Telltale signs of hearing loss/problems

There are four basic signs that can alert you that someone – it may be you yourself! - has difficulty on hearing:

• Needing the TV or radio levels much higher than other people.
• Complaining that other people always talk unclearly.
• Difficulty hearing in big groups of when there is lots of background noise.
• Not hearing sounds like doorbells, car hooters, telephones or alarm clocks.

A hearing aid is an electronic device that amplifies the sounds for persons with hearing impairments. They have the same basic components as any public-address system, but all the components are miniature and the amplified sound is delivered to the ear of only the hearing-aid user. It can be worn behind or within the ear of in the stem or temple portion of eyeglasses. A more powerful hearing-aid amplifier for individuals with more severe hearing impairments can easily be carried in a shirt pocket.

A more recently developed hearing aid called a cochlear implant is now available to some profoundly deaf persons whose auditory nerves remain functional. The device consists of electrodes that are embedded in the cochlea of the inner ear to stimulate the auditory nerve and are connected through the mastoid bone to a receiver surgically placed beneath the skin. Although the cochlear implant does not reproduce the human voice, it substantially improves sound perception for many users, particularly those who have post-lingual deafness, and can significantly enhance the ability to understand speech. Some users can even recognize environmental sound and, in some cases, even music. Cochlear implants also help to a lesser degree many adults and children with pre-lingual deafness, improving speech perception and talking, with continued use of the device.

SIGN LANGUAGE INTERPRETERS

Sign Language interpreters can play a major role in the following areas and situations that need interpreter services, for example health services; legal services, media (especially the TV); counseling; public meetings and conferences; police stations; and tertiary educational institutions.

Characteristics of Sign Language Interpreters:

• Sign Language interpreters are bilingual or even trilingual, being fluent in two or more languages, e.g. English and South African Sign language.

• They conduct themselves according to professional ethics.

• Sign Language interpreters work within the source language (in which the original message is conveyed, e.g. SASL) and the target language (into which the original message is interpreted, e.g. English).

• They are bi-cultural, which means that they are at home in the culture of the hearing and the deaf.

• Sign Language interpreters must convey the message from the source language to the target language so that it is accessible to the users of the target language.

Formal education of Sign Language interpreters was never established in this country. Children of Deaf adults often act as Sign Language interpreters. Teachers of Deaf children also provide interpreting services.

DEAFSA or the PE DEAF Association can be contacted to obtain the services of a Sign Language interpreter.