Talk Sign campaign launched
The KZN Blind and Deaf Society hope sign language will be taught as a subject at tertiary institutions.
THE Talk Sign Campaign for 2015 was launched recently.
The campaign was launched by the KZN Blind and Deaf Society in 2014 to encourage South Africans to learn sign language as well as to raise money through the sale of Talk Sign stickers, to educate and find employment for people who are deaf or hard of hearing. The campaign also aimed to put pressure on government to make it the 12th official language and for Sign Language to be taught as a syllabus subject at schools and tertiary institutions.
Shamila Surjoo, director of the KZN Blind and Deaf Society, was delighted with the announcement in August this year by the MEC of education, Peggy Nkonyeni, that Sign Language would be introduced into main-stream schools and over the next five years, the KwaZulu-Natal Education Department would be training teachers in sign language in an effort to improve interaction among pupils. She also announced that she would be engaging Higher Education Minister, Blade Nzimande, to propose that sign language be introduced in tertiary institutions as a subject.
Shamila welcomed this introduction as, according to her, for far too long, the deaf have faced communication barriers and in turn feel isolated. This was the reason behind the introduction of the Talk Sign Campaign.
“We all need to communicate with each other. Imagine how lonely it must be when you don’t understand what the people around you are saying and, no-one understands what you are trying to say? This is how people who are deaf feel around those who do not understand South African Sign Language (SASL),” explained Shamila.
With the introduction of sign language as a school subject, the KZN Blind and Deaf Society is confident that the Talk Sign Campaign and Talk Sign Day 2015 will receive overwhelming support from schools and corporates. The government will be putting schools under pressure to kick start the introduction of sign language while corporates will benefit from the substantial goodwill generated by adopting Talk Sign as one of the social responsibility initiatives.
Talk Sign Day takes place on Friday, 13 March 2015. To book a presentation at your school or business or to order stickers for R10 each, contact Ellisha on ellisha@talksign.co.za
