SANA EBRAHIM
Global deaf awareness highlights the deaf cause, bridging the communication gap through learning sign language and enhancing socially cohesive environments.
South Africa has a well-established deaf community with more than 4 million deaf and hard-of-hearing people. South African sign language (SASL) is en route to being declared the 12th official language of South Africa.
According to Lance Schultz, CEO of Pan South African Language Board: “The announcement re-affirms the democratic right of deaf persons to participate in a meaningful and substantive way in public life, in their own language.”
Non-profit company DEAFinition offers a range of services and funding opportunities to promote equal access for the deaf community of South Africa, and encourages individuals and corporates to intentionally evaluate the way in which they communicate, to ensure their messaging is inclusive of everyone, including the deaf community. The public can sign up for free online for SASL courses presented by DEAFinition.
International Day of Sign Languages is celebrated annually across the world on September 23, alongside International Week of the Deaf. The choice of September 23 marks the date that the World Federation of the Deaf was established in 1951. The day foregrounds support for the development and preservation of sign language, and the role of sign language in realising the human rights of people who are deaf.
I, (Sana Ebrahim) in my capacity as a sign language lecturer at the Durban University of Technology (DUT) and founder-director of ArtSigns Visual, recently facilitated a Hand Chats Roundtable as part of the DUT Community Engagement project to commemorate Deaf Awareness Month at Antique Café in Windermere, Durban.
The topics covered in the interactive gathering were the SASL alphabet; numbers; the five parameters of sign language; deaf and hearing etiquette; sign names; and SASL vocabulary linked to the food theme.
Participant feedback received following the Hand Chats SASL engagement:
“In life, everyone wants to be heard and to feel that they matter and that’s no different for deaf people. Learning sign language helps to bridge that gap. Personally, we found the use of sign language useful in communicating with our niece (who is not deaf) when she was less than a year old. It was relatively easy even at such a young age to teach her certain signs that communicated her wants. I would say it is definitely worthwhile and useful to learn sign language. I hope to further my learning, and Hand Chats Roundtable is a great stepping stone.’ – Feroza Taylor Sayed Fakroodeen.
“Many people need exposure to the life and challenges of people who have hearing challenges. These people are usually shunned or refused presence at, or participation in, family socialisations when there are visitors around. People should learn basic sign language: greetings, self Introduction and other. This can take as little as one hour, especially in this digital age where a video to take home, recorded on cellphones, can be made. I applaud businesses such as ShopRite who hire deaf people as packer, bravo Shoprite!” – Phuthumile Ivy Cele (author of “Khuluma IsiZulu”).
“Everyone wants to know that they are heard and more importantly understood. Deaf Awareness Month is important in making the public aware of this form of communication and proper protocol to use with the deaf and hard of hearing. I believe that this form of communication and language should also be offered to children who can hear at an early age, especially in schools, as an extra language. This will help all people to feel that they matter and that their needs are important.” – Fiona Taylor Sayed Fakroodeen.
In September 2021, Ebrahim founded the ArtSigns Visual social club that shares SASL and Deaf culture perspectives amongst Deaf and hearing participants. Deaf compassion and empathy training lies at the heart of the initiative.
Ebrahim originated some Deaf Culture-related quotes since she started lecturing Sign Language at DUT in March 2021:
‘Somewhere in the liminal space between silence and sound, that’s where humanity intersects.’
‘The voice is a megaphone - whether articulated and appreciated through the mouth and ear, or the hand and eye - it sings the tune of new tomorrows.’
‘Every month has a flavour; every season has a colour; every note has metre; every sign has parameter.’
‘Somewhere at the intersection of the five parameters of a visual language, the perfect sign resonates with the lyrical musicality of song.’
‘Been wondering… what’s the common factor between sign language and calligraphy. Then it came to me. Both rely on the hand and eye in tandem.’
Earlier this year, I facilitated online and in-person SASL workshops as part of the “Despite That” Arrow (Art a Resource for Reconciliation Over the World) South Africa Project, comprising Arrow SA Durban youth linked to Bechet High School, and creatives from South Roots International, Cape Town and Beyond Face, UK. Some workshops were co-presented with Zohra Moosa (deaf poet and SASL educator at KwaThintwa School for the Deaf) and Makhosi Mhlongo (SASL interpreter).
I made my screen debut as a SASL facilitator signing the song lyrics in the “Despite That” music video (available on a YouTube channel). The Arrow SA arts, theatre and film projects with a SASL component attracted British Council and National Arts Council funding.
Arrow SA focuses on projects with predominantly youth in Durban, nationally and internationally, in affiliation with Indra Congress: the International Development of the Arts for Reconciliation.
Sana Ebrahim is a sign language lecturer at the Durban University of Technology (DUT) and founder-director of ArtSigns Visual.
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