The recommendation made by the Constitutional Review Committee last week to make Sign Language the 12th official South African language brings much-needed hope to the deaf community. According to Marisa Vermeulen, a teacher at Bartimea School for the Deaf and Blind in Thaba Nchu in the Free State, and mother to two deaf children, making Sign Language an official language in this country will grant the deaf community access to better educational opportunities.

“Workplaces and emergency centres will be equipped with translators and sign language resources and services will now be delivered to the deaf community. This will mean a lot to everyone,” says Vermeulen.

Going to a hospital can be a difficult and costly exercise for families with deaf family members due to the absence of translators. Vermeulen recalled a time when her son broke his arm and went to the hospital. An enquiry was made into the exact nature of the incident and a social worker was called to investigate to ensure the child was not being abused physically. The social worker was unable to communicate with the young child, and Vermeulen says she wasn’t allowed to translate for her child, requiring her to find and pay for an external translator. The scarcity of translators in the Free State meant they had to spend two days in the hospital, waiting for said translator. She says that a hearing family does not have to endure the kind of challenges they experienced that day in the hospital because the hearing child would have been able to explain easily what happened.

OFM News/Olebogeng Motse