Deaf community marches to raise awareness

Deaf and hearing-impaired residents held a march in East London on Saturday to raise awareness of the difficulties they face in their communities.

Some of these include a lack of communication, access to information and inadequate facilities to cater for their needs.

Marchers carried placards reading “I am deaf and I am proud, Nothing without us for us” while walking from the Downtown Christian Centre in Oxford Street to Fleet Street and back again.

Some interacted with shoppers and motorists, distributing placards and alphabetical sign language posters.

September is Deaf Awareness Month in South Africa.

Buffalo Deaf Association chair Nonvuzo Lumbaca said any visit to the shops or government and private sector buildings revealed the struggles the deaf community faced.

In most cases, deaf people could not be assisted because there was no-one who could communicate with them.

“The march will have an impact because people will go back to their homes knowing deaf people exist and  want to be heard.

“There are deaf people who think they are alone in their struggles. Now we have made them visible,” Lumbaca said.

Speaking to the Dispatch through a sign language interpreter, Phumelele Jemane, who was born deaf, said it was painful for deaf people not to be heard.

“We want to promote the language and be heard like any other human being. Even municipalities can play a part  by hiring the deaf to create awarenesses about deaf people. There will be passion behind all that.

“There are all sorts of languages in SA but not sign language, even though it is known there are deaf people,” Phumelele said, adding that even some television shows were not committed in translating what was being reported.

Olwethu Nonkala, a shopper, said she felt the pain of deaf people.

“There is a person at my workplace who is deaf, and he seems helpless and has no friends. He is a loner.

“The challenges of deaf people need national intervention,” Nonkala said.