DeafSA
MEMORANDUM
TOWARDS RECOGNITION OF SOUTH AFRICAN SIGN LANGUAGE AS THE 12TH
OFFICIAL LANGUAGE
DEAF
FEDERATION OF SOUTH AFRICA
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MEMORANDUM
TOWARDS RECOGNITION OF SOUTH AFRICAN SIGN LANGUAGE AS THE 12TH
OFFICIAL LANGUAGE
INTRODUCTION
The Deaf Federation of South Africa (DeafSA), South Africa’s largest organisation
representing about one (1) million Deaf population, which is recognised
internationally by inter alia the World Federation of the Deaf (WFD),
hereby demands that Deaf people’s only language namely South African Sign Language (SASL) be recognised as the 12th
official language.
DeafSA,
formerly known as the South Africa National Council for the Deaf (SANCD), was
founded in 1929, as a result of the need to provide services to the Deaf
community on a national level. DeafSA is registered in terms of the Non Profit
Organisations Act. Since 1994 DeafSA has been embarking on the transformation
process alongside many other South African organisations in this new era of
democracy. One of the highlights of this transformation was the change in the
name of the organisation from SANCD to DeafSA, as well as the constitutional
change, which resulted in the Deaf majority members serving on all the
organisation’s management structures. This transformation is one of the biggest
milestones in the history of DeafSA, as it meant that the philosophy of
self-representation was achieved and it enabled DeafSA to be accepted as an
ordinary member of the World Federation of the Deaf (WFD).
DeafSA conducts its business according to the official mission statement
which is quoted below:-
“To promote the interests
of the Deaf and hard of hearing effectively on a national level in
DeafSA co-ordinates and facilitate the process of providing all kinds of
services for the purpose of integrating the one (1) million Deaf South Africans
into mainstream society.
Address all correspondence to the
National Executive Director
National Chairperson:
Wilma Newhoudt-Druchen Fundraising No: 01 100058 0007
National Executive
Director: Bruno Druchen
Patron:
Honourable Minister Essop Pahad Non
Profit Organisation No: 000 701
The purpose of this memorandum is to give effect to one of DeafSA’s
objectives as listed in our constitution, which is:
DeafSA
regards this objective as a key towards effectively promoting all other interests
of Deaf people because SASL is likened to a tree trunk on which all the
branches of services to Deaf people can be built. DeafSA has thus far contributed towards the following legislation and
codes of good practice:
·
Recognition of SASL as Deaf people’s primary mode of
communication in terms of the South African Constitution Act No 108 of 1996.
·
Recognition of SASL as a medium of instruction for
the purpose of educating Deaf Children – SA Schools Act.
·
Education White Paper 6 (DoE 2001).
·
White Paper on an Integrated National Disability
Strategy, whereby the disability in general is premised on the social model
away from the previous medical model (Office of the Deputy President 1997).
·
Codes of Good Practice on the Employment of People
with Disabilities (DoL 2002).
·
Codes of Good Practice for People with Disabilities
– Telecommunications and Broadcasting Industries (ICASA March 2006).
In addition DeafSA has spent the past twelve (12) years vigorously
carrying out various activities aimed at developing and promoting South African
Sign Language; the activities in question include the following:
·
During the year 2000 DeafSA, in partnership with the
Office of the Status of Disabled Persons (OSDP) and Swedish National
Association for the Deaf, compiled a comprehensive business plan detailing the
process of developing and promoting SASL with the ultimate purpose of having
SASL recognised as the12th official language. This business plan was
subsequently submitted to Pan South African Language Board (PanSALB), a section
9 institution responsible for the development and promotion of multilingualism
in
·
Conducted a National Deaf March during which a
memorandum was handed to the Minister of Education to demand that SASL be used
as a medium of instruction at all schools for the Deaf in line with the SA
Schools Act. Subsequently, the
Educational Task Team (ETT) was established to deliberate and implement the
demands of the Deaf March Memorandum. The ETT composed of representatives from
DeafSA and the Department of Education (DoE). However, the work of the ETT has
been lagging behind schedule because of a maze of bureaucracy within the
Department of Education.
·
DeafSA successfully registered the unit standard for
SASL as an additional language with SAQA.
·
During the course of the year 2006 DeafSA developed
a Position Paper for SASL and SASL Interpreter Services. The Position Paper is
still in draft format at this stage, pending inputs and endorsement from
various stakeholders.
·
Facilitated the process of training SASL
interpreters in partnership with Unisa with financial support from SETA……
DeafSA has been very honoured to have SASL mentioned in the legislations
and codes of good practice listed above; however, DeafSA is very disappointed
that the contents of these documents have never been applied in practice. One
example is the fact that even though SASL is listed in the SA Schools Act as a
medium of instruction, SASL is still not actually used as a medium of
instruction in schools for the Deaf. This is what prompted DeafSA to lead a
Deaf March to this effect in February 2003.
The policies were decidedly developed for window dressing purposes. In
this case a false impression is being created to the rest of the world that
WHAT IS SASL?
SASL
is a visual language used by hand, facial gesture and upper body movement. SASL
was developed naturally and Deaf people have used SASL to communicate for
centuries in spite of its history of oppression by the wider society. SASL will continue to exist for many more
centuries to come, in line with the saying:-
“As long as
there are Deaf people, there will be Sign Language.”
SASL
is a fully-fledged natural language, which developed through use by a community
of users namely Deaf people, and it has its own grammatical rules (syntax),
which are not like any other spoken languages. SASL is a true language in the
sense that it is different from other systems of communication that are not regarded
as languages. Like all other human languages, SASL can express the entire range
of human experience. SASL uses strings of signs to package concepts in the same
way other languages use strings of words. There is no one-to-one word-sign
equivalent, one sign can be interpreted into a number of words and similarly
one word can be interpreted into a number of signs.
It
is a well-known fact that the Deaf community exists in each and every country
around the world. However, Sign Language is not universal; there are many
naturally occurring indigenous Sign Languages around the world, just as there
are many written languages.
Different
countries worldwide use different Sign Languages, for example in the
One
of the mandates of the World Federation of the Deaf (WFD) is to coordinate and
encourage the maintenance of different Sign Languages around the world. Many
countries worldwide, including
“Sign Language is a real language,
equivalent in status to any other language. Deaf persons can sign about any
topic, concrete or abstract as economically, as effectively, as rapidly and as
grammatically as hearing people can.
Sign Language is influenced by entirely equivalent historical social and
psychological factors as spoken language - there are rules for attention-getting,
turn-taking, story telling, there are jokes, puns and taboo signs, there are
generational effects observed in Sign Language, metaphors and ‘slips of the
hand’ ” (Penn, 1993, p.12).
Keeping
in mind all the facts quoted above the Deaf community have proved adequately
that SASL is a real language worth protection, maintenance and official
recognition.
STATUS OF SIGN LANGUAGES AROUND THE
WORLD
As noted above, the World
Federation of the Deaf (WFD) - of which DeafSA is one of the ordinary members -
encourages the national federations of the Deaf (including DeafSA) to work
towards official recognition of Sign Languages for the purpose of communication
accessibility for Deaf people.
Many countries,
particularly in
Recognition
of Sign Languages around the world has taken place in many ways, but the end
result is the same: that information, communication, services etc. become
accessible to Deaf people in Sign Languages that are stark contrast to
COUNTRY STATUS OF SIGN LANGUAGE
United State Accepted for accessibility reasons
The
It
is noteworthy that
Secondly, we take notice with
interest that New Zealand Sign Language is the only third official language in
that country after Maori and English.
South Africa is known as a multilingual country because it has 11 official
languages but a total of about (one 1) million of its citizens, that is Deaf
citizens, cannot use any of these languages; not because Deaf people chose not
to learn any of these languages, but because Deaf people have a disability that
implies that their only language is South African Sign Language.
The countries around the world are
officially recognising their Sign Languages at a faster pace than ever while
WHY RECOGNIZING SASL AS A 12TH OFFICIAL LANGUAGE?
The answer to this question has
already been noted throughout this memorandum, but if that is still not enough
a more detailed answer lies in this quote:-
“Often individuals and groups are treated unjustly and
suppressed by means of language. People who are deprived of linguistic human
rights may thereby be prevented from enjoying other human rights, including
fair political representation, a fair trial, access to education, access to information
and freedom of speech, and maintenance of their cultural heritage”. Overcoming Linguistic Discrimination, ed.
Tove Skutnabb-Kangas and Robert Phillipson (
It is true that SASL holds the key
to a Deaf person’s enjoyment of virtually all his/her human rights. Stated
differently, Deaf people have no access to their rights unless SASL becomes
readily available to them as a mean of access to communication, information and
other forms of human experience. To this end, the Bill of Rights which forms
Chapter 2 of the South African Constitution is useless to the Deaf community in
absence of SASL. Deaf people’s rights are built on SASL, but this only language
of Deaf people is not recognised as an official language. Therefore Deaf people
demand their rights too, the rights which can only be enjoyed if SASL becomes
one of the official languages in
“The concept of a caring society is strengthened and
deepened when we recognise that disabled people enjoy the same rights as we do
and that we have a responsibility towards the promotion of their quality of
life”.
Therefore, the recognition of SASL
will enable Deaf people to “enjoy the same rights” as other South African citizens
and it is only through SASL that the quality of Deaf people’s lives can be
promoted.
While Deaf people, the users of
SASL, are considered a minority group, at the count of one (1) million they are
a much larger group than some of the users of the currently official languages.
Therefore, how can
It has been said that SASL is not
standardised and therefore it is not ready to become an official language. DeafSA
is in complete disagreement with this unproven assumption. It has been noted
that SASL has existed for many centuries alongside the existence of Deaf
people, which brings to mind the question: how long does it take to standardise
a language? This view will ensure that SASL is never recognised officially.
Furthermore, it has been noted
earlier in this memorandum that Deaf people can express the entire range of
human experience in SASL and it is very doubtful that this could have been the
case had SASL not been standardised.
Secondly, DeafSA as a member of the WFD has its Deaf representatives
interacting with the Deaf community from many countries around the world
through the activities of the WFD.
This proves that SASL is very
comparable with other Sign Languages used around the world. Some of these
countries have proved that Sign Language is a real language, a standardised
language by officially recognising their Sign Languages. Finally, we have a
Deaf MP who relies heavily on SASL to participate in robust debates, which take
place in parliament. DeafSA does not believe that anyone can take part at this
highest level of deliberations with a language that is not standardised.
Our constitution confirms that
A quote of four (4) pertinent points
from the preamble to the constitution is listed below:
o
“...Heal the divisions of
the past and establish a society based on democratic values, social justice and
fundamental human rights;
o
Lay the foundation for a
democratic and open society in which the government is based on the will of the
people and every citizen is equally protected by the law;
o
Improve the quality of
life of all citizens and free the potential of each person; and
o
Build a united and
democratic
The Deaf community too have experienced
many decades of marginalisation during the apartheid era in
This memorandum provides an
opportunity for the South African government to integrate the Deaf community in
it attempts to heal the past by officially recognising SASL so that Deaf people
can also enjoy their rights, as enshrined in the constitution and improve their
quality of life by means of equal education opportunities. The recognition of
SASL as an official language is Deaf people’s national outcry at the
moment. Therefore, by recognizing SASL
as an official language the will of Deaf people would have been dealt with. It
has been noted earlier in this memorandum that the list of countries, which
recognises their Sign Languages is growing very fast - needless to say this is
a family of nations that upholds the human rights of Deaf people. Therefore,
DeafSA demands that
WAY FORWARD AND RECOMMENDATIONS
DeafSA
believes that in order for SASL to be recognised officially, with subsequent
human rights of Deaf people being upheld and enforced, it is imperative that
all the sectors of our society join hands in the spirit of human solidarity to
promote and maintain SASL. However, the Department of Arts and Culture should
be at the forefront of running this process in close collaboration with DeafSA.
The
points listed below present the recommendations of this memorandum:
a)
A Task Team composed of representatives from of DeafSA and
Department of Arts and Culture should be established with immediate effect for
the purpose of monitoring the process of promoting and maintaining SASL, which
includes implementation of various projects.
b)
Parliament should effect constitutional amendments so that
SASL becomes a 12th official language with immediate effect or
within a period of six (6) months calculated from October 2006.
c)
The Department of Arts and Culture should provide funds for
the development of SASL training materials, which include visual SASL
dictionaries. This process should start by not later than March 2007.
d)
The Department of Arts and Culture should provide the
necessary funds for the development of curriculum for the training of SASL
instructors so that SASL instruction becomes a recognised profession. This process is to start by March 2007.
e)
The Department of Education should liaise with the tertiary
education institutions for the purpose of revising the curricula for public
service professionals such as Doctors, Social Workers, Paramedics, Police,
etc., to include inter alia SASL and Deaf Culture. These curricula
should become effective from 2008.
f)
A comprehensive inter-departmental training programme for all
the public service personnel on SASL and Deaf culture should be carried out
with funding from each government department, with effect from January 2007.
g)
As a short-term solution relevant to point f) above, SASL
interpreters should be made available at as many public service institutions,
as possible, with immediate effect so that Deaf consumers can receive services
in SASL. Funding for SASL interpreter should come from each public service
institution.
h)
The Department of Arts and Culture, in partnership with
DeafSA and private sectors should run a mass awareness campaign to sensitise
the public at large on SASL and Deaf culture starting in January 2007.
i)
The Department of Arts and Culture should liaise with DeafSA
on how to implement recommendation 7A of the White Paper on an Integrated
National Disability Strategy, particularly the continuous development of SASL
interpretation as a profession.
j)
The Department of Education should liaise with DeafSA with
immediate effect to discuss ways of implementing recommendation 9B of the White
Paper on an Integrated National Disability Strategy, for the betterment of Deaf
education.
CONCLUSION
The South African Deaf community
continues to be subjected to a millennium of marginalisation at an era when
many sectors of our society enjoy the fruits of democracy. DeafSA, as a
guardian of the Deaf community, perceives that the way forward is to have SASL
recognised as an official language, which will bring the process of
marginalisation to an end.
The recognition of SASL will also
enable the Deaf community to access their human rights and in that way correct
the perception that Deaf people are the less significant members of our
society. Indeed, the official
recognition of SASL would serve as a springboard from which to address the
challenges of fully integrating the Deaf community into society.
BRUNO DRUCHEN
NATIONAL DIRECTOR