Hundreds of people have joined Deaf South Africa in Newlands Cape Town in a march dubbed the silent walk.
This is to create awareness about their plight.
Supporters of the march, who are not hearing impaired, were asked to wear earplugs for one hour with no interpreters, in order to get a glimpse of the life of the deaf.
@helenzille @PatriciaDeLille @BigBroSA pic.twitter.com/jmMFu7zxwv
— A Humphries (@AHumphriesHeyns) 1 September 2018
Spokesperson of DeafSA, Jabaar Mohamed, says communication remains a problem. Mohamed spoke through an interpreter, Beryl Petersen.
“Many of the challenges the deaf face today is communication, nobody understands what it means to be deaf, our accessibility is using South African sign language, and we want people to accept that this language is part of our culture, our right and within that we’ve got access to various universities, access public services. Even access to TV, we can’t take part because there’s no sign interpretation or subtitles.”
Western Cape Premier Helen Zille says government would like to provide more resources to the deaf community.
“And I agree that there should be more resources for communities with disabilities. The big challenge is that, the problem is that we are spending so much more in preventable conditions that there’s is little money for conditions that are often unpreventable, and it’s a big challenge to change behaviour for example alcohol abuse, for example unsafe sex. And if we could change that behaviour we would release a lot of money for very important objectives”
Mayor Patricia de Lille says walking in silence with earplugs on, was an eye opener.
“Today at the silent march it was so peaceful, we all wearing earplugs, we couldn’t hear anything as we were walking, and sort of living the way they are living without hearing.”
It was a fun and informative way to spend my Saturday. I joined @DeafsaInfo, @helenzille and many Capetonians on a #SilentWalk promoting the use and recognition of South Africa Sign Language #SASL Together we’re bridging the gap between the deaf and the hearing. @CityofCT pic.twitter.com/SLkEAp9ky7
— Patricia de Lille (@PatriciaDeLille) 1 September 2018
The deaf community wants society to be more tolerant and understanding when they are around the hearing impaired.
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