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<h1>Make sign language officially recognised</h1>
<img src="https://newsday.co.tt/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/2704442.jpg" alt="GOOD SIGNS: Quashiba La Fleur of the TT Association for the Hearing Impaired presents a framed sign language chart to Natasha Barrow, left, deputy Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Social Development during a media clinic and sign language workshop last week. PHOTO BY AZLAN MOHAMMED">GOOD
SIGNS: Quashiba La Fleur of the TT Association for the Hearing Impaired
presents a framed sign language chart to Natasha Barrow, left, deputy
Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Social Development during a media
clinic and sign language workshop last week. PHOTO BY AZLAN MOHAMMED
<p>LAUREL V WILLIAMS</p>
<p>SIGN language should be recognised as an official language thereby
ensuring all stakeholders, including the deaf, have ready access to it
and realise their basic human rights.</p>
<p>This was the main message coming out of a media clinic and sign
language workshop hosted last week by the Social Development and Family
Services Ministry at the auditorium, Government Campus Plaza in Port of
Spain.</p>
<p>Permanent secretary Natasha Barrow told the gathering that children
and their families ought to be exposed to sign language as a first
option for communication, during the earliest stages of their
development.</p>
<p>“It would also be expected then, that the State would ensure that
public services, policies and other legislation, are compliant in this
regard,” she said. The theme of the event was, 'With sign language,
everyone is included.'</p>
<p>The ministry is hoping to bring awareness to media and communication
practitioners on the rights of people with disabilities. It was the
first media clinic on disabilities in commemoration of the UN’s
International Sign Language Day which was observed yesterday.</p>
<p>A draft policy on people with disabilities was laid in Parliament
recently and will soon be available for public consultation. One of the
aims of this policy is to ensure people with disabilities are guaranteed
the same freedoms and accessibility in areas of society than the
average citizen.</p>
<p>“As representatives of the media and communication practitioners, I
urge you to place the policy in your schedule of programming so the
national community is kept abreast,” Barrow said.</p>
<p>Facilitators included Quashiba La Fleur of the TT Association for the
Hearing Impaired who shared information about interacting with people
with disabilities. According to her, “people-first language” emphasises
the person and not the disability. It eliminates generalisations and
stereotypes, by focusing on the person rather than the disability.</p>
<p>The facilitators offered “three golden rules” when interacting with
people with disabilities: ask before you help, always use people-first
language and treat people equal.</p>
<p>Flyers and brochures at the workshop had information about acceptable
language versus offensive language. It is acceptable to say a person
with a disability as opposed to a referring to such a person as
physically challenged or 'broko'. One must never use words such as
retarded, dumb, moon or crippled, facilitators at the workshop advised.
There were also trainers of the deaf and sign language interpreters at
the workshop.</p>
- <br><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature">=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+<br><br> Harold F. Schiffman<br><br>Professor Emeritus of <br> Dravidian Linguistics and Culture <br>Dept. of South Asia Studies <br>University of Pennsylvania<br>Philadelphia, PA 19104-6305<br><br>Phone: (215) 898-7475<br>Fax: (215) 573-2138 <br><br>Email: <a href="mailto:haroldfs@gmail.com" target="_blank">haroldfs@gmail.com</a><br><a href="http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/" target="_blank">http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/</a> <br><br>-------------------------------------------------</div></div>