Sierra Leone: Between the Bo Sign Language Training Workshop, Human Rights And Development

[Harold Schiffman]

Between the Bo Sign Language Training Workshop, Human Rights And Development

Concord Times (Freetown)

By Philip Sahr Njepeh
Freetown

Probably, no other issue has been as perplexing and persistent in the
deaf community in Sierra Leone as the question of how to integrate the
rights of deaf people into human rights and development works at the
national and community levels, which is why the Bo sign language
workshop organized by El Shammah Mission Sierra Leone between the 13th
and 15th March 2008 highlighting the position of sign language used by
the deaf people in the country from a standpoint of basic need and
basic right must be considered unique.

The position paper presented by the facilitator of the workshop
compared sign to spoken language in the global context from a
linguistic, socio-linguistic and biological perspective to support the
widely held view that sign language is a real language like spoken
language. More importantly it demonstrates the link between sign
language, human rights and development of deaf people everywhere.


If the right of deaf people as a linguistic minority group is
recognized by the constitution in a country, it will make them
conscious of themselves as citizens with a common language as a result
of which, they will be able to organize and unite into a single
national organization to advocate for the recognition of their sign
language as a national or local language for deaf people in the
country. Similarly, if sign language is recognized at policy level by
relevant government departments as a national or local language for
deaf people in a country, they will be able to cooperate and work
together with existing and relevant institutions to develop a common
sign language for use by all deaf people as a medium of communication,
accessing information, training, education and employment.

The reality is that sign language does not enjoy equal status with
spoken language in many countries particularly in the West African sub
region. In Sierra Leone, hearing citizens who use spoken languages are
constitutionally recognized as ethno-linguistic groups. On the other
hand, deaf citizens who use sign language are not recognized as a
language group.

In the same way, the spoken languages used by hearing citizens are
classified by relevant government departments into official, wider
communication and regional languages in contrast to sign language
which does not have any ranking in the country. Moreover, the official
spoken English, wider communication Creole and regional languages such
as Mende, Temne and Limba are used by various institutions at the
community level either as a medium of communication or as subjects of
language arts, while sign language has never been accorded any such
respect.

The fact that sign language does not enjoy equal status with spoken
language in Sierra Leone may mean that perhaps deaf citizens also do
not enjoy equal rights with their hearing co-patriots in economic,
social, cultural, politics and civil activities in the country. This
can be seen from current position of deaf people in Sierra Leone.

The families and teachers of deaf children as well as deaf youth and
adults associate with different groups and the groups are not united
in the light of which their status as a linguistic minority group is
not recognized by the constitution of the country. That besides, they
lack awareness about themselves and their linguistic identity in view
of which, they find it difficult to advocate for the recognition of
sign language as a national or local language for deaf people in the
country. They also use different sign languages and their sign
language are restricted to their different geographical polities
within the four provinces of the country which explains why they find
it difficult to develop a common sign language for all deaf people in
Sierra Leone.Apart from this, their sign language vocabularies are
limited and they face considerable difficulties in using their sign
language to read and write in English in consequence of which, their
level of literacy is comparatively lower than their hearing
counterparts.

The current position of deaf people in Sierra Leone suggest that sign
language is both a human rights as well as a development issue. If the
status of deaf people as a linguistic minority group is not recognized
in a country, they will not be able to organize and unite to advocate
for the recognition of their sign language. Conversely, if the status
of the sign language used by deaf people in a country is not
recognized as a national or local language for the deaf, they will not
be able to cooperate and work together with existing institutions to
develop a common sign language for communication, accessing
information, education and training for all deaf people in the
country. In effect the living conditions of deaf people will continue
to be poorer.

Human development should lead to the realization of human rights
including: economic, social, cultural, political and civil rights.
This takes an integrated view of all human rights. What makes the
integration of the rights of deaf people into human rights and
development works so perplexing and persistent in Sierra Leone is due
to the narrow and exclusive focus on political and civil rights by
human rights organizations in the country. Granted, the recognition of
the status of deaf people as a linguistic minority group in a country
guarantees franchise; but then of what use is franchise if deaf
citizens cannot claim and exercise their rights to have access to
education beyond the primary school level?

The rights-based approach to sustainable development of people with
disabilities emphasizes five basic principles: social protection;
accessibility, consciousness; influence; and control. The underlying
assumption of these principles are that; disabled people have access
to housing, health care, rehabilitation services and access devices as
well as education, credit, information, income and earning
opportunities. It also assumes that; people with disabilities are
conscious of their own needs and right; that they are aware of the
consequences of neglecting and discriminating attitudes; have equal
opportunities to influence decision making processes of participation
and takes initiatives to assert their influence and promote awareness
of their rights.

These assumptions also embodies the key Millennium Development Goals
and Poverty Reduction Strategy papers. For deaf people, sustainable
development implies recognition of their linguistic minority group and
sign language status. However, the process of recognition of deaf
people and their sign language is not a case for constitutionalism,
legislation and policy alone. There is need for capacitation,
sensitization, advocacy, counseling and networking. Through these
activities, deaf people will be able to take initiatives to assert
their influence and promote awareness of their rights to social
protection and accessibility. That is why the Bo Sign Language
Training Workshop should be seen as a microcosm for understanding the
whole debate about integrating the rights of deaf people into human
rights and development works in Sierra Leone.

Editor's Note: Philip Sahr Njepeh is a freelance deaf community
development worker

http://allafrica.com/stories/200805050057.html

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