Recognition of SASL to open doors to the deaf

Faeem Karodia, a sign language activist, believes making South African Sign Language (SASL) the country’s 12th official language will open doors for people in the deaf community.

The SASL was officially recognised in May after the National Assembly approved the amendment of Section Six of the Constitution to include sign language as an official language to promote the rights of people who are deaf and hard of hearing.

Karodia said this was a proud moment as they have been lobbying for the recognition of SASL since 2007.
“It will open doors for all deaf people. We are going to access anything,” he said.

The 38-year-old was born deaf. He learnt sign language from a young age and at school, at St Vincent School for the Deaf in Rosebank.

He said not enough was done to accommodate the deaf community in South Africa, adding more attention had to be given to Deaf Awareness Month, which is observed annually in September.

He said his biggest daily challenges included taxi services, ordering food, making a purchase in a shop, making calls in an emergency and communicating with someone who doesn’t understand sign language or the deaf culture.

Karodia got his driver’s licence in his matric year through his mother’s assistance.

“We communicated through sign language. Sometimes I wrote the instructions on a piece of paper to communicate. Sometimes the officers used hand gestures to communicate with me,” he said.

Some basic facts about the South African Sign Language

• South African Sign Language (SASL) is an integral part and an identifying feature of membership in the Deaf Culture.
• SASL has its own grammatical structure independent of any spoken/written language, e.g. English, Zulu, Xhosa, etc.
• The majority of Deaf people (95.6%) are born to hearing parents and therefore do not acquire SASL as a mother tongue. They acquire SASL at school from peers. SASL is the first language of the majority of South African Deaf children.
• A minority of Deaf children are born to Deaf parents and these children acquire SASL as a mother tongue.

He said he constantly faces a problem at roadblocks as most traffic officers don’t understand sign language. He urged the EMPD officers and other law enforcers to take SASL classes to improve their communication with deaf people.

The Mr Deaf South Africa finalist has been an advocate for the deaf community for years, condemning the constant discrimination and inequality against deaf people.

“I create deaf awareness, whether in person or on social media. I encourage all South Africans to learn the SASL and immerse themselves in deaf culture.

Some basic facts about the South African Sign Language

• SASL, despite regional differences and variations, has the same grammatical structure countrywide.
• There is not a one-to-one relationship between SASL and English. One sign may be translated into English by more than one word (perhaps a phrase or a sentence). Likewise an English word may be represented by more than one sign.
• SASL is not more or less abstract than any spoken language. It is capable of expressing all that natural human language is capable of expressing with all its subtlety and complexity. That is, SASL can be used to tell jokes, ask riddles, express sarcasm, tell lies, create idioms, make poetry, etc.

“I also help companies employ deaf people and also help those who want to start their own businesses.

“The discrimination against deaf people has to stop. We are all human beings. We are the same, except we can’t hear. We can do anything like those with no hearing impairments,” he said.

He said the country needs more people who are fluent users of the SASL and appreciate the deaf culture.

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