DAR ES SALAAM: ACADEMICIANS and stakeholders have urged more people to learn sign language and pursue training as interpreters to help remove communication barriers that continue to hinder deaf people’s access to essential services.
The call was made yesterday by Senior Lecturer in the Department of Foreign Languages and Linguistics at the University of Dar es Salaam (UDSM), Dr Julius Taji, during events to mark the International Day of Sign Languages.
Dr Taji said language barriers continued to prevent many deaf people from fully accessing healthcare, education and their right to freedom of expression, despite these being fundamental rights.
He stressed the importance of expanding sign language skills and interpretation services to ensure deaf people can communicate effectively and access services on an equal basis.
He said expanding the use of sign language in public and private institutions would help ensure that deaf people receive services on an equal footing with other members of society.
Dr Taji also said that sign languages are independent languages, just like spoken languages, and that countries have their own national sign languages.
“An English speaker cannot automatically understand German, and the same principle applies to sign languages. Tanzania has Tanzanian Sign Language, Kenya has Kenyan Sign Language and Namibia has Namibian Sign Language,” he said.
He added that some communities have developed local or micro-sign languages used within specific villages, citing Adamorobe in Ghana and Mbour in Senegal as examples.
According to Dr Taji, the International Week of the Deaf has played an important role in raising awareness and challenging misconceptions about deaf people since the United Nations General Assembly recognised the observance in 2017, with the first commemoration held in 2018.
He said one of the notable achievements has been greater public acceptance of the term “deaf”, replacing expressions that many members of the community consider inappropriate or stigmatising.
Despite the progress, however, Dr Taji said a shortage of sign language interpreters and instructors remained a major challenge, particularly in schools and other public institutions.
“There is still a shortage of interpreters who serve as the bridge between people without hearing impairments and those who have them,” he said.
He said UDSM has been offering a one-year diploma course in sign language interpretation since 2018 and has so far trained more than 100 interpreters.
Dr Taji welcomed the inclusion of foundational sign language training in the updated 2023 education curriculum framework for teacher diploma programmes, saying the move would help equip future teachers with skills to better support learners with hearing impairments.
He said expanding sign language training among teachers, public servants, healthcare workers and other service providers would be an important step towards removing communication barriers and ensuring that deaf people can exercise their rights and access public services without discrimination.
The challenge, he said, was now to turn growing awareness of the rights of deaf people into wider practical use of sign language across society.
