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Week of activities planned to address challenges of the deaf

Sep 25, 2010 News

A week-long list of activities has been planned to observe Deaf Awareness Week and organizers hope these will help to address challenges facing the deaf in Guyana. The week begins tomorrow.
There are an estimated 9,000 deaf persons in Guyana, and they face the same stigma and discrimination other persons with disabilities face, such as inadequate access to education and employment.
At a workshop planned for Monday, a deaf achiever will share her experiences with misunderstandings caused by impatience, thoughtlessness and disrespect by tellers, cashiers, receptionists and security personnel from businesses and organizations whenever persons with disabilities request information, pay bills and taxes, use transportation services and report on crimes.
The week of activities commences with an opening ceremony at Herdmanston Lodge in Queenstown, Georgetown.
Invitees include deaf persons and family members, Government officials, diplomats, teachers of special education, vocational and other schools, businesses, service clubs, and special interest groups.
The week of activities was organized by the Community Based Rehabilitation Programme, the Deaf Support Group, the Guyana Deaf Mission and Deaf in Guyana together with a group based in the United States.
According to co-organiser Mrs Geraldine Maison Halls, one of the main aims of the week-long programme is to get leaders in all fields to become aware of the challenges facing the deaf and to get them to take steps to address these.
She said the organizers would be looking for commitments of employment and education.
She said that those who are deaf hardly go through the formal school system. Of recent, she could recall only one girl, Adella Tappin, from the Essequibo Coast, who completed high school. And that was only because of the persistence of teachers Bollers, Chester and Duncan.
Maison-Halls, who serves as an advisor to the Communitybased Rehabilitation Programme, said that teachers have little opportunity to develop their skills to provide deaf education and as a result the deaf often end up dropping out of school.
In one of the first workshops to be held, a deaf achiever, accompanied by his mother will recount his experience with early schooling, subsequent education and his family’s help in achieving success.
Participants in the workshop will include health and education officials, the National Commission on Disabilities, teachers of special education, vocational and other schools, and representatives of business, service clubs and special interest groups.
The session, which will involve deaf-education specialists sharing experiences of other countries, is expected to suggest practical actions to better utilise existing resources allocated to deaf education.
In addition, the workshop will promote actions by parents for deaf children to take audiology tests and register in schools and increase awareness by siblings, hearing children and neighbours of the talents of deaf persons through their involvement and participation in arts, sports, cultural, team-building and other activities.

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