News
Need more sign language interpreters to get hearing impaired people out of harm’s way
View(s):A dire shortage of interpreters has put the hearing-impaired community in harm’s way, especially at a time when communications matters most for them to stay safe from the covid pandemic.
Their usual everyday challenges have been worsened by the outbreak of COVID-19 as they rely heavily on lip-reading to grasp a message. Now, with the requirement to wear masks, the hearing-impaired are at a loss to communicate with others and this has badly affected them, said Bernardine de Croos, a senior sign language interpreter at the Sri Lanka Central Federation of the Deaf (SLCFD).
The shortage of certified sign language interpreters means that the hearing-impaired rely on family members to communicate on their behalf in public offices, including police stations and hospitals.
Many interpreters are not professionally trained to communicate in sign language, said Ms de Croos. They’ve learnt it as a way to communicate with their hearing-impaired family members. With communication restrictions, deaf people are also unable to express their concerns freely.
Earlier this year, the Cabinet approved a proposal to draft a Sign Language Bill which would give the language legal status in Sri Lanka. Ms de Croos believes the law will allow the deaf community to have easier access to public services such as healthcare and law enforcement.
“It is a dream for many young people in the deaf community to receive higher education,” she said. “It is very rare that a deaf person is able to work in the Government sector. By legalising sign language, there is hope that the Government will implement a policy in which sign language will be a mandatory form of communication. This will bridge the gap between the deaf community and society,” Ms. de Croos said.
Meanwhile, the Youth Advocacy Network Sri Lanka (YANSL) recently launched a website, wehearyou.lk to provide information on sexual and reproductive health and rights to people living with hearing disabilities. It came about following realization that the deaf community did not have adequate access to resources such as sex education and information on COVID-19.
It was recognised that the sign language used in Sri Lanka did not consist of many signs needed to communicate subjects such as sexual and reproductive health, according to Shelani Palihawadana, Director of Programmes at YANSL and Project Coordinator for We Hear You.
For instance, there used to be only one sign to indicate both rape and sexual intercourse. As a result, many expressions were misinterpreted, creating frustration within the deaf community. YANSL also created a glossary of specific signs that help the deaf community to communicate about sex education and reproductive rights.
“The lack of signs pertaining to subjects such as mental health has resulted in many people missing out on diagnoses such as depression,” Ms Palihawadana said. “It takes quite a while for them to express what they are actually feeling and for it to be correctly diagnosed. There were situations where some people needed to receive treatment in hospitals but could not because of the inability to express themselves vividly.”
When a deaf person faced sexual harassment in public transport, they were often unable to communicate their experience and such situations resulted in them feeling invalidated, said Sarah Soysa, National Programme Analyst for Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights at the United Nations Population Fund.