The Ghana National Association of the Deaf (GNAD) has cautioned the public to desist from calling its members ´Deaf and Dumb´ because they are not stupid but are intelligent and can work in every sector, therefore one can call them only deaf and not the former.
The call was made at the 4th graduation ceremony of Saron Institute in Tamale which saw 13 individuals, ranging from members of media and also the public who graduated with a certificate in Basic Sign Language.
The Secretary of GNAD, Haruna Alhassan explained that the deaf community are ready to accept the hearing community as their own so therefore the Public should feel free to come and learn the Sign Language.
Mr. Haruna stated “We are ready to teach you whatever you want to learn so far as the sign language is concern. You are not helping us, you are helping your own self by adding value to the experiences that you have and definitely whatever we have in terms of sign language we will invite you so nobody knows tomorrow because as we are just abled people we could become deaf at any time, so don’t just say because I am learning sign language I am helping the deaf community.”
He further explained that Learning Sign Language gives you an opportunity to be employed, which will in turn help you get some income to feed yourself and the family as well as many organisations are looking forward to employ interpreters of the sign Language in their outfit, therefore we are ready to partner with you and to help you learn the language.
He therefore admonished graduands to practice whatever they learnt in the course of the training and not be happy because they have a certificate in Sign Language but cannot show when it comes to the practicality of Exhibiting their knowledge in Sign Lang.
Source: A1Radioonline.com | 101.1MHz| Kennedy Zongbil| Ghana
