Reaching out to the deaf community

What is your name in deaf language? am sure you have no idea how to sign your name for the deaf to understand. Giving birth to a normal child and precisely a child who has functioning ears is always a silent prayer for every parent. Today I want to Zero down to the deaf people. I want to inform you on how to do a conversation with the deaf. By the end of my presentation you will identify some guidelines to follow when communicating with a deaf person.

A deaf person is one who cannot hear nor talk. Deaf individuals communicate visually and physically rather than audibly. There are many causes of deafness. Some people are born deaf due to a hereditary condition, or had congenital problems. Others may become deaf as a result of injury, illness or exposure to excessive noise.

There are varying degrees of deafness: 1)hard of hearing, 2) "profoundly" deaf, and 3) completely deaf. You can often recognize the hard of hearing by their hearing aids. Deaf or profoundly deaf people may wear no hearing aid at all. Some will be able to lip read and understand you nearly perfectly, however, many will communicate with sign language rather than with words. In an environment that takes little or no account of deafness a deaf person can feel isolated, confused and frustrated. Therefore, for the sake of the deaf community I will give you three guidelines that will help you understand what you need to do so as to communicate with the deaf

1.Get the other person's attention before attempting to talk or communicate. Making eye contact is a good way to do this. If needed, you can use a small wave or light touch to get the person's attention. Generally it is not considered rude in deaf communities to lightly touch people you do not know to get their attention. The shoulder is a good place to touch someone you don't know well; use a couple of short taps

2. Speak your greeting in a normal voice and tone. Whispering or shouting will distort your lip movements, making it difficult for a deaf person to follow your words. Similarly, if you exaggerate your mouth movements you will be harder to understand than if you speak normally. Increasing the volume only helps if the person is hard of hearing, and it has the negative effect of drawing attention from other people around you, making the person you are addressing feel self-conscious.

3.Learn sign language. For full communication with deaf people, learn sign language. Sign languages are natural languages, with their own grammar and syntax. Most countries have their own national sign languages. They are quite distinct to spoken languages and generally do not follow the same geographic distribution (for example, British Sign Language is very different from American Sign Language). Many colleges, universities and local deaf organizations offer classes for all levels of learners. In Nairobi the Kenya Institute of Education has endeavored to develop a curriculum for the sign language students. One complete VCD costs 500 KES (approx $ 10) and with the CD one can learn how to communicate in sign language. I realized how difficult it is to use sign language without prior training during a baseball game when we could not communicate with the students of Karen School for the Deaf, despite their interest to learn baseball; they stormed out of the playground never to return because we could not understand each other. The deaf   people have their culture, and they can not join into our culture due to their disability, but we can learn their way of life for a more comprehensive society

I wish to leave you with some advice: Never assume that a deaf person is also mentally disabled. An unwritten rule in the deaf culture is "if you can see it, you can comment on it." So do not take a deaf person's bluntness personally - they do not mean to offend. It is simply acceptable in their culture to make comments like "you are bigger than last time I saw you" or other comments that would be considered rude in spoken conversation. We admire them enormously when they overcome their disabilities to bring honour and respect to our country. We marvel at their strength, grace and courage. Unfortunately we then cut off the supports that mean the difference between life and death for them. Who knows if one day you wouldn’t fall in love with a deaf, how will you express the feeling of I love you!