THIS week I bring to you the plight of deaf children in terms of education as it is argued by most organisations of deaf people that deaf children have the right to access education in their first language – the sign language of their home community.
Increasingly, sign language is being recognised as the first language of deaf people and has been formally recognised in the constitutions of Sweden, South Africa, Uganda and the draft constitution of Zambia which I feel has addressed a number of rights for persons with disabilities in general.
The World Federation of the Deaf argues that inclusion in school and society on an equal basis is only possible when deaf children have access to sign language.
Article 21 of the Salamanca Framework for Action states that “owing to the particular communication needs of deaf and deaf/blind persons, their education may be more suitably provided in special schools or special classes and units in mainstream schools”.
In southern countries, however, majority of the deaf children do not have access to education in schools for deaf children, or in the medium of sign language.
Since majority of deaf children have the option of being educated in their local schools, or not being educated at all, perhaps efforts should be made to ensure that deaf children at least have access to deaf adults in order to become proficient in sign language.
It is unusual to hear what mainstream teachers have to say about deafness and inclusion because many deaf children have no access to education and those who do, tend to be taught separately, either by teachers who have had some specialist training but mostly by teachers without qualification in special education.
It should be pointed out that this does not address the educational needs of children who have less severe hearing impairments and who are able to speak.
This group of children can usually benefit from hearing aids and can learn to lip read as long as efforts are made to communicate clearly.
Although hearing aids can help some children with hearing impairments, their lack of availability, high cost, and need for ongoing maintenance are major barriers to their consistent use, especially in rural schools.
In 2008, at a time I was Director General for Zambia Agency for persons with Disabilities (ZAPD), I meet a young disability activist who came to my office seeking sponsorship to Kitwe Teachers Training College.
I was new in the office when this youth was ushered in the office by my secretary. I greeted him but he was just looking at me then I called my secretary who told me that he was deaf, we arranged for a sign language interpreter, that was need enough to work with a stationed sign language interpreter at the office.
This youth is Frankson Musukwa who is a familiar name on this forum in relations to addressing challenges affecting Zambia Deaf Youth and Women Organisation (ZDYW).
Mr Musukwa shared his idea  to form this organisation was born out of his experience growing up as a deaf person, encountering discrimination, violation of individual rights and society’s negative attitude in everyday life.
“This experience prompted me and my colleagues to sit down and reflect on how we could help change the perception of deafness.
At college, we continued to receive poor education compared to our hearing colleagues. Lecturers would force us to lip read, forgetting that our mother tongue for the Deaf is Sign Language.
It is against this backdrop that I decided to form ZDYW to champion Deaf rights and equal opportunities in all areas of life – education, health, sports, political, etc – through advocacy and lobbying,” he said.
While there are many disability organisations in Zambia, ZDYW is a unique organisation which represents the interests and welfare of the most marginalised group and voice a rights based approach to disability.
ZDYW focuses on advocacy and lobbying, using the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) as a guiding principle.
ZDYW work around the CRPD principles, making it a unique organisation from other DPOs. They speak with courageous, refuse to side with State on wrong side when it comes to negotiations of rights contained in CRPD.
Society perceives ZDYW as individuals who cannot achieve anything. They say to us, “What can you do?” “How will you be able to do something while being Deaf yourself?”
It is attitudes like that which discourage or demean characters of individuals who want to contribute to society.
Since its inception in 2010, ZDYW has underscored countless achievement in an attempt to make a significant difference in lives of Deaf persons and persons with disabilities in particular. Among the big achievement are:
1.      That as youth played an influential role to lobby then, president Rupiah Banda’s administration to ratify the Convention on Rights of Persons with Disabilities. This is landmark achievement that has created a solid foundation for disability advocacy.
2.      Ministry of Education previously trained Deaf teachers but stopped, forgetting that there are Deaf children in school who needed teachers fluent in both sign language and Deaf culture; it was only after ZDYW engagement with the Ministry that we witnessed landmark recruitment of over 15 Deaf trained teachers in December, 2010. Since then, the Ministry has continued to priorities recruitment of Deaf graduates.
3.      Running Computer and Internet basic training comprises 20 computers for Deaf youth and women. The project as proven successful as can be seen by number of Deaf youth frequently visits the café.
4.      The number of donors and partner willing to support ZDYW activities is also on increase this can be attributing to good accountable and transparency thereby building confidence in donors.
5.      Implemented Deaf friendly VCT services on Copperbelt Province that has witnessed increased Deaf persons access to HIV/AIDS services barrier free.
6.      Constructing Deaf Village Centre expected to be officially open on December 3. It will be a unique center, first of its kind in history of the province and Zambia in general.
Despite those achievements and like any organisation, ZDYW is faced with some challenges in an effort to achieve its vision.
Some challenges include lack of transport for operation and visitation purpose; shortage of man power to supplementary organisation effort; society negative attitude towards persons with disabilities; for us NGOs ACT pulses a serious threat to independence of organisation ability to speak out against injustice perpetrator by the state.
Lack of political will to implement Disability Act is among serious threats that undermine the smooth operation of the organisation.
ZDYW, however, determined and focused to the realisation of rights contained in United Nations Convention on the rights of the disabled commonly referred to as UNCRPD and Disability Act number 6 of 2012.
Mr Musukwa concluded that Zambia should realise that Deaf persons are equal with other citizens, they have potential and deserve full rights and representation in the governance process.
The author is Regional Disability policy Analyst for SADC and Inclusive Development Advisor for Centre for Disability Development Research, Law and Policy, Johannesburg. Project Office, P.O. BOX 1981 New Castle, 2940 South Africa
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