Journalists to learn sign language

Botswana Society For the Deaf is in preparations to train journalist on Sign Language on a two -day workshop, dubbed for December.

 The Public Relations Officer of Botswana Society For the Deaf, Lorato Marope says they aim to equip journalists with sign language skills in order to reduce reliance on interpreters. “Journalists should be able to get information from the source without having to use sign language interpreters. Therefore we found it necessary to organize this workshop as an initiative that will help cut down the communication barrier that already exists between the Deaf community, journalists and the public” Marope is of the view that this training will also give the journalists an opportunity to be able to know if what their interpreters are interpreting is exactly what the Deaf signed out. 

She also noted that through this initiative they want to raise awareness about sign language and Deaf culture and wish for Batswana to know and understand how the Deaf live. Marope laments that there is also a gap between the deaf and the so-called normal people. Thus, the Deaf community feels deserted because there are no enough sign language interpreters available to help with communication in different places in the country. ”Most of the service providers have no sign language skills, and this makes it hard for the deaf to be assisted respectively,” says Marope.

It is expected that at the end of this workshop, there will be better communication levels between the Deaf community and journalists, as Botswana Society for the Deaf believes that this can only be possible through the use of media and journalists equipped with sign language skills. On the other hand, Botswana Society for the Deaf advocates for sign language to be taught at earlier stages like primary school level. So far Botswana Society for the Deaf have trained over 5000 people since 2012.