GNAD urges government to legalise sign language

The Ghana National Association of the Deaf (GNAD) has called on the government to legalise sign language in the perspective to bridge the communication gap between the deaf and the rest of the society.

The Association says sign language is unique just as any other Ghanaian language like Ga, Twi or Ewe, hence the need to accord it a lingual and facilitate its usage for easy communication among the deaf and their other counterparts.

George Pinto, a sign language interpreter of the Association indicated that with that pupils will start studying Ghanaian sign language in schools as they do for other local languages when Parliament successfully enact this law.

Speaking on Campus Exclusive on Thursday, on the celebration of the International Day of sign languages, he said: “by so doing, we will get majority of Ghanaians communicating with deaf people basically.”

“Today’s programme forms part of an awareness-raising, we are calling on government to back the Ghanaian sign language with law. We want the legal recognition of the Ghanaian sign language to become one of the national languages and if this is done then basic schools will start learning it just like they learn Ewe, Akan, Ga,” he said.

He entreated Ghanaians to accept sign language as they do for other spoken languages in the country. For him, that will help integrate the deaf into public services and society.

Meanwhile, a sign language lecturer, Mr Emmanuel Addo Asare, disclosed that prospective individuals request for his teaching only in instances when they realize that having knowledge in sign language will be advantageous for a particular purpose.

“My observation has been that, someone will approach you to learn sign language basically because the person has an interest in using sign language for a purpose but without that it is rare. So somebody will come to you to learn because the person is going to disability program and will need it that is why he or she want to learn,” he said.

The International Day of Sign Languages is a day commemorated on the 23rd day of September each year as a unique opportunity to support and protect the linguistic identity and cultural diversity of the deaf and other sign language users.

In 2020, the World Federation of the Deaf issued a Global Leaders Challenge in the perspective to promote the use of sign languages by local, national, and global leaders in partnership with national associations of deaf people in each country, as well as other deaf-led organizations.

The theme for this year’s celebration is “Sign Languages are for Everyone!”