International Day of Sign Language

Solidarity Message

Sign language is an extraordinary noble gift to deaf people and it is the only language that bridges the gap between deaf people and their hearing counterparts. To quote George Veditz, ‘sign language is the noblest gift God has given to deaf people’. As we celebrate this year’s World sign language today, 23rd September 2020, it is very important to accord persons with hearing impairment and the sign language interpreters massive acknowledgement, because, according to the World Federation of the Deaf (WFD), there are approximately 72 million deaf people worldwide.

In Ghana, according to the Ghana Statistical Service data captured during the 2010 Housing and Population Census, 110,625 people are hearing impaired with an additional 101,087 being persons with speech problems – thus bringing the total to 211,712 persons with hearing and speech impairment. With these increasing numbers of Deaf people in Ghana and worldwide, the Foundation wishes to make a case for Ghana to recognize sign language as a language just like other spoken languages. Sign language is indeed, the spoken language of the deaf.

On this occasion of the International Sign Language Day, we at the Henry Djaba Memorial Foundation would like to encourage Duty Bearers, Government Agencies, Civil Society Organizations and Service Providers to make it mandatory and ensure that provision is made for sign language interpreter services in all their programmes and activities for the benefit of Deaf people in Ghana.

We also encourage duty bearers to pay more attention to the 2020 theme - Language Sign, Language for All and make a policy to support sign language as a language.

The Henry Djaba Memorial Foundation wishes to congratulate Sign Language Interpreters in Ghana and the rest of the World for providing inclusion for the deaf through translating spoken language into sign language and vice versa and making communication easy and interesting to and for Deaf people. Imagine living in a world Without sign language, the deaf would live in a world of silence.

AYEKOO TO SIGN LANGUAGE INTERPRETERS IN GHANA #SignLanguagesDay #communicationmatters

Signed Dr Otiko Afisah Djaba Executive Directory