Sign Language Support, Services and Awareness
Universities across the Scholars Program network have taken active steps towards including students with hearing impairments on their campuses by employing creative strategies and developing programming to best suit the individual needs of both the student and administration.
USIU-Africa, Nairobi, Kenya
An active, student run Sign Language Club is currently running at USIU-Africa, hosting weekly lessons run by students. Club members come from a variety of academic backgrounds, and see the club as an opportunity to develop skills that will both further their own careers, and allow them to practice inclusion in their everyday lives. The Club regularly holds awareness and fundraising events as well as performances at other campus events such as Culture Week, Black History Month, Freshmen Orientation, Counseling Centre Disability Week, among others.
The Club regularly uses such events to highlight the unique opportunities and challenges of people with disabilities with a special emphasis on the deaf community in Kenya. The Club also raise funds towards adding more disability-friendly facilities at the university campus such as accessible spectator benches, shade, washrooms and bins at the USIU-Africa sports field.
In addition to the student run club, formal Sign Language classes are open to the entire campus community, including university faculty, administration and staff. These lessons are consistently well attended.
Kyambogo University, Kampala, Uganda
Kyambogo University currently has 23 students with hearing impairments, all of whom have access to sign language interpreters for their learning. The Sign Language Support Unit under the department of Special Needs Education bears 100% of the cost of providing sign language interpreters for students on government scholarship and 75% for students on private sponsorship. The department also runs a Diploma Course on Sign Language Interpretation that aims at training and qualifying sign language interpreters to meet the growing demand of the service by the increasing number of professionals with hearing impairments in the country and beyond.
University of Gondar, Gondar, Ethiopia
As part of the measures to create an inclusive learning environment for students with hearing impairment at the university, an intensive sign language training program was conducted for scholars Program staff, staff from the registrar’s and students’ affairs offices and representatives from other departments.
A University Guideline is also available that incorporates the provision of sign language interpretation for students, sign language training where possible and extended time for exams as part of reasonable accommodation.
