The
case for official recognition of KSL
There
are no official figures for the number of KSL users in the Kenya, although
it is estimated that there are between 600,000 and 800,000 people whose first
and preferred language is KSL. There are as many Deaf KSL-users as there are
speakers of some indigenous languages, and more people (Deaf and hearing) use KSL
than either Swahili according to Ethnologue Report.
Linguists have established that KSL is a language in its own right and is as
complex and sophisticated as any spoken language.
Like
all linguistic minorities, members of the Deaf community have different degrees
of access to the majority language of the wider community. Since KSL is more
accessible to many Deaf people than spoken languages such as English, official
recognition of KSL is especially important. BSL is the foundation for the
self-esteem, educational achievement and social well being of the Kenya's Deaf
community. However, that community exists within a wider society of hearing
people. Consequently, Deaf people who use KSL experience high levels of social
exclusion, particularly in the following areas:
Access
to information and services
Deaf
people face many barriers when using public and private services. This is
frequently due to a lack of awareness of the needs of Deaf people on the part
of service providers, and insufficient communication support. Deaf people with
visual impairments (for example those with Usher syndrome) or other
disabilities are especially disadvantaged.
Because
English is often their second language, Deaf KSL users do not always have full
access to written information. Service providers therefore need to use
interpreters wherever necessary and to make information available in KSL
formats, for instance on video or CD-ROM.
Interpreting
Kenya Sign Language Interpreters Association (KSLIA) was set up by
a group of 20 local interpreters after training by the first Deaf Education US
Peace Corps Volunteers in September 2000. Prior to this training there were
several short term trainings conducted by KSLRP/KNAD dating back to 1980s and
1990s.
KSLIA is an indigenous initiative evolving and strengthening the
face of the Interpreting profession in Kenya. KSLIA
hopes to improve and elevate the standards of Interpreting in Kenya through
the following objectives:
- 1. To secure official
recognition by the Government of S.L Interpreters profession
- 2. Encourage and
promote initiatives in improving the standards of SL interpreting and
interpreter training and pay scale of interpreters depending with their level
and skills of interpretation through certification.
- 3. Cooperation with
other recognized bodies concerned in the welfare of the deaf and in provision
of S.L Interpreters throughout the world.
- 4. Awareness creation
on Deafness and SL. Interpreters through publication of information materials
- 5. To collect and
raise funds for the achievement of goals and objectives through membership fee,
subscription, contribution, gifts or donations, commissions and payments, fund
raising whether in money or otherwise from both members and non members.
- 6. To maintain and
administer a registry of S.L Interpreters in Kenya, enforce a code of ethics and
mediate conflict between the Interpreters and their clients.
KSLIA is working towards the establishment of a training program
and a certification process for its membership. [KSLIA] envisions its role in a
three pronged approach - the three C's - Certification of members, Continuing
education for the practicing Interpreters and Conflict resolution through
enforcement of the Code of Ethics. Between
2006 - 2009 Global
Deaf Connection, Deaf Aid, and KSLIA have jointly organized a series of trainings
aimed at developing a process to provide training, certification and continued
professional development for Kenyan Interpreters.
A
KSL/spoken language interpreter provides a vital link between Deaf and hearing
people. However, there is currently a serious shortage. As of year 2000 there
were only 50 practicing interpreters and 100 trainee interpreters registered by
the Kenyan Sign Language Interpreters Association – KSLIA and the Kenyan Sign
Language Research Project – KSLRP.
The
Persons with Disabilities Act 2003 requires businesses and service-providers to
make their services accessible to Deaf people. However due to lack of gazette
notification of these laws into policy has greatly contributed to the
marginalization of the Deaf community in Kenya. The growth of demand for
interpreters has not been matched by increased supply. This is a major obstacle
to Deaf people's social inclusion.
Education
In
education, the use and teaching of KSL within a bilingual (KSL/English)
learning environment is essential for some deaf children and adults. The early
acquisition of language is vital to the learning process and for some deaf
children KSL will be more accessible than spoken languages.
The
Framework of Action accompanying UNESCO's Salamanca Statement on Special Needs
Education, to which Britain
is a signatory, states that:
The
importance of sign language as the medium of communication among the
deaf...should be recognized and provision made to ensure that all deaf persons
have access to education in their national sign language. Framework for Action
(1994), para 21
The
United Nations Standard Rules on the Equalization of Opportunities for Persons
with Disabilities, adopted in 1993, similarly state that:
Consideration
should be given to the use of sign language in the education of the deaf
children, in their families and communities. Sign language interpretation
services should also be provided to facilitate the communication between deaf
persons and others. Rule 5, Accessibility
However,
in Kenya,
educational provision for deaf children varies greatly between education
authorities, with some not offering bilingual programs and very few schools or
resource bases for deaf children offering any formal teaching of KSL. A lack of
access to KSL learning can adversely affect the language development of some deaf
children and so impede their subsequent learning.
Parents
of deaf children also receive greatly varying amounts of information and
training in KSL, depending on the area they live in. However, this level of
support remains the exception rather than the rule. Many parents are denied the
choice of a bilingual method of education for their deaf children. Most schools
in Kenya
have for years insisted on the oral and or total communication mode of
instruction.
Teaching
and learning KSL
Demand
for KSL courses has increased dramatically in the last decade. More and more
people are learning the language - more than 2000 people took basic level
course in KSL since 1998. However, there is a major shortage of trained and
qualified KSL tutors and assessors. There is a KSL dictionary, interactive self
teaching CD, the Kenya National Examinations Council, Kenya Institute of
Special/Education – KIE/KISE have in last couple of years been developing
curriculum and examination materials for KSL which are set to be used beginning
2010.
The legal status of KSL
Article 7
(b) promote the
development and use of indigenous languages,
Kenyan Sign language,
Braille and
other communication formats and technologies accessible to persons with
disabilities.
Article 27
(4) The State shall
not discriminate directly or indirectly against any person on any ground,
including race, sex, pregnancy, marital status, health status, ethnic or social
origin, colour, age, disability, religion, conscience, belief, culture, dress,
language or birth.
Article 44
(1) Every person has
the right to use the language, and to participate in the cultural life, of the
person’s choice.
(2) A person
belonging to a cultural or linguistic community has the right, with other
members of that community--
(a) to enjoy the
person’s culture and use the person’s language; or
(b) to form, join
and maintain cultural and linguistic associations and other organs of civil
society.
Article 49
(1) An arrested
person has the right--
(a) to be informed
promptly, in language that the person understands, of--
(i) the reason for
the arrest;
(ii) the right to
remain silent; and
(iii) the
consequences of not remaining silent.
(c) to communicate
with an advocate, and other persons whose assistance is necessary;
Article 50
(2) Every accused
person has the right to a fair trial, which includes the right--
(m) to have the
assistance of an interpreter without payment if the accused person cannot
understand the language used at the trial.
(3) If this Article
requires information to be given to a person, the information shall be given in
language that the person understands.
(7) In the interest
of justice, a court may allow an intermediary to assist a complainant or an
accused person to communicate with the court.
Article 54
(1) A person with
any disability is entitled--
(a) to be treated
with dignity and respect and to be addressed and referred to in a manner that
is not demeaning;
(b) to access
educational institutions and facilities for persons with disabilities that are
integrated into society to the extent compatible with the interests of the
person;
(c) to reasonable
access to all places, public transport and information;
(d) to use Sign
language, Braille or other appropriate means of communication; and
(e) to access
materials and devices to overcome constraints arising from the person’s
disability.
(2) The State shall
ensure the progressive implementation of the principle that at least five
percent of the members of the public in elective and appointive bodies are
persons with disabilities.
Article 56
The State shall put
in place affirmative action programs designed to ensure that minorities and marginalized groups--
(d) develop their
cultural values, languages and practices
Article 120
(1) The official
languages of Parliament shall be Kiswahili, English and Kenyan Sign language,
and the business of Parliament may be conducted in English, Kiswahili and
Kenyan Sign language.
(2) In case of a
conflict between different language versions of an Act of Parliament, the
version signed by the President shall prevail.
Article 259
(2) If there is a
conflict between different language versions of this Constitution, the English
language version prevails.
Quoting
Professor Okoth Okombo of the University of Nairobi linguistics department the
Deaf in Kenya are ‘a special linguistic minority….special because (the
approximately 700-800,000 Deaf Kenyans) by nature of their disability cannot
operate effectively in any of the spoken majority languages (English and
Kiswahili)’. This predicament brings us
to the whys of the clamor for recognition of the language and thereby
‘legalization’ and use of KSL. One
of the main pillars of language rights is the UN’s 1948 Universal Declaration
of Human Rights: Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth
in this Declaration (of human rights) without distinction of any kind, such as race,
colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national, or social
origin, property, birth or other status.
The freedom for private individuals to use
a minority language in private correspondence or communications, including in
private business or commercial correspondence, by telephone, electronic means;
to have private displays such as outdoor commercial signs and posters, commercial
signs, etc. of a private nature; the freedom to print in a minority language;
the freedom to use a minority language in the conduct of private business and
economic activities; even the right to create and operate private schools
teaching in a minority language are all language rights. But their very nature
is anchored, they originate, from existing human rights. (Varennes 2001: 5)
Failure to guarantee such uses of language
amounts to a breach of an individual’s language rights. At another level,
language rights can be explained by distinguishing language use in public. This
includes the use of a language that an individual understands well both in
court proceedings and court documents as universally recognised in
international law as a basic “linguistic” right based on a fundamental human
right (Varennes 2001: 6). The language uses at this level are also understood
to include uses by public authorities: … such as public education using a
minority language as a medium of instruction, public radio and television
broadcasting in a minority language, use of minority language by public
officials in the provision of services to the public (and therefore a major
source of employment for individuals within the civil service) etc. (Varennes
2001: 6)
As Okombo (2001: 14–17) argues, the best
languages for passing on information in Africa include not only the official
and national languages but also the various indigenous languages, braille for
the blind and sign language for the Deaf. The braille and sign language users
are considered a disadvantaged minority whose language rights must be catered
for. Okombo argues that it is not enough to use sign language in Kenya; rather,
a local variety of the sign language, namely, Kenyan sign language is the most
ideal language to use.
In addition, to the best of my knowledge,
only the Kenya Institute of Special Education (KISE) and Kenyatta University
have programmes training teachers for the handicapped. It is noted that members
of the deaf community join school having learnt Kenyan sign language at home
(Adoyo 2002). But at school they are subjected to either American sign English
or sign exact English. The sequel of this practice is that the Deaf do not learn
much. As if that is not enough, their blind counterparts have no reference
materials published in braille. Thus blind people depend on the goodwill of
their seeing colleagues to read for them. In this scenario, how sensitive are
language planners to the language and democratic rights of the handicapped?
Kenya is now ripe for a Kenyan Sign Language Act to streamline the issues above.
In part two we will discuss the hows and the whens......
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