A Community Based Deaf Awareness Action that aims to teach sign language to deaf children, their parents and other resource persons was launched on Monday at the Diamond Community Centre.
According to a press release from the Guyana Community Based Rehabilitation Programme the project is being executed by the East Bank Community Based Rehabilitation Programme in partnership with the USAID Guyana Democratic Consolidation and Conflict Resolution (GDCCR) project. It will provide community based support activities to improve awareness which will lead to improved access to education, health and other social services for deaf persons from the East Bank area.
At the launch, Minister within the Ministry of Education Dr Desrey Fox said her ministry was committed to introducing sign language in schools. She said the ministry supports the project as one of the many initiatives designed to address the special education needs of children with disabilities. Fox said the community based approach is important in creating an enabling environment for persons with disabilities.
Project Administrator Leon Walcott said 32 persons are set to be the primary beneficiaries. These include doctors, nurses, police officers, religious leaders, parents of deaf children and some deaf children themselves. The participants will be taught sign language free of cost and special efforts will be made to teach parenting skills to the parents of deaf children. Additional sessions will be held to teach life skills to both deaf and hearing members of the community, the release said.
Meanwhile, Chairman of the Golden Grove/Diamond Neighbourhood Democratic Council Omar Khan said the NDC was pleased to be involved in the project. He said at the end of the project many persons in the community will have acquired new skills which, in the long term will benefit the community.
At present sign language is taught at the special needs schools at Diamond, New Amsterdam, the David Rose School for Handicapped Children, and by the Guyana Deaf Mission.
