It has been over a year since Pres. Cyril Ramaphosa signed the amendment bill to include South African Sign Language (SASL) as the country’s official 12th language. And one wonders what has changed since then.
After all, several individuals and organisations such as the Deaf Federation of South Africa (DeafSA), the National Institute for the Deaf (NID), and deaf rights activists, believed the recognition of sign language would fast-track significant developments in the deaf community.
Since then, SASL has received exposure – which was maximised by the SASL indabas that the Pan South African Language Board (PanSALB) held last year and this year. These indabas discussed the standardisation of SASL and mapped a way forward with input from several stakeholders that include the University of the Free State (UFS).
They also influenced the development of SASL at institutions such as the University of South Africa (Unisa) and the University of Cape Town (UCT). The hope is that this influence will extend to other institutions.
Despite being a minority language, SASL already enjoys recognition and rights.
Evidence thereof was the South African Schools Act recognising it as an official language in 1996.
The Use of Official Languages Act of 2012 added another benefit that was not enjoyed by the other 11 official languages.
With this act, state entities had to establish a language policy outlining the use of official languages for public communication, specifically if a member of the public chose SASL as their preferred language.
It also benefited from the protection under the SASL Charter, launched by the SASL National Language Board in 2020 Z roughly three years before it became official.
Even Prof. Theodorus du Plessis, emeritus professor in the Department of South African Sign Language and Deaf Studies at the UFS, in a previous opinion article mentioned that there would be little to gain from officially recognising SASL, aside from the added symbolism associated with such a move.
As a matter of fact, SASL had more to lose than gaining, despite its official recognition.
On a human rights level, which is more relevant to those living with hearing impairments, the officialisation of SASL still had no significant effect. It has not become more accessible in higher education institutions and included in the South African school curriculum, particularly for mainstream schools.
Thankfully, the UFS, including varsities such as the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits), North-West University (NWU) and the Durban University of Technology (DUT), makes provision for exposure to the language through a SASL short course.
Another way to learn is through mobile applications such as DEAFinition and the NID-SASL Dictionary. One can be equipped with SASL fundamentals to at least be able to hold a conversation without the need for an interpreter.
We can only anticipate that SASL will become more accessible in higher education institutions and be included in the South African schools curriculum mainstream.
Moreover, we can expect to see an increase in the number of qualified teachers with not only teaching skills, but also proficiency in SASL.
- Nhlanhla Simelane is a student assistant in the Department of South African Sign Language and Deaf Studies in the faculty of Humanities of the UFS.
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