SASL is official, but a UFS lecturer says Deaf pupils still wait for the services behind it

South African Sign Language became the country’s 12th official language in July 2023. For the families who use it every day, the recognition on paper is only the beginning of the work.

Kelebogile Boleu, a lecturer in criminology at the University of the Free State and a PhD student, has spent the years since her son Nathanael was diagnosed building the thing she could not find: a place where parents learn to sign and Deaf children learn to read.

“I think SASL being an official language is a start, the efforts towards interpreters and other accommodations in the effort to reduce barriers and allow access to services,” she told SAnews. “However, there can be a better sense of inclusion, knowledge sharing, and practical applications of intentions. Policy and legislation need to be practical.”

Nathanael, who turns 11 soon, was born to parents with no Deaf family member on either side. Boleu describes an easy pregnancy and no flagged developmental concerns. She raised it when he was just older than two. A speech therapist gave the family home activities, reading, puzzles and singing, but the breakthrough came only when she found a therapist who was also an audiologist.

“The very first assessment she highlighted that Nate did not have a speech problem but a hearing problem, and so the testing and hearing aids came until we landed on SASL,” she said.

He began using South African Sign Language at six and was signing fluently within three months. His mother is still catching up. Boleu, 36, took a year of SASL during her undergraduate studies, has since had a few months of formal lessons with her daughter and close friends, and says she remains “very intimidated” by first-language signers.

“My broader family and friends do their best, but it is not an easy language to learn, nor is it a widely used language, so learning should be intentional and practising is essential,” she said.

That gap, between a family that signs and a family that cannot, is where her project began. Hearts started with Nathanael’s education in mind, then widened when Boleu spoke to other parents. Many could not sign, which made helping with homework difficult and left some Deaf children isolated at home. She approached a friend and colleague in the UFS Department of South African Sign Language and Deaf Studies, and another in the university library.

“They both put their time and resources, and I gathered up the troops, all the parents and children I could find, who have remained consistent in attending and learning,” she said. “The improvement in their signing has been remarkable.”

Her academic work runs alongside it. Boleu’s PhD research is titled “Exploring procedural justice for Deaf people in the South African criminal justice system: From arrest to corrections.”

At national level, the Pan South African Language Board says an estimated 600 000 people in the country are Deaf. Deaf Awareness Month is marked this September under the theme “Declaring Deaf People’s Human Rights.” PanSALB has continued awareness and capacity-building work since the July 2023 recognition, including basic SASL workshops for frontline service workers and for parents, siblings and families of Deaf children, and the verification and authentication of SASL signs and dictionary vocabulary in consultation with Deaf stakeholders. The board said in a statement earlier this month that plans to establish a dedicated SASL National Lexicography Unit are underway.

“These initiatives are intended to ensure that the official recognition of SASL results in meaningful access to information, public services and full participation in society for Deaf people,” PanSALB said.

Asked what her son would want the world to know, Boleu did not reach for policy. “He would say that he and his friends are just kids, and they enjoy being able to take part in the same activities as other children,” she said. “My son loves people and enjoys life, and would want everyone to see, experience, and know that.”

She described Nathanael as confident, competitive and independent, the kind of child who can walk into any room and make it his own. She recalled the day a classmate arrived at school with a damaged bag, and how her son came home, washed one of his older school bags and gave it away. “To this day, he does not remind his friend or talk about it at home,” she said. “That is the character I enjoy most about him, helping quietly.”

Her advice to other parents is direct. Learn SASL, and meet the Deaf community around you. “Create an environment for your child to feel a sense of belonging that begins at home in their household through their people,” she said. “The Deaf community is one that is proud of their culture, their language and welcoming to those who engage with them, accept them and allow their Deaf children to be who they are born to be.”

On what parenthood has taught her, Boleu puts Deaf families in the same frame as every other. “We are simply doing what parents have always done: loving intentionally, learning continuously and hoping fiercely. I love my son, and I cannot imagine him to be anyone but who he is. He has created a better human in me, as has my daughter.”

Source: SAnews (South African Government News Agency), Learning to listen differently, https://www.sanews.gov.za/features-south-africa/learning-listen-differently