Koforidua, Dec. 19, GNA - Mr Samuel K. Asare, National President of the Association of the Deaf, has appealed to the media to create awareness on issues concerning the deaf to enable them to be integrated well into the society.
At a press conference in Koforidua on Friday, he challenged the media to educate the public so that many misconceptions about the deaf would be corrected.
Mr Asare expressed dissatisfaction about people referring to the deaf as "deaf and dumb" saying they are "deaf but not dumb".
He urged the public to appreciate the fact that while different tribes spoke their own dialects, the deaf also used Sign Language.
Mr Asare appealed to the public to try to learn the Sign Language as they learnt other languages to be able to communicate effectively with the deaf.
He said the public could help to integrate the deaf into society by encouraging parents to send their deaf children to school.
Mr Ebenezer A. Asamoah, National Administrator of the Association of the Deaf, said the problem of access to public information was one of the difficulties being faced by the deaf.
He said there was also the lack of interpreter services at public places like the hospitals, banks and police stations.
Mr Asamoah said difficulties in communication prevented the deaf to gain employment and that resulted in wide- spread poverty among them.
"Opportunities for remunerative work for the deaf are severely limited and those who are lucky settle on labour intensive poorly paid jobs".
On education, Mr Asamoah said the education of the deaf was limited mainly to the Senior High School level and that majority of their teachers did not possess adequate Sign language skills to effectively communicate and impart knowledge to them.
GNA
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