Sandra Maritz
Celebrations of South Africa’s 20th year of democracy has made headlines throughout 2014, but a group lobbying for the rights of persons with hearing loss says that there is still much to be done before this marginalised group can join the celebrations.
“How many companies can really say that their products, services and office environment are user-friendly to their clients with hearing loss?”
This is a worrying question posed by Michelle Tonks.
Chair of the Association for Hearing Loss Access and Development (AHLAD) – a non-governmental organisation striving to see that persons with hearing loss enjoy equal access to everyday services and events.
According to estimates by the World Health Organisation, approximately 15 percent of the world’s adult population has some degree of hearing loss, with the prevalence of disabling hearing loss in adults older than 65 years being the highest in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Tonks remembers the significant improvement in her daughter’s development when she was first fitted with hearing aids and more recently when she received her cochlear implants.
AHLAD advocates for accessibility and the public’s consideration and responsibility to ensure that persons with hearing loss are included and have equal access to information, products and services.
An IT expert from Cape Town, Kathija Khan, says she is lucky to work in an environment where her team and clients are supportive, but that she has experienced much discrimination growing up.
“It is a given that you pick up one third of a conversation and lose the other two thirds,” she says about hearing loss.
“Despite having a cochlear implant there are often times when I still don’t hear very well.
“I have client-facing roles which require extensive interpersonal and communication skills. My clients have been more than understanding,” she explains.
“I have spread deaf awareness through the industries that I have worked in and have had the great fortune to break many perceptions including the perception that the deaf are dumb. My struggle for being included is far from over.”
Some of the projects that the organisation is working on includes lobbying for the availability of subtitles on all television programmes, reduced noise levels in restaurants to allow for easier communication and for places of worship to become more accessible.
Through the Road to Independence (www.roadtoindependence. co.za) the organisation trained approximately 30 professionals (people like audiologists, speech therapists, social workers) and has assisted 53 individuals with hearing loss with regard to access to information, guidance, referrals and human rights matters.
The organisation is still gaining momentum, membership is growing and co-ordinators are being identified in different towns and provinces.
Courses facilitated focus on the history of disability in South Africa, impact of hearing loss, protocols and music appreciation.
l Maritz is the public education and awareness officer for AHLAD, for details visit www.ahlad.org