ONGWEDIVA - An abundant number of people with hearing impairment feel neglected and left out due to their condition.
According to Lina Mweyakulya, a board member of the Namibian National Association of the Deaf (NNAD), people with hearing impairment feel neglected due to that a lot of people in different institutional services are not trained on how to communicate using sign language.
This is despite Oshana region having over 500 people with hearing challenges.
Mweyakulya gave an example of health institutions, stating that when hearing impaired people visit hospitals, they end up getting wrong medications because nurses and doctors do not understand what they are trying to communicate.
She said those with hearing impairment and are convicted of crime find themselves being kept in custody for a very long period due to communications barriers.
“If the court does not have a sign language interpreter, the suspect will remain in custody for a very long time and until the court officials get interpreters to help do the job,” said Mweyakulya.
She was speaking at the ministry of gender equality hall in Ongwediva, where masses gathered to raise awareness on hearing impairment last week.
Festus Hangula (27) who has a hearing impairment said that he is capable of doing different tasks, but when people hear about his condition, they turn him away.
He said they miss out on job opportunities because some interviews are oral while others are written but, in most cases, they do not understand questions. At times, he said, they get phone calls from companies where they applied for a job, but end up not getting it because they are unable to hear what is communicated over the phone.
“We are asking the government to start offering sign language training to everyone for communication purposes,” said Hangula.