Chronicle Editor
Lingani Nyika, Chronicle Reporter
IN an effort to promote access to justice and services for people with disability, the Sign Language Interpreters Association of Zimbabwe (SLIAZ) has rolled out a programme of distributing Braille related charts to assist hearing and speech impaired people in Victoria Falls.
Mr Valentine Nyoni, who chairs SLIAZ in Matabeleland North sourced some specialised charts with alphabets used by speech and hearing impaired people which were distributed to Victoria Falls Police, Victoria Falls City Council and Victoria Falls Magistrates’ Court yesterday.
The public offices are major stakeholders dealing with people with disabilities.
Mr Nyoni said given resources, they would want to reach out to all public offices to capacitate them with user friendly material for people with disability to enhance access to services.
The association recently donated lip-reading masks to its members after noticing that communication had become a challenge because of wearing of masks.
Speech and hearing impaired persons comprehend better when they see a speaker’s lips.
Mr Nyoni who was accompanied by Victoria Falls Deaf Trust vice-chairperson Mr Vivian Mlambo, said the desire is to curb discrimination in public offices.
They handed over three charts to each organisation.
The charts are designed to show how alphabets are interpreted using sign language.
“We are trying to promote use of sign language in institutions that provide services so that people who are in need of such services are catered for and not side-lined because of lack of interpreters.
“We are so glad because most of Victoria Falls stakeholders welcomed the initiative which means we will improve communication with mainstream society,” said Mr Nyoni.
He said provision of sign language charts will open doors for access to services by people living with disabilities especially those with speech and hearing challenges.
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