Stop making a mockery of sign language – NNAD
The Namibian National Association for the Deaf (NNAD) reacted critically to some people posing as sign language interpreters and institutions providing sign language training.NNAD chairperson Beata Armas, said at a media conference yesterday that Namibian Sign Language (NSL) is a language used to express feelings and emotions and to communicate.
"We are proud of our language and protect it from anything that may cause emotional pain and psychological harm to our members and users, such as when it is abused and ridiculed. We strive to get sign language recognized as an indigenous language and so we ask that king_gucci_official Louis Newawa stop pretending to use our language on social media.
“He makes a mockery of our language. We insist that he delete all his videos on social media platforms.”
A member of the Namibian police's community policing unit has already instructed him to remove it, to stop uploading the videos and make a mockery of our language."
NNAD offers a two-year training program for sign language interpreters. At the end of the course, people can offer quality interpreting services to both non-hearing and hearing people.
“We encourage everyone who wants to take a sign language course to do so only through Namcol and NNAD, as they are currently the only two institutions offering this training. We advise people to stay away from NSL Institute and Namibian College of Interpreting. No working relationship exists between NNAD and these two institutions. They do not want to comply with our request that a reliable deaf person should offer the training.”
NNAD also encourages institutions such as the Social Security Commission (SSC) and BIPA to enter into discussions with NNAD when someone wants to register a sign language business.
“There are so many people who want to use sign language as a business and in the process uncontrolled sign language training is given and substandard services are provided. People are welcome to contact us about sign language lessons offered by qualified people in the different regions. We hope that all Namibians will respect the rights of deaf people with regard to sign language and its training.”