The Ghana National Association of the Deaf (GNAD) is urging for the official recognition of Ghanaian Sign Language (GSL) and adoption of positive discrimination to improve employment accessibility to deaf people.
The call for this affirmative action aims to address the pressing issue of unemployment among Ghana’s deaf population and ensure that deaf individuals are empowered to contribute their unique skills and talents to the country’s workforce by creating policies that favour the deaf.
National President of GNAD, Mr. Matthew Kubachua, stated this in a statement to commemorate this year’s International Week of the Deaf (IWD) and International Day of Sign Languages (IDSL), both of which are marked in September each year.
This year’s IWD is themed “A World Where Deaf People Everywhere Can Sign Anywhere!” Mr. Kubachua said the theme aligns with one of the association’s topmost priorities, “a call for improved access to employment opportunities through recognition of Ghanaian Sign Language”.
He further said a considerable number of Ghana’s 470,737 people, officially recognised as having various degrees of hearing loss, were still unable to access job opportunities and get stable or decent employment. Executive Director of GNAD, Mr. Juventus Duorinaah, said access to decent employment would contribute to securing and strengthening social security and pension entitlements, which lead to security in old age, good health, and adequate nutrition.
Mr. Duorinaah said even though Ghana joins the international community to observe IDSL, unemployment among deaf youth would continue to remain high unless the government adopted positive discrimination initiatives to promote their full integration into the labour market.
He further urged the government to expedite action in the re-enactment of the revised PWDs Act, Act 715, to provide a legal and regulatory framework to motivate employers to employ PWDs. Mr. Duorinaah urged the Ministry of Education to include agricultural and electrical engineering in the current senior high school curricula for the deaf to better prepare them for self-employment.
He also called on the Ministry of Business Development to provide support to young entrepreneurs who are deaf and hard of hearing, keeping with the SDG objective that they are not left behind.
