EENET asia Newsletters : Symposium issue April 2006 Contents

EENET Asia Interview
Sign-Language Development - An Inclusion and Rights' Issue:
Interview with Mr. Abdul Ghaffar, President of the Afghanistan National Association of the Deaf at the EENET Pre-Congress meeting at ISEC in Glasgow, Scotland on 31st July 2005.

Anupam Ahuja and Terje Magnussønn Watterdal

We believe that through talking and listening we learn - Conversations with professionals and activists can lead us to see other points of view and help us to create inclusive settings for ALL learners with their diverse needs, abilities and aspirations. We get ideas through the experience of others on how we can facilitate and encourage increased interaction within and between communities. The focus of our brief conversation with Mr. Abdul Ghaffar was to highlight the development of sign language in Afghanistan and gather his personal perspectives on their use in inclusive settings. We also attempt to share some of the personal accomplishments of Mr. Abdul Ghaffar and his colleagues in the Afghanistan National Association of the Deaf (ANAD) and the important contribution persons with disabilities are making to the development of our societies.

Please tell us a little about yourself and you years in school?
I was born in Kabul. When trouble broke out in Afghanistan my family fled to Pakistan. You see during my school years inclusive schooling did not yet exist. In fact there were (and still are) many special schools for the deaf in Pakistan during that time. I was 9 years old when my father enrolled me in a government special school for the deaf in Lahore. I studied in the special school for 10 years before I returned to Peshawar. In school I learned Urdu sign language.

Tell us something about your professional career before you joined the American National Association for the Deaf?
In the early 90s I think it was 1992 I met an American Sign Language consultant. He had come to work in a refugee camp. This meeting proved to be a turning point of kind in my profession. I learned to use the English sign language and was impressed to see how well developed it was. I worked with him and trained young deaf children living in the Afghan refugee camps in Pakistan. During this time the International Labour Organisation (ILO) office in Kabul moved to Peshawar and they decided to promote the development of Afghan sign language. I supported this effort and we developed 650 words. Later I continued the work on the Afghan Sign Language in co-operation with UNDP, SERVE and HIFA (Hearing Impairment Foundation Afghanistan)

“A workshop for the development of Afghan sign language was jointly organised by CDAP/UNDP, SERVE/SHIP, and HIFA in Kabul. Nine hearing impaired people and three professional facilitators from HIFA Kabul, SHIP Jalalabad, and CDAP Peshawar shared their experiences on how to develop an Afghan National Sign Language Dictionary of 2,000 words and signs. Around 500 new signs were collected by hearing impaired people and were approved in this workshop.
The second phase of this workshop was arranged in Peshawar where the group finalised the ‘2000 words sign language dictionary', which will be mainly used to educate hearing impaired people.”
From a United Nation - Assistance for Afghanistan - Weekly Update - Issue No. 356 - 28 March 2000

We continued with the effort and in a short time we added more words. We had long discussions and debates in the country on issues related to the development and use of sign language.

What is the current focus of your work?
I am currently based in Kabul and leading the Afghanistan National Association of the Deaf. We have 450 members working in 8 regions. We continue the work on the development of a national sign language. We also provide input to organisations working with issues related to hearing impairment in Afghanistan. In the year 2000 we conducted a teacher-training programme. This was well received and since then we have received many requests for preparing teachers for meeting the needs of the children with hearing difficulties.

We also work towards preparing children for the mainstream school system. Our role is to support teachers and provide children with skills that prepare them to learn with other children in ordinary schools. As a result of one these initiatives we have currently 120 children who have already completed primary school. We have also succeeded in supporting the inclusion and participation of young children at the preschool level and early primary classes.

What are the prevailing attitudes of the community for the deaf?
There is general lack of awareness and acceptance towards the deaf. Many deaf children often feel isolated even in their own families. Girls and women often times feel doubly disadvantaged because of the lack of proper educational facilities and because of the poor marriage prospects. Men with hearing impairment who have paid work can find women with good hearing as marriage partners. Usually parents who have many daughters in the family, or are poor, are willing to marry off their daughter to a deaf man considering the financial security that they can provide. However it is rare to see men with good hearing opting to marry women with no or poor hearing.

This is why we are supporting the employment of deaf female teachers in the Afghan Association of the Deaf to ensure that deaf girls in future will have better possibilities in the labour market and more success in their private lives.

You can have more information about the Afghan National Association of the Deaf through their web page: www.disabilityafghanistan.org/anad.htm and you can reach Mr. Abdul Ghaffar at: anad_af@yahoo.co.uk or: ghaffar_deaf555@hotmail.com

EENET asia Newsletters : Symposium issue April 2006 Contents