Pupils communicating in sign language at the Kiambu School for the deaf. [Photo/ cbm.org]
County governments have been urged to consider incorporating sign language as a discipline at the Early Childhood Development Education (ECDE).The move is aimed at helping children with hearing impairment.The representatives of persons living with disability in Nyanza region led by Margret Oketch appealed to the leadership of various county governments to fast-track modalities of entrenching sign language, with the ECDEs being the first beneficiaries.Speaking to journalists on Monday in Bondo, Oketch said the Kenyan constitution championed for inclusivity but this was yet to be realised as people with disabilities were yet to be fully brought on board.In order to address the plight of such children, she urged various education departments in the counties to device ways of ensuring such bills are discussed in county assemblies so as to see the idea well incubated.“Most teachers at the ECDE level have not been trained in sign language and hence this has made it impossible for the hearing-impaired children to communicate with others,” said Oketch.Oketch also disclosed that it was regrettable that even some parents do not know how to communicate with their children, something she said makes them feel withdrawn and unwanted.Oketch also noted that the numbers of persons with hearing impairment in the society is rising, and called on banks, churches among other facilities offering crucial public services to consider employing sign language interpreters to advance this course.Oketch, however, criticized how various institutions and facilities were in an overdrive of setting-up ramps among other disability-friendly utilities, arguing that most them do a shoddy work. She said some of the structures pose even more harm to users.