Islamabad-Like all over the world, the United Nations International Sign Language Day is also marked here in the Federal Capital Saturday night to show solidarity with the people with hearing impairment. The significance of the event was that for the first time, United Nations had marked the day, realising the importance of the sign language, a unique communication skill where the people talk with hands.
The International Sign Language Day will be followed by the International Week of Deaf where the issues relating to the deaf community would be highlighted across the globe. People from civil society, families and friends of deaf people attended the event which was organised here by the mobile Dhaba ‘Abey Khao’ run by deaf people in Super Market. The deaf people celebrated the recognition of their sign language by United Nations, but at the same time they wanted a dire need of working out goal-oriented plans to get their due rights for the deaf community in the country.
The participants further stressed the need of making efforts to materialise the commitments made by Pakistan in ratification of United Nations Convention on Rights of Persons with disabilities (UNCRPD) in 2011. The participants were holding placards with slogans to show gratitude to United Nations for marking the sign language at an international level. Some of the placards also highlighted the problems and issues facing the deaf community in Pakistan.
A woman who was among the participants and a teacher of sign language said that it was fabulous to talk with hands and she was amazed by the talent of these people and stressed the need of giving them opportunities at government level so that they could be made a useful part of the society. She regretted that the President of Pakistan had signed the UNCRPD in 2011 but no substantial steps on meeting the commitment made under the treaty were made.
The participants of the event have said that there is a dire need of changing the general attitude towards deaf people and they should be taken as normal people instead of disabled and should help them lead a normal life even with this major deficiency. Deaf community is also known as world’s biggest minority as they are distinct in culture which considers sign -language as the basic wheel. This minority in statistics equals to 360 million people on Earth meaning 5 per cent of the world’s total population as per the WHO estimate.
Islamabad: Residents of Islamabad holding placards in connection with the United Nations International Sign Language Day outside ‘Abey Khao’ in Sector F-7.–Staff Photo by Syed Mehdi
