–  Support Group
DIRECTOR of the Support Group for Deaf Persons, Mr. Leon Walcott, has verified that the activities for Deaf Awareness Week are having a significant impact, particularly in raising awareness.
“The bottom line is to empower people who have a hearing disability,” he said, noting that the programme, this year, is bigger and better and involves key stakeholders trying to enhance the cause of persons with hearing disabilities.
The theme for 2010 is ‘Together we can; together we will’ and Walcott said it embraces deaf education, emphasis on reading and comprehension and arts, culture and sports, focus on serving deaf persons through discussions on the misunderstandings caused by impatience, taking the message to homes through practical ways in which parents, siblings, family members, neighbours and children of neighbours could assist, taking the message to the workplace and examining employment practices.
The undertakings also entails taking the message to the community to address the need for accurate data on the incidence of deafness and taking the message to the classroom by looking at problems and successes in providing early education for deaf children.
Walcott said, being able to tap into mainstream schools is a plus because it is a good platform from which awareness can be further advocated.
He said, so far, they have visited four schools in that category, Soesdyke Secondary, Xenon Academy, Leonora Primary and Graham’s Hall Primary, where they received positive responses.
Walcott said the collaboration between the Speech Therapy and Audiology departments at Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) is also of benefit.
He said representatives from those departments will be visiting schools to further awareness and do some minor testing.
“We need to combine our efforts to make a difference in a big way,” Walcott acknowledged.
He observed that persons with hearing impairment have come a long way and much progress has been made over time.