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PWDs demand hearing aids, sign language interpreters
At least 2,000 persons with hearing impairments living in Masindi District have asked the government to consider buying hearing aids for them and appoint more sign language interpreters into public offices and health facilities to ease service delivery.
They argue that lack of hearing aids and sign language interpreters in most public offices and health facilities deprives them of their right to access information.
Mr William Mwambu, the district councillor representing people with disabilities (PWDs), on Monday said the number of people with hearing impairments in the area is on the rise yet the majority can’t afford buying hearing aids.
He said as a result, such people end up missing out on accessing services.
“To access this hearing aids we need to first make an order abroad, which takes months and above all, they are expensive; a pair is about Shs6 million which our people can’t afford; we request government to always allocate money in the budget of Ministry of Health to buy such devices and send them to hospitals,” he said.
Mr Mwambu said there is a big information gap in health facilities, especially for pregnant mothers who come seeking antenatal and counselling services because of lack of language interpreters.
Appeal
“As leaders of PWDs, we have proposed to the district council to use money for capacity building grants to train sign language interpreters for some police officers and health workers because when they receive such people, they don’t have skills to attend to them,” he said.
Mr Juma Rusoke, whose four-year-old child is deaf, said the latter has not started school because most schools don’t have sign language interpreters who are teachers.
“I can’t raise Shs 6 million to buy hearing aids because I don’t have money. It would be better if the government buys them for us, I will wait until my child is five years old and I look for a school where they have sign language teachers such that he can learn,” he said.
