The Deaf Bulletin 2015 Issue 3
International Ear Care Day
The 8th of March 2015 marked the 20th year of the Beijing Declaration and Platform of Action, a historic road map signed by 189 governments that sets the agenda for realising women’s rights. This year’s celebrations ran under the theme, “Empowering Women- Empowering Humanity”.
International Women’s Day is a time to reflect on progress made, to call for change and to celebrate acts of courage and determination by ordinary women who have played an extraordinary role in the history of their countries and communities. Zimbabwe made progress in complying with the Beijing Declaration among Zimbabwean women.
A variety of empowerment programs have been done and women are more empowered in politics, business, academic, social and religious spheres to mention a few than 20 years ago. Though empowerment has been preached throughout the world, Deaf women have been left behind by more than 20 years. Deaf women have been left out because of communication barriers and that policy makers assume that all women are the same. Most women who are Deaf are not educated and this has created another barrier to access.
According to a research done by Deaf Zimbabwe Trust from the period of December 2014 to January 2015, respondents who are Deaf reported that they felt forgotten and that the government has not done enough to promote the Deaf in Zimbabwe. Many awareness campaigns are done without sign language interpretation or subtitles and thus women who are
Deaf are not able to access information. Many Deaf women get a raw deal when they visit antenatal clinics and health centres due to communication barriers.
Deaf Zimbabwe Trust urges the government at large and specifically the Ministry of Women Affairs, Gender and Community Development to take into consideration the needs of women with disabilities in their programmes. Development is not development if it leaves behind a significant portion of the population!
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Other topics covered in this bulletin are:
- Train up a child: Putting our values in our deaf children.
- What you don’t know can hurt you or worse.
- April is Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STDs) awareness month!!