Faith communities must be aware of the following key aspects in order to make meetings, services, programs and other faith-related functions inclusive.
"Faith based organisations and institutions must firstly embrace persons with disabilities as ordinary members of the congregation, and secondly make available reasonable accommodation measures to ensure that leaders as well as congregants with disabilities are able to participate equally in all aspects of the organisation’s activities."
(White Paper on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Para 7.10)
According to data in the 2020 World Report on Hearing, 20% of the world’s population experiences a measure of hearing loss. It is estimated that at least 12 million South Africans find themselves in that situation, of which the vast majority use spoken language instead of a signed language to communicate.
It is not a person’s physical or sensory impairment which causes disability – disability is a result of society’s failure to make provision in communal spaces for persons with different types of impairment.
Universal Design promotes living environments, products, services and programs that are inherently accessible to all people despite any restrictions imposed by society. Communal spaces ought to be aesthetic and usable by all.
Deaf with a lower case “d” (deaf) refers to persons with total hearing loss and those with varying degrees of hearing loss who do not use South African Sign Language (SASL) as a primary medium of communication, but who prefer to use, various means of communication and assistive hearing technologies. These may include speech, speech/lip reading, hearing aid systems, cochlear implants, Bone Anchored Hearing Aid (BAHA) and applicable assistive listening devices, speech-to-text transcription or a combination thereof.
It may seem as if the daily life of persons with mild hearing loss (classified as a loss of more than 26 decibels) is not affected. That, however, would be a false impression. Attending a sermon, for example, presents many challenges. Hearing aid systems support users in one-on-one communication where background noise is not a factor but even hi-tech devices do not eliminate all the challenges as some serious challenges cannot be overcome by technology alone. It is important to note that hearing technology does not restore a person’s hearing, and that its use does not automatically enable inclusive participation.
Accurate speech reading is difficult in bad lighting as the effective distance for speech reading is six meters. A speaker who has no facial expression would be difficult for a lip reader to understand, as is a speaker who looks the other way or whose mouth is invisible. Background noise, like nearby conversations or ringing phones, coughing or throat clearing, turning pages, children talking or screaming, may cause severe restrictions. Also, not everybody with hearing loss has the ability to read lips.
The rights of persons who are deaf or experience certain degrees of hearing loss (hearing impairment) are set out in the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which has been accepted by the South African government. (WPRPD Para 6.1.1.4) Faith communities share the obligation of all authorities and institutions to implement measures to enable persons who are deaf or hearing impaired to fully participate in all activities.
Technology and/or assistive devices now offer several ways of applying the principles of Universal Design to address this challenge: FM systems, the induction loop system, speech-to-text transcriptions, captioning, lip speakers and the like.
FM systems are wireless devices with a transmitter and receiver that enhances the effectiveness of hearing aid systems, cochlear implants and bone-conduction hearing aids. The speaker operates a microphone and transmitter while persons with hearing loss use a receiver system. The microphone captures sound near the speaker and transmits it to the listener, for a clearer sound and less background noise.
An induction loop system functions in a similar fashion, but with greater efficiency, enabling access to more users at any given time. An induction loop consists of a cable surrounding the listening area and a loop amplifier. The cable is connected to the induction loop amplifier, which receives a signal from the microphone used by the speaker, as well as from the sound source. Persons with hearing loss sit within the induction loop area and set their hearing devices on the T function to import sound and eliminate background noise. Those not using a hearing aid system or cochlear implant may also benefit from the system by using a receiver with induction loop earphones. The system is wireless and listeners may move freely within the induction loop area.
Transcription can transform the spoken word into writing on the screen of any web-connected device. For the best quality, language practitioners are needed to feed the words they hear into a system which transforms sounds into text, which is then sent to a device. Language practitioners serving as lip speakers repeat the words, enabling the person with hearing loss to read their lips, body language and facial expressions.
According to the White Paper mentioned above, persons with hearing loss should gain unhindered access to all aspects of a meeting or service by means of inter alia FM systems, induction loops or captioning and the like. However, there are simple, practical and affordable measures that an organisation can implement. For example, the provision of adequate light and a quality sound system, with the insistence that speakers use the microphone. Leaders of faith communities can provide notes on the service before or after the event; A projector and laser light can offer text and announcements on screen. Finally, acoustics may be harnessed to eliminate intrusive noises like the sound of footsteps.
The National Council of and for Persons with Disabilities (NCPD) supports society in building strategies for equitable access to information and communication and maximum participation. They have the expertise and networks to equip buildings and other spaces used by faith communities in the goal towards inclusivity for their members with disabilities.
"Questioning ourselves, sharing, experiencing and growing together, in order to reach a society where everyone is equal and included”
Comments