A day which had me speechless

When the News Editor (Isiaka Wakili) handed me the Invitation Card to cover the 5th Edition of Deaf Women Health Awareness Week on 6th December last year, little did I know that I was going to have an experience that would change my perception about a certain group of people with special needs. First, they […]

When the News Editor (Isiaka Wakili) handed me the Invitation Card to cover the 5th Edition of Deaf Women Health Awareness Week on 6th December last year, little did I know that I was going to have an experience that would change my perception about a certain group of people with special needs.

First, they cannot speak and secondly they cannot understand what you say because they are deaf.

As I arrived the venue of event at the National Press Centre at Radio House Abuja, I was welcomed by one of the ladies. She beckoned on me with her hands to come and write my name on the visitors list. I did that without hesitation. But then, I asked to see the Chairperson of the association. She showed me a sign to indicate that she did not hear what I was saying. Since I was with the invitation card, I showed her the name of the person. Then, she understood who I was talking about.

She quickly showed me one Miss Blessing, who was the interpreter for the Chairperson of the association. I heaved a sigh of relieve as I met someone who could hear and understand me because I was concerned about how I will communicate with these ‘special people’.

Blessing called Mrs. Helen Beyioku-Alase who was the Chairperson of the Association. She was glad I came to cover the event. With sign language, she told Blessing that she needed their story published in the newspaper alongside the picture. But I told her that I can only assure her that the story will be used but may not come alongside the picture. She nodded her head to say ’okay’.

Then she beckoned on me to come into the hall. As I entered the hall, which was almost full, more than half of the people in there were deaf and mute. They only communicated through sign language. While we were waiting for the commencement of the programme, they chatted about everything.

They exchanged banters and pleasantries like you will do when you meet a classmate or an old friend. They were sociable and laughed out aloud. The young, old, male, female were seen across tables ‘talking’ with their hand or rather fingers. The rest of us who could speak and hear were the strangers in their midst. They were used to one another and were obviously enjoying their own world. But for me and a few others, their gestures to one another and sign language were like watching a movie.

While on my seat, I called on one of the ladies who was sharing the chairperson’s speech; ‘excuse me, excuse me’, but she could not hear me. I had to stand up and stretch my hands to say I needed the speech. Again, it dawned on me that this was a community of a different set of people.

For every dignitary that spoke, there was someone that interpreted to the audience in sign language. They clapped when necessary and laughed too when there was the need to.

But for me, the climax was when I called out the Chairperson for an interview and thank God for Miss Blessing who was standing by to interpret.

With sign language, she explained the challenges faced by deaf women who were pregnant and needed medical attention at the General hospitals. There were no sign language interpreters to communicate with them. She said with the help of some Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) and the Australian embassy, sign language interpreters services were gotten in six selected government hospitals in the FCT – the first of its kind for Deaf Women in Abuja.

She said this had been very helpful and beneficiary to the deaf community but their services stopped sometime last year, hence there are presently no sign language interpreters in these hospitals and it has been a nightmare and challenge for the deaf community and health workers.

Beyioku-Alase therefore appealed to the Executive Secretary of Health and Human Services FCTA to make provision for sign language interpreters in hospitals for deaf women so that they can fully benefit from Universal Health Coverage across the FCT like other women without disabilities.

She said many pregnant deaf women were unable to communicate with health workers hence their reproductive health was in danger.

This hit me. As a mother, I could relate to this challenge as several scenarios played out in my mind. How do these women cope during antenatal classes? How do they communicate with the doctors and nurses about their experiences during pregnancy? During antenatal classes, when mothers are taught the basics of taking care of their new born, who interprets to this class of women in our hospitals? And then the big one, during labour/delivery when a women is pain, how would she hear the instructions by her health personnel on when to ‘push’ or not. How do they cope without sign language interpreters at the hospitals?

While these scenarios played in my mind, I arrived at the conclusion that many of these women may have gone through pregnancy with many of their health challenges not addressed and were delivered of babies out of sheer luck and not because they got proper medical attention. And many may have died because of the lack of medical personnel who could communicate with them. These set of women ran out of luck, adding to the maternal mortality rate.

One of the keynote speakers at the event, the Country Director of IPAS Nigeria, Barrister Hauwa Shekarau, said government has failed to promote policies that facilitate efficient sexual and reproductive service delivery, especially for deaf women and girls.

“Women with disabilities in Nigeria face numerous challenges in accessing sexual and reproductive health services. This includes range of violations of their sexual and reproductive rights. Everyone’s needs must be considered, valued, and favoured equally irrespective of their physical abilities or disabilities to ensure social inclusion in the society,” she said.

Like she said, I could only hope that our government at different levels would consider the plight of these deaf women of reproductive age and provide them with medical personnel that will help meet their needs.

With this experience and filled with sympathy for these community of people in need of help, I dashed back to the office and did the story with this headline ‘FCTA urged to restore sign language interpreters to hospitals’ which was published the next day, 7th December.

That day has remained indelible on my mind as it created in me a soft spot for this group of people in our society, having witnessed firsthand the kind of difficulty they go through in their everyday living and interaction. And again, it made me more grateful to God that I did not have any child with any form of disability.