Deaf community describes lady’s sign language interpretation as ‘criminal act’

According to the community, the lady was spotted on Paradise TV interpreting for the Inter-Party Committee (IPC) at an event organised on Tuesday.

 Mr Lamin Sonko, a sign language interpreter, said the lady is not recognised by the deaf community and sign language interpreters, saying she was doing it for her personal interest whilst playing with the language hard of hearing people use to communicate.

 “She has compromised with the ethics of sign language interpretation and that is not acceptable. It took a whole lot of work to come up with a sign language so that deaf people can get access to information and people should not play with it. If she wants to interpret, she should use the right channels to get trained and not use people’s means of communication and accessing information for her monetary gain,” he expressed in disappointment.

 He stressed that anyone who needs interpretation services can reach out to GADHOH’s head office in Bakau in order to desist from such a deplorable act.

 Binta Werkman, a concerned citizen said government institutions and CSOs should learn the difference between knowing sign language and being a sign language interpreter. She added that if people want to be inclusive in their program, they should contact the right people.

 She also flagged what happened in the 2016 elections, saying “something like this happened on GRTS in 2016, during an election-related panel but then we didn’t have the videos and photos to highlight the offence. In many ways, I am glad that this happened again to be a learning point,” she wrote on her Facebook page.

 Adama Jammeh, president of the Association of Gambia Deaf and Hard of Hearing (GADHOH) Female Wing, expressed dismay that people should stop being greedy and allow suitable people to handle things.