Children with Disabilities

We need to make media more accessible to deaf children
by captioning or interpreting television programmes and
developing children’s programmes that use sign language.
education they need to function
as equal citizens.
As a kid, I used to watch cartoon
programmes on Fijian TV
with no subtitles or sign language
interpreters. My family
didn’t know sign language well.
Later on, I realized that the reason
I was still struggling with
my English was that I had not
been exclusively taught using
signs at home. Parents have
an important role in facilitating
deaf children’s ability to communicate
and access information;
along with other people
who interact with deaf children,
they need to take the initiative
and use sign language to communicate
in their daily lives, at
home and school.
We need to make media more
accessible to deaf children by
captioning or interpreting television
programmes and developing
children’s programmes
that use sign language. We
need an environment free
of communication barriers. I
would like to see Fijian Sign
Language used in a range of
programmes, from news to
cartoons. In addition to television,
social media can provide
powerful tools to enhance
knowledge about Fiji and
international affairs and ensure
that everyone, including people
with disabilities, has access to
information about the political
situation and can cast an
informed vote during elections.
Making ICT available to deaf
children can facilitate their
social and emotional development,
help them learn in
mainstream schools and prepare
them for future employment.
I took a basic computer
class at a special school, and
it changed my life for the better:
It was through the Internet
that I learned about Gallaudet
University, where I now study.
In addition to enhancing education,
ICT provides deaf and
other young people with disabilities
to learn about their
rights and band together to
campaign for their realization.
By facilitating activism, ICT
may thus help increase the
profile of persons with disabilities
within society at large
and allow them to participate
actively.
My dream is to see deaf people
communicate freely with hearing
people through the use of
assistive technologies. Once
I graduate, I plan to start a
project to set up communication
technologies in Fiji in order
to facilitate communication
between hearing and deaf people,
using sign language interpreters
as well as video calling.
I will be working with the Fiji
Association for the Deaf, of
which I have been a member
for many years, to advocate
for human rights, opportunities
and equality.
If the government is to consider
the needs of deaf people
a priority, deaf people must
advocate on our own behalf.
To facilitate activism among
deaf people, we must educate
deaf children to use both sign
language and the languages of
the hearing communities they
live in, and we must work to
expand access to technologies
through which they can find
information and communicate
with others, deaf and hearing.
FUNDAMENTALS OF INCLUSION
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