Research on the Violation of Human Rights of Deaf People in Mozambique
By Francisco Manuel Tembe (famod@kepa.co.mz)
The Mozambican Forum of Disabled People Associations (FAMOD), commissioned research on the violation of human rights of deaf people which took place last year, in Maputo City and Sofala and Zambezia Provinces.
The general objective of this research was to find out the main causes which deny deaf people the fulfilment of their rights and therefore to have a full social, economic, cultural and politically integration in society
In specific terms, the research was to evaluate the following aspects:
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the reasons for and the level of exclusion of deaf people within their families, communities, education, health, employment, professional training and access to information;
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Analyse and evaluate the forms and acceptance of sign language as away of communication for deaf people, in several sectors of society;
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Investigate the problems of access to information faced by this social stratus;
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Analyse and evaluate forms and the level of violation of fundamental freedoms, such as arbitrary prison and, probably, the lack of sign language interpreters in the police stations and even in the courts when these services are needed.
Evaluating integration within the family
According to the author of this research, Paulo Pedro Nachaque, "integration in the family" means the level of participation of deaf people in activities of the family according to their age and sex, as well as their participation in the resolution and decision making about the problems the of family.
However, according to the causes and origin of the condition, the integration of deaf persons in the family seem to vary, according to three main situations, as follows:
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When it is considered that the deafness has its origin in family problems, then parents are blamed and the deaf person in this case, is completely marginalised within the family.
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When the origin of the deafness is perceived as a result of badness created by others (e.g., traditional healers), than the deaf person and parents, both, are seen as victims of "external aggression", which appears to result in both the parents and the community expressing the feeling of pity and overprotection for the deaf person.
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In some cases where the person has been born deaf, or there is a feeling that the deaf person is a reincarnation of the family spirit which in life time was also deaf people. In this case, the deaf person is respected in such a way that nobody can behave wrongly to him or her, nor to demand the person to do heavy jobs, because he or she is seen as the still living ancestor.
Therefore, is important to mention that in three cases the attitudes of discrimination, overprotection, and value of family according to the deaf person are directly proportional to the level of disability, although, admittedly there are families which marginalise and despise their disabled children.
Rights and opportunities?
Concerning opportunities of access to basic services, like education, employment, health , professional training and information, the Constitution of the Republic considers all these services as rights and duties to any citizen. We see that the reality is that deaf people do not have access to those services due to linguistic barriers, because there are not sign language interpretation services and even in the two existing special schools thorough out the country, teachers use oral methods of communication.
For instance, one of the great problem faced by deaf persons is a lack of opportunity to access medical assistance , although this is recognised as a right for all citizens, independently of the person's race, colour, sex, age, place of birth, religion, level of education, or kind of professional, social status, political position.
For this social stratus, the main problem of access to medical assistance and medicines is basically lack of communication amongst deaf and hearing people, which deny deaf people the means to participate in the social, economic, political and cultural life.
In the hospitals and health centres the personnel are not trained in sign language in order to better communicate with deaf people and to diagnose them in case of disease.
Evidence of discrimination
To quote the specific example of a interviewee, in Zambezia province, Banana Zacarias Luís Manuel, who is deaf and volunteers in deaf Association activities, stated:
"I face many difficulties to get medical assistance. When I get sick and I go to the hospital for consultation with a doctor, he or she does not afford to communicate with me and to diagnose my sickness and as result he or she prescribes medicines like aspirin and paracetamol which has nothing to do with my sickness."
The interviewee continues: " In this community where I am living, there are many diseases of sexual transmission including aids/HIV. The personnel of health and organisation that operate in this community promote many awareness raising and civil education programmes to prevent and combat these diseases. However, as I do not understand the message given, in oral communication, I limited myself to observe. Once, I got a sexually transmitted disease, because I did not how to prevent it.
"I would like to see the authorities of health and others institutions which work in this area of community health to create specific programmes of awareness raising and civil education for us as deaf people, using sign language interpreters in these projects."
Analysing the problems
If for instance we analyse the problem of violation of human rights of deaf people, we can conclude that:
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In Mozambique, deaf people in general, and in particular in the regions where the research took place, do not enjoy their rights and fundamental freedoms in equal circumstances as do hearing people;
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There is constant violation of the human rights of deaf people, characterised by marginalisation, lack of social integration, difficulties of access to basic services like education, heath, employment, professional training, and information;
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There is exclusion of this social group concerning their direct and active participation in the social, economic, political and cultural life of the country as well as in taking part in the resolution of family problems;
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Deaf people are victims of social discrimination in all level of society;
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From the estimated total universe of 150,000 deaf persons thorough out the country, only a estimated number of 300 deaf people currently benefit from some kind of support like, social or communication assistance or professional training in carpentry, pottery and sewing;
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Many deaf people face communication problems due to lack of teaching of sign language and or due to lack of sign language interpreters; and
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Deaf people are not considered as human beings within the community due to these communication barriers.
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