Focus on Wilma Newhoudt-Druchen

Following is an article reprinted from the World Federation of the Deaf News, May 2000.

WFD Board Member Jacobus (Kobus) Kellerman chats by e-mail with the Honourable Wilma Newhoudt-Druchen, member of the South African Parliament
 

Congratulations! You got elected to the Parliament. Can you please tell me briefly how it happened?

Disabled People of South Africa (DPSA) nominated me during a council meeting, after asking me if I would accept the nomination. There were four other people with disabilities, and our names were placed on the African National Congress (ANC) national list of those who would become members of Parliament (MPs) after the election in June 1999. The five disabled persons were among the first 80 people on the list of about 300 names.
 

Has your presence as a Deaf MP raised the government's awareness of Deaf people in South Africa?

Yes there has been great awareness just from my being there. Everyone wants to know about sign language and where they can learn it. Members also ask about interpreters, and many think the interpreters are family members. During my committee work, members hear the kind of questions or comments I make regarding the needs of the Deaf and they want to know more.

I gave a talk about the Deaf in the ANC caucus (a weekly meeting for ANC members only), and for many of them what I said was eye-opening because they know nothing about the Deaf.
 

How were your sign language interpreting needs accommodated in the National Assembly and similar meetings? I understand that the presence of interpreters runs the risk of breaking the protocol regarding the seating of MPs in the Parliament.

Inside the chamber, as it's called here, where all 400 of us meet, no non-MP is allowed on the floor. This is a bit of a problem for me because that means that the interpreters cannot sit near me. The arrangements are okay but not altogether satisfactory. There is still discussion going on about the interpreters in the different committees, because one of the blind MPs wants a dog in the chambers. Breaking protocol is not easy; it has to be discussed at all levels, which is still being done. I am very optimistic, because this is a new thing for the South African Parliament, and these things take time.
 

Outline your role as MP in the terms of the government, people with disabilities, and Deaf people. Do you see any conflict of interest between these three areas?

It depends on what you mean by "role."  I am a member of Parliament, just like all the other MPs. I just happen to be one of the disabled MPs. The government wants to follow an integrated approach, so I guess having disabled MPs in Parliament is one way of achieving it. We are all there also to give input on the needs of people with disabilities.

As I said earlier, DPSA nominated me to the ANC list, and I am also a co-opted member of the DPSA council. I always believe that everything that happens is a learning experience, for me to learn about people with other disabilities and for them to learn about the Deaf. If there are differences we need to work through them together. In my role as MP I also advocate and lobby for the needs of people with other disabilities, not only for the Deaf.

After being a social worker and then provincial director of the Deaf Federation of South Africa (DEAFSA), and also being involved intensively with the Deaf on all levels, I understand the needs of the Deaf community, and therefore I know what I want to do in my role as MP for the Deaf. I have been involved as a trainer in the National Deaf Youth Leadership camp and also in Gallaudet's World Deaf Leadership programme. As an MP, I can continue to act as a leadership trainer, give training to people who can never access the systems and set up camps.

Being an MP give me the chance to do more where it is necessary. There can be differences and conflicts of interests, but we have to work through them. For example, the integrated approach can cause problems for the Deaf community, but how we discuss and solve those issues is important.

ANC has agreed to allow me to travel to all nine provinces and work with Deaf communities there, rather than having a single constituency area. My work can include giving talks on my parliamentary work and the committees I attend, giving leadership training, and talking to Deaf school children. Many of the Deaf adults who know there is a Deaf MP want to see me, and there are many who do not know that I am in Parliament who should have the chance to meet me and get to know what is happening in the government.
 

What is your personal background?

I became Deaf at the age of three from meningitis. I attended the Dominican School for the Deaf in Wittebome, Cape Town. Because there was no higher education for the Deaf under the apartheid system, I completed my education at a hearing school and matriculated at a Catholic girl's school. I could not afford to go to Gallaudet University straight away, and no scholarships were offered to Black people by the government at that time, so I enrolled at the University of Cape Town for two years. It was a struggle without interpreters or note takers, and I left after the second year. While working, I also studied at the University of South Africa (Unisa). In 1988, after my first year at Unisa, I was able to enrol at Gallaudet with assistance from a Deaf South African Gallaudet alumnus. I studied social work and graduated in 1992, giving the student speech on graduation day. I stayed at Gallaudet to continue my master's degree in social work, but unfortunately my thesis remains incomplete.

When I returned to South Africa in 1994, I was offered a job by DPSA but declined the offer as I wanted to work full time with Deaf people. I worked as a social worker for a local organization called Deaf Community of Cape Town (DCCT), which I had helped start before attending Gallaudet University.

I married in 1996 and in February 1998 our son, Antonio, was born. In 1998 I worked for DEAFSA-Western Cape as provincial director, and in June 1999 I was sworn in as a new member of Parliament.
 

What insight did your work with DCCT give you on the plight of Deaf people in South Africa?

I am a South African, well informed about South African history and politics during the apartheid years. I did not need to work as a social worker to understand the situation of Deaf people in South Africa; I already knew their needs and problems. My work as a social worker, as the provincial director of DEAFSA, and now even more as an MP, gives me the necessary platform to highlight the needs of the Deaf community. I can talk about the needs of the Deaf from all levels starting from the grassroots, and it is the grassroots level that is my main concern. My work only makes me more aware that there is so much work to be done in the Deaf community.
 

What parliamentary portfolio committees are you involved in and why are you involved in these specific committees?

I am a voting member of two committees and an alternate member of another. The two committees that I am involved in are the Communications Committee and the Joint Monitoring Committee on the Improvement of Life and Status of Children, Youth, and Disabled Persons.

I am interested in the Communications Committee because it covers issues such as SABC (national television), postal services, and Telkom (national telephone company). Deaf people have little or no access to information via TV, and I am advocating for captioning or subtitles. We also need more sign language interpreters for the news. Telkom has developed the Teldem, a telecommunications device similar to the American TTY. Being on the committee allows me to see what is happening, to advise or object where necessary, and to inform the Deaf community about what is going on.

The other committee is a new committee and will monitor the various government departments and organizations on what they are doing for children, youth and the disabled. Through this committee we can make sure that the status of people with disabilities is greatly improved.