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22 September 2021 | Story Michelle Nöthling | Photo Supplied
Emily Matabane.

“I love teaching hearing people Sign Language,” Emily immediately mentions when asked about herself, “so that they can communicate with Deaf people and work with them.” Part of her passion, though, was borne from personal hardship. Emily had a difficult experience when she entered the work environment in 2000, since she was the only Deaf person among an all-hearing staff. Can one even begin to imagine the frustration and isolation she must have experienced? It is no wonder, then, that her vision is for Deaf people to have equal access to information, and for the hearing and Deaf to be able to communicate with each other more freely. And the latter she is pursuing with all her energy.

“When I started working as a Teaching Assistant in the UFS Department of South African Sign Language (SASL) and Deaf Studies,” Emily recalls, “few students were interested in studying Sign Language, because they were not aware of Deaf people and Sign Language.” This has started to change, though, as Emily is noticing a drastic increase in the number of UFS students enrolling for SASL. “I am now familiar with a lot of hearing student who have done Sign Language at our university, and they are very friendly when I meet them. Also, because they are able to greet me in Sign Language!” It is important to note that the department teaches SASL modules to both Deaf and hearing students (and staff) who want to learn the language – which is now also available as an online option.

As a second-year student studying BEd, Emily has formed a close relationship with CUADS (Centre for Universal Access and Disability Support) at the UFS. “CUADS is doing a great job in assisting students with disabilities and catering for their needs. They assist students to have access to education on the same level as other students without disabilities.”

Sign Language is of vital importance to the Deaf community, since it is the language of accessibility for Deaf people. “We are proud and acknowledge Sign Language as a medium of communication,” says Emily. “It allows us to express ourselves, and to teach and transfer our Deaf culture from one generation to the other.”

Ultimately, Emily is hopeful that Sign Language will become embraced, celebrated, and recognised as equal to the other official languages in South Africa.

News Archive

Faculty of Law bids farewell to Prof. Andries Raath
2012-11-27

Prof. Andries Raath and some of his colleagues during his farewell held in the Bobbert Room of the CR Swart Building. From the left are: Prof. Loot Pretorius, Dr Ilse Keevy, Prof. Andries Raath, Prof. Johan Henning and Prof. Gerhard Fick.
Photo: Christiaan van der Merwe
27 November 2012


The Faculty of Law had to bid farewell to another stalwart in Prof. Andries Raath last week. Prof. Raath retired after more than 30 years of service to the university.  Prof. Johan Henning, Dean of the Faculty of Law, described it as a day of “great personal sadness” due to the loss of a person who had made such a tremendous impact in the faculty, both at a personal and an academic level.

Prof. Raath was praised for his academic prowess and relationship with students who referred to him as a “real professor”, and doctoral students who often saw him as a father figure. For his part, the avid Anglo-Boer War buff thanked long-time as well as newer colleagues, whom he said had all left an imprint on him in some way or another.  He urged his former colleagues to maintain the “precious academic heritage” of the faculty, in which his personal career also had numerous highlights.

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