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SASL Star: Lerato Sheila Thamahane

22 September 2021 | Story Michelle Nöthling | Photo Supplied

Lerato Thamahane may be able to speak and understand all nine of South Africa’s official African languages, but it is a tenth language she is devoting her life to: South African Sign Language (SASL).

With nearly ten years’ experience as a SASL interpreter in several settings – ranging from the medical and mental-health fields to that of conferences and Deafblind interpreting – Lerato is living her life’s purpose. “I regard myself as a member of the Deaf community and a servant at the same time.”

Lerato lives by the principle that the more perspectives she gains on the world, the better service as an interpreter she can provide. This is also part of the reason why Lerato decided to take on the role of student again to study BA Language Practice to provide her with an even broader perspective on the field.

But why does Lerato feel so strongly about SASL? It is only through Sign Language, Lerato explains, that one can bridge the divide between the world of the hearing and that of the Deaf. “SASL is the only way for the minority Deaf group to receive and transfer information,” Lerato emphasises. “Deaf people cannot communicate in any other way.” Now, consider for a moment the plight of a Deaf child in South Africa. To receive education in SASL, most Deaf children have to move far away from home at a very young age in order to attend a school for the Deaf. For many years, schools for the Deaf did not include other languages as subjects, which prevented Deaf school-leavers from entering higher education. Although this situation has largely changed, Deaf students are still fighting an uphill battle when entering higher education institutions where prejudice and ignorance still persist. This is where the work of the Centre for Universal Access and Disability Support (CUADS) and the Department of South African Sign Language (SASL) and Deaf Studies makes such a crucial difference.

“I firmly believe,” Lerato says, “that only Sign Language can open opportunities for all groups of the Deaf community – from Deaf children to adults, and from the uneducated to the most educated Deaf people.” It is for this reason, Lerato argues, that our constitution needs to recognise SASL in order to give Deaf people full and equal access to information, to education, and ultimately, to all the opportunities South Africa has to offer.

News Archive

UFS receives research grant focusing on enablement of non-profit organisations

2011-01-20

Prof. Mabel Erasmus

The University of the Free State (UFS) has received a research grant to the value of R1,1 million from the National Research Foundation (NRF) to conduct research on community engagement, with the emphasis on knowledge as enablement – a Non-Profit Organisation (NPO) focus.

This was the first time the NRF had requested applications for research with a focus on community engagement (CE). With the grant, the UFS has become one of the first recipients of a research grant that focuses on community engagement.

The overarching research question that will be dealt with is how Higher Education Institutions (HEI) and the NPO sector can establish long-term, research-based collaborative engagements that will be mutually empowering and enabling through joint, reciprocal knowledge-based activities and capacity building.

The contention that this proposal is based on, is that HEIs have limited knowledge of the NPO sector and thus are unable to be fully responsive to the challenges that NPOs face. What is more, it is very likely that staff and students from HEIs do not have an adequate grasp of the experiential understanding, contextual community knowledge and practical know-how that NPO practitioners have, and hence do not appreciate the crucial contributions that they can make with regard to meaning-making processes aimed at improving some of the harsh South African realities.

According to Prof. Mabel Erasmus, Associate Professor and Head of the university’s Division: Service Learning, which submitted the research proposal to the NRF and is the grant-holder, the university would like the information generated by the research to be beneficial to both HEIs and the NPOs. “Knowledge regarding NPOs, specifically their challenges and information about what they are doing, will be invaluable to HEIs. At the same time, the research must benefit the NPOs with knowledge to improve their practice and strengthen their functioning.

“The research will take place in close collaboration with the NPOs, as their inputs are crucial. The research will thus not be ‘about’ them but ‘with’ them.”

“We do not want to send our students for community-based education or as volunteers to NPOs year after year and it does not mean as much to them as these organisations would hope for. With the research process we would like to strengthen NPOs, to build their capacity and give them our whole-hearted cooperation,” she said.

Funding received from the grant will be applied over a period of three years. Except for the study grants for five Ph.D. students and four master’s students, the grant will further make provision for a number of workshops, a local conference, a publication and presentations at international conferences on this matter. The research team of 22 persons includes academics from other HEIs such as the Central University of Technology, University of Zululand, University of Johannesburg and Monash SA. Several staff members of NPOs also form part of the team, including REACH (Bfn), Childline (FS) and others.

Prof. Erasmus said that the UFS was one of a few institutions that were currently conducting research to this extent on the link between the NPO sector and HEIs within the field of community engagement.

Media Release
18 January 2011
Issued by: Lacea Loader
Director: Strategic Communication (actg)
Tel: 051 401 2584
Cell: 083 645 2454
E-mail: news@ufs.ac.za

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