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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

Extraordinary professor appointed

2005-11-10

UFS appoints its first extraordinary professor for health systems research and development

Prof Dingie van Rensburg (Director: Centre for Health Systems Research and Development at the UFS) and Prof Helen Schneider (senior researcher at the University of the Witwatersrand's Centre for Health Policy and extraordinary professor at the UFS Centre for Health Systems Research and Development). Photo: L Loader

The Centre for Health Systems Research and Development (CHSR&D) at the University of the Free State (UFS) has appointed its first extraordinary professor.

Prof Helen Schneider, former director of the Centre for Health Policy at the University of the Witwatersrand (WITS) and currently senior researcher in that Centre and consultant in the WITS School of Public Health, was appointed by CHSR&D for a period of two years.

“Prof Schneider is widely known for her thorough experience, expertise and exposure in the field of public health, health policy and management and health policy and systems research. We are honoured to have her join us as an extraordinary professor,” said Prof Dingie van Rensburg, Director of CHSR&D.

Prof Schneider will be involved in various components of the CHSR&D’s long-term project on public sector anti-retroviral treatment (ART) and will also assist in the documenting, monitoring, evaluating and facilitation of the implementation of the national treatment plan in the Free State. She is also assisting the Gauteng Department of Health in a similar way.

“The two provinces are actually so different. They provide a different window on the realities of HIV/AIDS and the intellectual traditions involved in it,” said Prof Schneider. “I hope to contribute meaningfully to finding new dimensions for research necessary in order to optimise the contribution and effect of the research on ART,” said Prof Schneider.

Another need for Prof Schneider’s appointment is to strengthen the senior research capacity of the CHSR&D, guide them with the ART project and assist in the implementation of research results into policy, management and practice.

Media release
Issued by:Lacea Loader
Media Representative
Tel: (051) 401-2584
Cell: 083 645 2454
E-mail: loaderl.stg@mail.uovs.ac.za
9 November 2005

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