"Deaf people lack access to quality education, health care, Employment; their rights are violated," said New Gadhoh President

Binta Badjie- the newly elected President of The Gambia Association of Deaf and Heard of Hearing (GADHOH) has said that Deaf People are lacking access to quality education, good health care, employment, while their rights are being violated at work places.

Ms Badjie said during a recent interview with Shape International at the Gadhoh Head Office in Kanifing that deaf people face challenges in hospitals, noting: "Doctors give wrong prescription to deaf patient due to language barriers."

She said for this reason she will during her tenure in office  partner with Hospitals and The Gambia Nurses Association to make sure deaf people have confidence in Doctors’ treatments. 

“We will organise training for Doctors and Nurses to foster communication and understanding with their Deaf patients. We will visit health training institutions, to talk to incoming Nurses about providing efficient health care service for Deaf people. Health and communication are challenges because Doctors often give wrong prescription to Deaf patients, due to language barriers,” she

reiterated.

Ms Badjie in unveiling her plans expressed concern over the numerous challenges confronting Deaf people, and pledged to design strategies towards addressing the needs of deaf people.

She noted that deaf people lack access to quality education, faces challenges in mainstreaming in the education sector, and consequently confronted challenges in getting good jobs, while their rights are violated.

Ms Badjie noted that the education system is not accessible to Deaf people, as there are only two main schools for the Deaf in The Gambia, located at Kanifing and Brikama respectively. “Access to Secondary and Tertiary education is the biggest challenge as most schools lack facilities to accommodate Deaf students,” she added.

She further said employment is also another challenge, connected to
education, noting that Deaf people lack quality education, and end up
being labourers, being offered low salaries, and have their rights
violated at work places. She said some are paid every three months;
while most of them go without employment benefits, such as social
security.

Ms Badjie who was elected during Gadhoh’s Congress on 11 October 2019 noted without mention details that lot of progress has to take place, but added that she want to consolidate the developments that have taken place, by reviewing the existing policies, to address the rights of deaf women in particular, and to have enough sign Language Interpreters in The Gambia.

“We will advocate for recognition of Sign Language and access for sign language, especially for pregnant Deaf women and deaf children,” she said.

The Gadhoh President further asserted: “We also learn that Deaf people are not accessing relevant information. We will therefore take it up with the Ministry of Information, as well to meet relevant Government institutions to ensure that the issue is sorted out.”

She said as someone with good experience in lobbying and advocacy,
she will prioritise to meet employers and companies, and make head
counts on deaf employment, to sensetise company and business owners to ensure guarantee to Deaf peoples’ rights in work places.

“Deaf people are also employers and we will sensitise them, with
a view to improve working conditions for their fellow Deaf people,” she
said.

Ms Badjie was a student at St. John School for the Deaf, and proceeded
to mainstream school at Nusrat Senior Secondary School from 2008 to
2011. “The integration process was not perfect and I had to struggle
to complete my schooling,” she said.

She thereafter was admitted at the American International University
where she studied Human Resource and Labour Management- BSC from January 2015 to January 2019, and graduated in May 2019.

She co-founded Gambian Deaf Women’s Society and through the
Organisation, she established the first ever deaf owned Restaurant in
The Gambia, employing only Deaf Women.

Ms Badjie was among the 7 out of 350 applicants selected for the 2019
Mandela Washington Fellowship in the USA..

The new Gadhoh President concluded that Deaf people are very talented,
and all they need is support. “They are human beings and can do what
others can do. People are diverse, and as leaders we have to bring
people together to work together for a better society.

“We need to serve as good role models for the future generations, because we know that young people are looking up to us,” she concludes.