Deaf Awareness Week: Championing Deaf People’s Rights in the Middle East
This week, from 4th-9th of May, is Deaf Awareness week. Embrace the Middle East works with both the Deaf Unit in Cairo and the Learning Centre for the Deaf in Beirut, Lebanon. Each of these organisations strives to help deaf and hearing-impaired people access education and vocational training. Both aim to promote the rights and needs of deaf and hearing-impaired people.
Part of the Anglican Church, the Deaf Unit is a school and vocational training centre for deaf and hearing-impaired children and young people in Cairo. Embrace supports the school to provide quality education and training for children who would otherwise struggle to access these things, and offer assistance to families including sign language lessons for parents.
The Beirut Learning Centre for the Deaf provides early years intervention services and support for deaf children and their families, as well as supporting continuing education for deaf teenagers and young adults. The High School programme is the only one of its kind in Lebanon. The centre also advocates at a national and regional level for rights, inclusion and equal opportunities for deaf people.
A recent report from the WHO told us:
About 80% of people with hearing loss live in low to middle-income countries.
In middle-income countries, children with hearing loss/deafness can’t access (quality) education.
Deaf adults are more likely to remain unemployed and reliant on others.
By 2050, 1 in 10 people will have disabling hearing loss.
This is why Embrace works alongside the Learning Centre for the Deaf and the Deaf Unit to further the rights and understanding of deaf people.
Amir is eight and a beneficiary of the Deaf Unit. He told us that accessing the educational resources he needed through the centre allowed him to realise his potential:
Before I joined the Deaf Unit, I felt that I was stupid and unsuccessful. I didn’t get along with my teachers and I didn’t like being at school. I felt unwanted and unloved and just wanted to stay at home all the time.
’When I joined the Deaf Unit, my teacher started using Montessori equipment to help me learn, and I saw that that education could be fun, not just difficult and boring. My teacher made me responsible for organising the classroom and helping the younger students. This helped me understand that I’m not useless, and I could be responsible. She also helped my parents to communicate with me via sign language.
’It’s really changed my outlook. Now, I hope to make lots more friends and continue to study hard in the future.'
In a region where disability is frequently misunderstood, providing access the appropriate education and training is an essential part of helping those with disabilities to take their rightful place in society. This Deaf Awareness Week, we ask that you pray for our partners and beneficiaries making strides to further the rights of deaf and hearing-impaired people in the Middle East.