by Gabriel Chy Alonta
A university professor, Williams Obiozor, has commended the government at all levels for their efforts in encouraging the use of sign languages in various functions to disseminate information to the masses.
Obiozor, who is the Director, Centre for Disability and Special Needs Research (CENDASNER), Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Anambra state, gave the commendations on the sideline of 2020 International Day of Sign Languages. He also thanked the Vice-Chancellor of the university, Prof. Charles Okechukwu Esimone, for his strides in welfare of staff and students with disabilities, as well as the encouragement of sign languages in the university.
According to him, the more persons with disabillities are loved and accepted, the more they contribute their quota to nation building for the betterment of all because, they have unique qualities, abilities and intelligence, which others in the society might not have.
Speaking on the significance of the this year’s theme: ‘Sign Languages Are for Everyone’, Prof Obiozor, who is a lecturer in the Department of Adult Education in the university, reiterated the importance of sign language, while calling for regular use of it by experts at government functions and public gatherings.
He thanked government for their efforts in factoring persons with disabillities in the scheme of things, while noting that they were usually abused and neglected, and were given little or no opportunity to compete favourably with their counterparts.
Orient Daily reports that International Day of Sign Languages is celebrated annually across the globe on September 23 every year, along with International Week for the Deaf, where about 72 million deaf people around the world use over 300 different sign languages.
