Teacher of the Deaf in Ghana 

Life before covid-19 

I am a Teacher of the Deaf so before the outbreak, I was teaching deaf students in a school for the deaf in Ghana. I taught Social Studies, and English language. Since the majority of my students were deaf, my major concern was based on how to help them develop good grammatically correct English. 

How life has changed because of Covid-19  

…there were no sign language interpreters to interpret most of the government’s communication. Because of that, some of my deaf students were arrested for breaking lockdown orders of the state because they did not understand what was happening. 

When the Covid-19 reached Ghana, the authorities locked down the country which placed restrictions on my movements. Schools, social gatherings and all forms of worship activities that required public gatherings were closed. This has had a significant impact on me and my students since I couldn’t offer them the support that I intended for them. All major forms of communication are now done on social media. This means that the majority of deaf students who do not have ICT facilities to access social media have been cut out of the communication completely. Until recently, there were no sign language interpreters to interpret most of the government’s communication. Because of that, some of my deaf students were arrested for breaking lockdown orders of the state because they did not understand what was happening.  

My Greatest Concerns and Challenges  

I have students who have been brutalised by the police when the lockdown was in place because they went out when they were not supposed to but because of communication issues, they didn’t know and the police classified them as not law abiding citizens. 

I think that there should be efforts in bringing the communications about Covid-19 to the communities so that all deaf people can access. I have students who have been brutalised by the police when the lockdown was in place because they went out when they were not supposed to but because of communication issues, they didn’t know and the police classified them as not law abiding citizens. 

Since the majority of information can only be accessed online, it have placed financial burden on me because I would have to always buy internet bundle which is expensive in Ghana. The good thing is that though we are not in schools, the government still pays our salaries so that helps manage the situation. 

Emerging opportunities  

I became an advocate for the “bring the interpreter” campaign which has now helped to change the face of the communications for the deaf in my community. 

There is e-learning occurring everywhere in the country at the moment but the major issue with that is the fact that deaf students have not been factored into those lessons because there are not interpreters or subtitles for the lesson even on TVs. However, I have resorted to reading, during this pandemic in order to broaden my knowledge so that when schools resume I can help my students. Also, following the arrest of some of my deaf students for bridging lockdown rules, I became an advocate for the “bring the interpreter” campaign which has now helped to change the face of the communications for the deaf in my community. Now we have some of the information on Covid-19 in sign language and deaf people can easily access them. 

Future fears and hopes 

I think that the Covid-19 has come to teach us lessons that we never anticipated. Now we can do a lot of things online. Some students have also come out with innovative ways of managing the pandemic through regular hand wash and also some of the students have also made face masks on their own.