Communication is one of the biggest gifts of life. Hence difficulty in
communication presents big hurdles. A good proportion of persons with a disability experience such hurdles. Fortunately there are many ways in which to facilitate communication. Sign Language and Braille are merely two of the most common. MARIA GIULIANA FENECH looks into the issue
Sign language
Sign language is an independent fully developed visual language, varies from country to country and like all other languages, is arbitrary in nature. Like any other spoken languages, sign languages have their own grammar, syntax and rules. In fact, despite the fact that English is the language spoken in the United States of America, the sign language used in England and USA is very different largely because of historic reasons.
Gestuno is an international sign language, the equivalent of Esperanto. An amalgam of basic signs from around the world, Gestuno is an Italian word that roughly translates as “oneness of sign languages”. The Esperanto analogy is apt, as Gestuno has relatively few practitioners and is mainly used during international meetings.
Another aspect of sign language is finger spelling. This is a method of spelling each letter of a word in the air. This is used mainly for proper names.
In social circles, individual deaf persons start communicating by having their own special, possibly iconic signs – for example nicknames. For example, a person who is always using a mobile telephone can end up with a nickname sign for the text messaging hand gesture. Another iconic sign used in Malta is for the surname “Fenech” – the sign is simply the rabbit ears gesture! These iconic signs are informal in nature and obviously are not used during formal activities such as the News Bulletin or during Holy Mass. However, they are proof of how alive and evolutionary the language is.
A recent development is that Sign Language or at least its signs is also used by people who have learning difficulties and therefore find it much easier to communicate via signs than via the spoken word. The National Commission for People with a Disability believes that communication is a human right and need. Therefore everyone should be able to communicate in order to enhance the quality of their lives.
In addition to bettering their education, when people with learning difficulties use sign language, they can develop their intra-personal skills, diminish the sense of frustration which comes along with lack of communication, lead more independent lives and finally assure a better standard of living for themselves and the people around them.
For this reason the National Commission for People with a Disability, with the help of funding from the European Union, managed to conduct the necessary research, which led to the publication of a book, and the issuing of a CD of basic Sign Language used in Malta. This project has proven to be very useful.
Furthermore, the Institute of Linguistics of the University of Malta with the support of deaf researchers mainly Dorianne Callus and Karl Borg is currently compiling a highly scientific dictionary of the Maltese Sign Language. At present two volumes have already been published.
Sign language and lip
reading in daily life
Dorianne was born deaf. When she was born, the use of sign language was very minimal in society and practically non-existent in the educational system. However with intensive support mainly of her family and a small number of dedicated professionals, she communicated through the spoken language. Later, when Dorianne started meeting more people from the deaf community, especially at the Deaf Club, she started to communicate also in sign language thus becoming bi-lingual that proficient both in Maltese sign language and the spoken languages (Maltese and English).
The Maltese sign language is still developing. In fact, Dorianne is directly involved with a study being carried out by the Institute of Linguistics at the University of Malta. Dorianne adds that the number of persons in Malta using Maltese sign language, as expected is very small but still fundamental to their quality of life.
Dorianne teaches Maltese sign language during evening classes organised by the Education Division. However she feels that the sign language classes currently on offer are too basic and it is unfortunate that there aren’t more advanced classes on offer. Dorianne also insists that, like any other language, the only way to increase fluency is through practice and direct contact with people who use sign language.
Moreover, Dorianne is an expert lip reader. Although she lip reads extensively, lip reading is very tiring as it requires the utmost concentration.
Braille
Braille has its origins in a system devised by the artillery officer Charles Barbier on Napoleon’s orders. Napoleon requested a code, which soldiers could use to read and communicate silently and without using light. Unfortunately this code proved to be too complex for the soldiers to learn. In 1821, Louis Braille, himself a blind man, met Barbier and identified the main problem with Barbier’s synography. The code’s failing was that the human finger could not encompass the whole symbol without moving, and so could not move rapidly from one symbol to another.
Therefore, Louis Braille adjusted the 12-raised character cells devised by Barbier to the six-raised point cells used today. Louis Braille was only 15 years old when he fully devised the alphabet, which would later bear his name, his father’s stitching awl. The six-dot cells that represent each letter of the alphabet are not iconic i.e. the cell for the letter “a” looks nothing like the written “a”. Some six-dot cells also represent groups of letters – for example in English, “th”, “sh”, “ing” and the word “and” all have their own six-dot cell.
Braille is considered to be an alphabet rather than a language. When a text is written in Braille, the language construction is not changed but the letters are merely transliterated into a different alphabet. A person reading an English book printed in Braille will not be able to read a Swedish book which has been printed in Braille if he or she does not actually know Swedish despite being able to differentiate each letter. However, the Braille alphabet has been adapted for many languages including Chinese. In addition Braille is also used for musical notation and for mathematics. Mathematical Braille is known as Nameth Braille after its inventor, the blind mathematician Abraham Nameth.
Braille and audio books in daily life
Alexandra* started learning and using Braille when she was 20 years old, some weeks after she became blind following an accident. She points out that the Braille learning process is not particularly arduous however it does depend a lot on the amount of time one spends practising. In her case she practised very hard and therefore was soon relatively fluent.
However when it comes to reading books in Braille, Alexandra prefers instead the relative ease of listening to audio books. She imagines that audio books might end up replacing books in Braille especially due to the availability of audio books for free or for very low prices. Some foreign libraries for blind such as the Calibre Library in England also serve people living in Malta and Alexandra regularly borrows audio books from the 10000+ audio book selection.
Some books, such as the ones Alexandra uses for her university course are not available in audio book format. Therefore, Alexandra contacts the publisher who sends them over in word document or pdf format. Alexandra then uses a speech synthesizer to transform the books into audio. Nonetheless, Alexandra still uses Braille when it comes to reading the time and also intends to start labelling her extensive CD collection with Braille labels.
Blind people who are interested in learning Braille can contact Mr Charles Borg, Braille instructor, himself a blind person at the Centru Hidma Socjali, Santa Venera.
* Not her real name.
The Malta Public Library and its services for people with special needs
In 1968, the Malta Public Library opened a special section set up with Braille books to service visually impaired persons.
Eventually, in 1996, under the direction of David Filippidis, this library evolved into a library that serves the special needs of its diverse 522 members who are visually impaired, elderly persons and others who have difficulty in reading.
The library has a varied collection, which includes audio books, books in Braille, subtitled films in video and DVD format, music recordings and a multimedia library. The audio book library is the most popular and also the largest. Last year, 26,238 audio books were borrowed from the library. The library offers an array of books – from popular fiction in Maltese and English, non-fiction with subject topics that are in demand such as General Knowledge, Music, Religion and Biographies. Titles range from Fuq l-Ghajn ta’ San Bastjan read by the late Charles Arrigo to the various Detective Stories penned by Agatha Christie.
The system employed to borrow such audio books is the following: a catalogue of all books available is given to the member. The member then marks a number of choices and returns the catalogue to the library. Subsequently, the librarian will send the audio books in question, one at a time, in a special green box that fits through letterboxes. The member will return the audio books after a maximum one-month period, in the same box, postage free. In this way the borrowing returning process is of utmost ease for the library members. In addition, all the audio books have their title printed on the cassette box in Braille. The Services for Special Needs Unit is supported by a group of volunteers who help in the recording of audio books in Maltese at the unit’s own recording studio, built with the help of APS.
The multimedia library, compiled with the help of HSBC, caters for secondary school students with reading difficulties. The library has 69 kits, covering a host of subjects ranging from the Ancient Myths to Sherlock Holmes Mysteries. Each kit comprises a CD, a cassette and a fully illustrated book, which is on average around twelve chapters long with circa 6,000 words. After each chapter there is a computer quiz to ensure comprehension.
The Unit also plans to expand and at the moment is working on an Assistive Technology Project.
Through this Project members would be able to borrow technological equipment from the library. This technological equipment would aid their hearing needs, mobility problems, vision impairments, speech disabilities and learning difficulties. The equipment aims to make something accessible via another sense; for example a speech synthesizer makes text, which requires sight, accessible to a blind person via the sense of hearing. In this way the library will be accessible to an even wider spectrum of people.
The mission statement of the library is to educate, recreate and inform and the library strongly believes that everyone should have access to its resources. The library’s vision is to incorporate all Malta and Gozo into their program and combat illiteracy. The Unit, in fact, visits social clubs, Old People’s Homes and Day Centres in order to spread the word about their services.