[Editor's note: This week Craig Grimes and Seek Geo launch a unique program in Nicaragua to prepare the Central American tourism industry to serve tourists whose native language is American Sign language (ASL). Watch for daily reports at Grimes' and Geo's sites. They are available to give the training at other locations on request.]
Ever since I started working in inclusive tourism for people with disabilities I have always wanted to provide tours to deaf people in sign language. This is relatively easy if the tours that you are providing are to people from the country where the tours are based as the language is the same. The problems begin to arise when you are covering incoming tourism at the destination and the deaf people that want the tours are from various different countries. The problem being that the sign language in every country around the world is different, and even within the same country, there are wide regional dialects.
There is probably really only one real way around this issue for deaf people, bring your own translator from home. However, this solution is very expensive, the problem of deaf people isn’t seen as a disability by many, it’s a communication issue, they use a different language, one which isn’t spoken but is signed.
So where is the compromise?
One solution that I have thought about whilst being in Nicaragua is to supply tours in American Sign Language (ASL) as the Americans are a stones throw from Nicaragua and probably the most likely to use the service. But who exactly do you teach ASL to in order to be able to give the tours? Your average tour guide is going to struggle for years to learn ASL to a good enough standard, so what’s the alternative? In Nicaragua there are many unemployed or poorly paid deaf people that use Nicaraguan Sign Language (ISN), which is different to ASL, but close enough so that with basic training they would be able to use ASL easily. This is the theory anyway!
Therefore, thanks to the very generous funding of Mr. Jeremy Rowe a client and friend of AccessibleBarcelona, I am very proud to announce that on Monday 7th July the “First ASL - ISN Deaf Guide Training Course” begins here in Matagalpa, Nicaragua. I’ve been organising the course for the last couple of months with Seek Geo and Green Tours, Matagalpa. The end result is that Geo, and his hearing partner Jes, are flying down from the USA to help teach a total of 6 deaf people from Matagalpa, San Ramón and Jinotega basic ASL. We also have a local hearing translator attending the course to learn ASL with us and help out with ISN where required and Norlan Alberquerque of Green Tours has been helping us set up some basic routes to practise in Matagalpa.
With the combination of basic ASL, the knowledge of how to establish a tour and the use of an English - Spanish dictionary the newly fledged Deaf Tour Guides will be able to begin ASL guiding in mid-July. Here is the program for the “First ASL - ISN Deaf Guide Training Course”
Related stories by Seek Geo:
Flyer on training:
Posted by rollingrains at July 6, 2008 05:32 PM