Many people think that deafness is less severe than blindness. This opinion is a wrong perception for deaf people. Sign language is one of the languages used by deaf people to communicate. UNY lecturer Dr. Hermanto conveyed this point in a workshop on the development of UNY DiSign on Friday (4/8). He says the deaf community uses sign language due to hearing limitations and accessibility. "Besides that, language development and technology limitations exist," he said. The principle of communication with deaf students that needs to be considered is the directness of the face, voice, clear pronunciation, and choice of words that are easy to understand and avoid the abstract.
Onten Purbasari, a student of UNY with deafness, explained that one of the needs of deaf students at UNY is assistance in academic and non-academic activities, such as seminars, micro-learning, or trials. For this reason, universities must provide adequate facilities and accessibility. "Often there is miscommunication with lecturers because we do not understand the lecture material due to language lag," she said. It was informed that some students with disabilities were unaware of the Disability Service Unit. She suggested providing Sign Language services for deaf students at essential events and discussion forums to discuss important matters at the University.
The activity held in the context of developing learning innovations for students with disabilities was attended by leaders, development teams, and representatives from service units at UNY. On this occasion, seven deaf students from several faculties at UNY were also present. The estuary of this workshop is the development of a practical sign language digital dictionary for the UNY academic community. The UNY Disability Center initiated this activity to increase inclusiveness in the campus environment.
