The Kenya Sign Language Finger Spelling application was developed during the pandemic by Hudson Asiema, who was born deaf, to help Kenya’s 4,000 deaf schoolchildren with remote learning. “We don’t have a lot of these apps that are centered for children accessible offline,” he said through a sign language translator. “When you compare the same with the hearing kids now, they have a lot of apps that they can access for them to learn easy basics of language, like alphabets.” Disability organization inABLE helped Asiema develop the app, while the app was designed for deaf students learning at home, students have found it useful even after they returned to school earlier this month. Deaf community leaders in Kenya say the technology has improved learning among deaf students. Chairman of Kenya’s National Association for the Deaf, Nixon Kakiri, said through a sign language translator: “It will sort out the issue of children staying at home and not learning sign language and through this app … it’s something which is very technical because they’ll have to use their phone and it will be very helpful to the deaf.”
SOURCE: VOA