The Nsawam Road branch of the church of Christ held its Deaf Week celebration last Sunday with a call on the public to desist from discriminating against the hearing impaired.

The event aimed at clearing misconceptions about the deaf and creating awareness about the abilities of hearing-impaired persons.

It was held on the theme, “misconceptions about the deaf and deafness.”

The programme saw the deaf ministry taking over the service to the understanding of the whole congregation, including the hearing, due to the availability of sign language interpreters.

Speaking on the sidelines of the programme, Bishop Sam Williams, Senior Pastor of the church called on the government to employ sign language interpretations at the various health facilities across the country to promote effective communication among the deaf and healthcare givers.

Describing discrimination against the deaf community as disheartening, Bishop Williams urged the public to see the deaf as highly capable because when given the opportunity, they could excel in anything they were tasked to do.

“The deaf are also capable, let us treat everybody we come across as family just as Jesus Christ teaches us. Whether deaf or hearing, as long as the person is capable, let us not deny them of any opportunity,” he advised.

Delivering the sermon, an assistant pastor of the church, Mr Eric Sapey, admonished members of the public to desist from seeing the hearing impaired as disabled since deafness, according to him had nothing to do with disability.

He said the only barrier was the inability to hear but that does not limit them in any way since they understand the sign language.

He explained that ignorance about deafness and hearing loss was a major problem, adding that if members of the public were able to have enough information about the deaf, many misconceptions would be cleared.

Mr Sapey noted that while some people were born deaf, others lose their hearing ability due to sickness, accident, physical assault among other unfortunate incidences.

He therefore urged pregnant women to desist from activities that could harm their unborn children and put them at the risk of being born deaf.

Some deaf people, he revealed could speak, depending on when they lost their hearing and educational background.

According to Pastor Sapey, it was unfortunate for some hearing individuals to think deaf people were not intelligent, adding that many deaf people were living very successful and fulfilled lives.

“We all have roles to play, whether you can hear or not. Let us stop the discrimination and promote love and peaceful co-existence among ourselves,” he advised.

Godwin Ameneum, a member of the deaf ministry expressed gratitude to the church for honouring the hearing impaired and ensuring the gospel of Christ was not denied them despite their condition.

He called on other Christian bodies to emulate the laudable initiative.