ADD had been working with disable people since 1987 but due to the communication barrier they tended to leave out the Deaf people. In 1993 lady luck smiled to the deaf in the form of Mrs. Gloria Pullen who visited Uganda and found the plight of Deaf people especially in Northern Uganda which was being ravaged by insurgency caused by the conflict between the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) and Uganda national army, Uganda Peoples Defence Forces (UPDF). She decided to start with Gulu District which was epicentre of the war.

Gloria went back to the United Kingdom where she engaged ADD office thereby  necessitating the programme to take off in 1996. However, the insecurity became unbearable and the office was moved to Lira District where it was commissioned as pilot programme.

For nine years, the programme was implemented in Lira culminating into the mobilisation of Deaf people to form groups, training in organisational development and group dynamics, training in sign language both within the deaf community and between the Deaf community and hearing people. This led to strong Deaf associations in all the sub-counties, increased use of sign language, awareness created about deaf issues and the confidence of Deaf issues built. Deaf people were recognised as an integral part of their communities.

After the overwhelming success recorded under the Lira pilot project, coupled with ADD’s objective of supporting the most marginalised groups, the programme was integrated in ADD’s main work with associations of the deaf being formed in all the districts covered by ADD. Currently, 14 Deaf associations have been started in the districts of Apac, Jinja, Lira, Iganga, Kabale, Kumi, Kamwenge, Kamuli, Katakwi, Mubende, Pallisa, Sironko, Soroti and Wakiso.

Through UNAD, the associations are supported with funds to meet their operational costs, do advocacy with local authorities, training in sign language and mobilise their membership.

ADD runs a comprehensive sign language training programme with all the new associations as they are formed. The district union does select volunteers during the situational analysis who are trained in Uganda Sign Language as trainers of trainers (TOTs. These TOTs in turn train the community where they come from.
The training of USL has enhanced communication between the deaf themselves and between the Deaf and hearing community.  Together with UNAD, the groups are supported to elect their leaders through general assemblies and also trained in leadership and organisational development, constitution development, accountability, report writing, and drawing of action plans among others.

What does it mean to be deaf?

To be deaf means the impairment of hearing sense to some extent. Deafness is associated with the use of sign language or gestures in case one lacks sign language skill. There are 4 categories of deafness namely;-

• Congenitally Deaf which refers to a person who was born deaf.  People who fall in this category do not lip-read because they have never heard any spoken word since they were born. (everyone knows that a child learns how to speak by hearing others do, so one born deaf cannot talk because he/she has never heard anything.)
• Pre-lingually deaf is a category of deafness were one becomes deaf before reaching the age of 5 years. They have a vague memory of the things they heard before.
• Post lingually deaf/deafened i.e these are ones who become deaf at any age starting at 5 and above. This type of deafness is able to talk depending on the age they became deaf.
• Hard of Hearing is a category that can hear to some extent. Some can hear with one ear while the other ear is completely deaf or are half hearing in both ears.

Whereas the first three categories cannot use assistive device for hearing purpose because they are profound deaf, the forth type can speak and use hearing assistive device.