The brainchild of Sadra, sponsored by CathSETA, and organised by Rise Business Continuity, the workshop, presented by Dr Anke de Beer, showed the danger of online addiction, a peril that affects the deaf community as much as the hearing.
SA Deaf Rugby Association (Sadra) held an online addiction workshop on March 26 at St Vincent’s School for the Deaf.
The workshop aimed to make St Vincent learners aware of the dangers of online addiction.
The event was sponsored by The Culture, Arts, Tourism, Hospitality, and Sport Sector Education and Training Authority (CathSETA), and organised by Rise Business Continuity. Presented by Dr Anke de Beer, teacher and author, the learners were taken through a comprehensive morning of vital information on handling the perils of an online addiction
Speaking through interpreters Hlengiwe Msingala, Charity Gwala, and Megan Greaves, De Beer portrayed a picture of potential emotional, financial, and potentially physical abuse that can be experienced online, and that deaf people were just as vulnerable as anyone else.
At times, the debate became very robust, with learners offering their opinions and enthusiastically receiving the advice that De Beer offered.
“This is a new experience for me,” explained De Beer. “I have spoken to a wide range of people in South Africa over the last 15 years, but never to a crowd of people who many would think would be immune to online addiction.”
St Vincent’s headmaster Winners Shishenge added that the talk was overdue, and he hoped that it could be offered yearly, because he saw the devastation that online addiction could cause learners at the school.
When asked what the highlight of the morning was, De Beer replied: “I was given a sign name. This is one of the greatest honours ever conferred on me.”