Improving the welfare of the deaf by meeting their critical needs: A case of the city of Bulawayo in Zimbabwe

It is a general trend in cities that the deaf people roam the streets in cities. While governments, charity organizations and churches have sought to provide them with shelter, food handouts and education in special schools they still remain without permanent shelter and work. They also suffer marginalization and exclusion from the mainstream hearing community. Current literature and studies only confirm the status of these, but they have not provided a solution. It is the objective of this study to investigate the critical needs of the deaf people in the city of Bulawayo so that they are appropriately capacitated to manage their lives. Data was collected using structured questionnaires and in-depth face-to-face interviews. The participants in the study revealed that the community and society at large do not understand the deaf culture because there is no interactive language. They highlighted that it is the inability of the mainstream hearing society to interact with deaf people which results in their social exclusion. The analysis of the questionnaires and interviews show how significant it is for the deaf people to be integrated to the hearing world by exposing hearing people to SL and involving them in community projects for the deaf.