Stemming from the keenness of the Institute of Public Administration (BIPA) and commitment to the social responsibility towards all groups of the Bahraini society, and the principle of national responsibility in developing government performance that would be reflected on all members of the society, and in partnership with the Training Center of the National Foundation for the Disabled, the Institute held a specialized course in sign language necessary for people with special needs, which aims to train a number of employees of government ministries and agencies, of a service nature, on the sign language for the staff, especially the front office staff, and equip them with the ability to provide the necessary support for people with hearing disabilities.
The sign language course came after realizing the difficulties faced by the hearing disability group during communicating with various government ministries and bodies to follow up their applications, because there is no one understands their requirements and identifies their needs, and from this standpoint, this course is aiming to provide the necessary support to integrate peoples with special needs, in all areas and walks of life, and a step towards employing the new technologies to involve all segments of the society in the march of social and economic development in the Kingdom of Bahrain.
The course participants praised the idea of the initiative, as it would help them in overcoming the previous daily obstacles and difficulties, when dealing with people of hearing disabilities, while providing government services to them, stressing on the importance of the themes of the course – where deaf people is taking part as well – which included knowing the culture of the deaf and their needs in a way that achieving effective communication with them, and identifying the interaction mechanisms and thinking as sign language professional, in addition to applying essentials of audible and visible sign language translation, and mastering the dealing with the people of hearing disabilities, the course also included explaining the hearing disability and the reasons behind it, studying the social, emotional and psychological characteristics of the people with hearing disabilities, the rules of sign language, and getting training on the unified sign language dictionary that includes (1420) sign expressions.