10/09/2026
At the SU Language Centre, everything we do is underpinned by our commitment to expanding multilingualism and language inclusion in all our campus spaces. Our approach centres on cultivating a multilingual mindset โ the willingness to embrace multilingualism as important and beneficial for promoting academic, professional and social inclusivity and diversity; and intentionally creating spaces for individual and institutional multilingualism.
But what does multilingualism look like when accessibility and inclusion are central to workplace communication? For the past decade, the Language Centre's South African Sign Language (SASL) portfolio has been offering interpreting services to Deaf staff and students at SU. Among these staff members are our colleagues at the Handlab โ a team whose daily collaboration across different languages, communication modes and lived experiences is a powerful example of what multilingualism can look like in practice.
Handlab is a unit of the Linguistics Department at Stellenbosch University that creates curriculum material for the school subject South African Sign Language (SASL) as Home Language, Grades R to 12. The team brings together Deaf and hearing professionals with diverse linguistic backgrounds and expertise. Among its members are Deaf colleagues whose first language is SASL, as well as hearing colleagues whose first languages are Afrikaans and Slovak.
Language diversity shapes everyday interactions, collaboration and learning within the team, and members draw on different communication strategies to ensure that everyone can participate fully and on an equal footing in discussions and decision-making. SASL is used as far as possible. Hearing team members actively learn and practise SASL in their daily interaction with their Deaf colleagues, drawing on skills developed through beginner courses offered by the SU Language Centre as part of the institution's broader commitment to multilingualism and accessibility. Deaf colleagues, in turn, support the learning process by helping hearing colleagues improve their signing while using fingerspelling, gestures, lipreading, visual aids and spoken English to facilitate mutual understanding โ a practice known as Total Communication. Working in this way, the team creates educational materials that support Deaf learners across South Africa by ensuring that learners are able to access knowledge through the languages and communication modes that best support their learning.
For the team, working at Handlab has highlighted how closely language, accessibility and inclusion are connected. In Deaf education, communication goes beyond words to include visual expression, sign language, body language and creating spaces where everyone feels understood. The experience has reinforced the importance of adapting communication styles, valuing different ways of expressing ideas, and building workplaces where Deaf and hearing people can collaborate equally.
By using all the communication tools in their collective toolkit, and by creating space for Deaf and hearing colleagues to learn from one another, the Handlab team demonstrates that multilingualism is about more than language proficiency; it is about participation, accessibility and belonging. Inclusive workplaces are built when people are willing to adapt their communication practices, learn from one another, and recognise the value of different linguistic resources.
Photo caption: The Handlab team, from left to right: Alex Nyawo, Lenka Knoetze, Claire Sternberg, Simone Conradie and Ayesha Ramjugernath.
Visit the Language Centre website for more information on SASL beginner courses:
๐ Beginner level SASL (A1): https://languagecentre.sun.ac.za/product/south-african-sign-language-beginner-level-1a/
๐ Elementary level SASL (A2): https://languagecentre.sun.ac.za/product/south-african-sign-language-elementary-level-a2/
๐ More information on the SASL trainer course:
https://languagecentre.sun.ac.za/product/teach-south-african-sign-language-trainer-course/
