By Them, For Them

Often in development work the approach can be very outside-in, where outsiders come into a community and dictate the sort of work that will be done, then micromanage that work to ensure that the outsider’s goals are achieved. But one of the most satisfying aspects of SIL LEAD’s approach is that we work hard to keep the focus inside-out. In fact, it’s baked into our DNA, with our stated goal of helping local, community-based organizations use their own language to improve their quality of life.

Wherever possible, we want to enable people to achieve their own goals, and this goes not just for the larger indigenous language communities in which we work, but also for the disabled people within those communities.

Dr. Paul Frank recently presented the following video at the 2022 conference of the Comparative and International Education Society on how Deaf people created sign language Covid books. The fact that it was presented by the Deaf, for the Deaf wasn’t even its most important feature…

…the video was also showcasing the fact that these Deaf people were not dependent on someone else to do the research, create the content, or publish the books. There was a need for lifesaving materials in their community, so they used the tools available, in this case the free Bloom software, to meet that need.They didn’t wait for someone else to do it for them, they took the initiative to ensure that their community was included in the global effort to spread pandemic awareness—that they would be represented in their larger community. This is something happening not only in Central America, but around the world (see our recent post “What is the Point of All This Heroism?”).We’re grateful, as always, to have played a role in helping these vibrant language communities help themselves.