The Deaf Federation of South Africa promotes deaf education, the development of South African Sign Language and South African sign language interpreters, provincial development, and early intervention. DeafSA, formerly known as the South Africa National Council for the Deaf (SANCD), was founded in 1929, as a result of the need to provide services to the Deaf community on a national level. DeafSA is registered in terms of the Non Profit Organisations Act. Since 1994 DeafSA has been embarking on the transformation process alongside many other South African organisations in this new era of democracy. One of the highlights of this transformation was the change in the name of the organisation from SANCD to DeafSA, as well as the constitutional change, which resulted in the Deaf majority members serving on all the organisation’s management structures. This transformation is one of the biggest milestones in the history of DeafSA, as it meant that the philosophy of self-representation was achieved and it enabled DeafSA to be accepted as an ordinary member of the World Federation of the Deaf (WFD).
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