In some classrooms in Senegal, deaf and hard-of-hearing students now study alongside everyone else

By ANDREI POPOVICIU
Associated Press

PIKINE, Senegal (AP) — A new approach in Senegal is mixing a small number of hard-of-hearing students into public classrooms. It’s a step forward in the West African country where some people still associate disabilities with stigma. Some parents hide their children and prevent them from participating in society. The United Nations children’s agency says about 60% of children with disabilities in Senegal are not going to school. Senegal lacks a national strategy for inclusive education, but it is developing one. At one school in a suburb of the capital, some students are eagerly seizing the chance to learn sign language to communicate with their new peers.