Lesley Baleseng on championing awareness ON THE LIVES OF PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES
Lesley Baleseng is the Founder and Managing Director of Abilities and Deafinite Signing. The former BTV News and Current Affairs Interpreter strongly believes in using intuition and sharing one’s individuality and gifts with the world. He founded Deafinite Signage in 2013, a company that specialises in Sign Language services, before later expanding with the formation of Abilities, a platform to drive further discourse on how Botswana can support people having special needs across the country.
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he passionate Lesley for a time juggled a career in the corporate world, before finally making the decision in 2019 to focus on Deafinite Signing full time. His inspiration was founded on his belief in accessibility and prosperity for all, including the handicapped and the deaf. Today, Deafinite Signing offers sign language interpretation services for various sectors, including digital communications, television productions, events, consultations and various client specific needs. “With the demand for virtual engagements continuously growing, in working to mitigating the challenges that came with the Covid-19 era, we launched our Video Remote Interpretation (VRI) Services, interpreting webinars, online conferences, and meetings. Deafinite Signing is simple minded in its value proposition; to present access to a market that uses Botswana Sign Language and one that resonates with inclusion in different ways.” says Lesley. GOING BEYOND WITH ABILITIES Founded in 2018, Abilities is an addition to Deafinite Signing, functioning as a diversity inclusion project that uses various media and content production to facilitate disability dialogue, education, media coverage. It also functions as a portal for supporting and promoting talented handicapped people in Botswana. When asked how and why Abilities was formed, Lesley says that through the various Sign Language Interpretation settings, he was exposed to the world of people living with disabilities in Botswana, and the dreadful realisation that the culture in Botswana plays a big part in perpetuating the segregation of persons
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THE RESPONSIBLE CITIZEN | BUSINESS • COMMUNITY • IMPACT
