Lesley Baleseng on championing awareness on the lives of people with disabilities

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.

The 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

with disabilities and parents of children with disabilities; from the names used to the attitudes people carry on account of little knowledge on of the challenges handicapped people face.

“I noticed a gap of knowledge and the culture influence that seemed unaware of a key component of life - the need to appreciate diversity in humanity! The narrative has to be changed so that people with disabilities are viewed from a different lens; one denoting uniqueness and an opportunity to fully participate in the different facets of life and strive to be their best selves,” asserts Lesley.

FOSTERING THE DISCOURSE AROUND DISABILITIES The conversations around disability have been a taboo for a long time and consequentially, some mothers hide their children with special needs because of the blame that culture and society places on them and the general prejudice that exists due to lack of awareness.

“I believe that the more something is talked about, the less it becomes taboo. It is key to create disability content consistently for people’s consumption so that they know better and act from an informed position in life,” he states.

Abilities strives to shine light in Botswana about disability in a way that truly represents the diversity that exists within the Botswana community and culture. This is done through various initiatives, such a weekly radio show on RB2 that Abilities hosts. The show profiles and dissects different disabilities, engaging in conversations with various representatives of disability communities, stakeholders, and professionals.

“It is our wish for people not to see the disability or the difference before the human being because then one misses out on humanity. Abilities is a big supporter of persons with disabilities who pursue their passions, and our radio show covers an array of conversations that include profiling organisations that support people living with disabilities, trail blazers and gifted people within the disabled community and various commemorations during international days of recognition for specific handicaps,” Lesley says.

He adds: “The current anchor Mr David Ranto is doing a beautiful job of leading the dialogue that is purposely annihilating stereotypes and myths surrounding the disability landscape in Botswana. With the recent news of the Botswana Government acceding to the convention on the rights of persons with disabilities, Abilities anticipates abundance of content from the activities and changes in the Botswana disability landscape.”

Abilities’ social media pages have also become a platform to showcase commemorations and special events, documenting pictures and videos to create mileage and awareness within broader audience groups. These are platforms for providing a wide range of information on different avenues the disabled and wider communities can connect and garner assistance. For Lesley, it has been quite a humbling experience to teach and make and impactful difference in the community. Future aspirations for Abilities involve expanding into television, as Lesley believes that visuals are critical in delivering messages.

“Television content would be a prodigious value add and we as Abilities are open to partner and collaborate with various institutions that resonate with inclusion and are keen on creating magic to unleash everyone’s essence of humanity,” sites Lesley.