The University of Cape Town (UCT) has launched a pilot project to make its National Benchmark Test (NBT) website accessible in South African Sign Language (SASL), which will be completed by year-end.

“The admissions website will follow. We’re making strides. We don’t want SASL inclusion to be the exception. We want it to become the norm,” said UCT’s SASL interpreter Michelle de Bruyn, who leads the project.

She said inclusion was not only about digital access but also about shifting institutional culture.

“In collaboration with the Cape Town Deaf Community, UCT has begun SASL training for frontline staff in libraries, residences, traffic services and visitor centres, equipping staff with basic communication tools and greater awareness of deaf culture,” said the University.

UCT said the project marked a major milestone for inclusion in higher education and aligned with the university’s Vision 2030 commitment to transformation.

UCT noted that this was the first time a tertiary institution in South Africa had made a website fully accessible in SASL, saying it was a massive milestone that could be a flagship across UCT and eventually the sector.

The project also led to the first deaf prospective student recently completing the NBT using the support of a SASL interpreter, a national first in benchmark testing.

De Bruyn joined UCT’s Disability Service in the Office for Inclusivity and Change in 2023.

“The idea started with a basic observation. I recognised that while there was plenty of written information on the NBT website, there was almost nothing accessible to deaf users who use SASL – a language that, importantly, has no written form,” she said.

De Bruyn approached the Centre for Educational Assessments (CEA), which manages the NBTs, with a proposal to translate essential content into SASL.

She worked with colleagues across UCT, including the Centre for Innovation in Learning and Teaching’s One Button Studio team, to produce the videos.

“We first identified standard introductory information that wouldn’t change for at least three to five years. Then I began interpreting those pages, recorded the content, checked it for accuracy, and worked with One Button Studio to film and produce the final product. All without any cost to the university, thanks to their willingness to support this pilot,” she said.

De Bruyn and CEA administrator Lynia Norman devised a workaround when delays affected the website upgrade: upload the SASL videos to the NBTs’ YouTube channel and linked them directly on the site.

“This simple solution now gives deaf users direct access to admissions content in their primary language,” UCT said.

UCT explained that in partnership with UCT Libraries, De Bruyn and the Disability Service had also created SASL-interpreted informational videos about the NBT process.

“…one such video is a tour of the Oppenheimer Library, available in SASL, English, isiXhosa and Afrikaans, making it the first of its kind in the country” it said.