deaftouch

19/10/2026

Shortlisted for the 2026 ESEY Awards 🇿🇦

Category: Future of Education & Work

What we’re building:
Lindi — the on-demand SASL interpreter marketplace.

• Instant access to qualified South African Sign Language interpreters
• Digital and in-person
• Creates sustainable work for interpreters
• Trains young people from disadvantaged backgrounds to become qualified interpreters

Access. Skills. Employment.

The public vote decides the final 10.
From there it’s judges → $250,000 investment chance → Davos 2027.

If this matters to you, please vote and share.

Link in bio / comments:
https://www.theeasies.com/vote

19/09/2026

September is Deaf Awareness month, the perfect time to emphasise Nothing about us, without us.

Today I joined Lee Kasumba on Channel Africa, alongside Hands On Creatives (Mmatlou Moloto CEO) to discuss breaking communication barriers between the Deaf community and customer service.

This is bigger than a call centre.
It is about designing solutions with communities not for them.

At deaftouch we started by listening to the Deaf community share their lived experiences, their challenges, and what they actually needed, here is where Deaf Empowerment Firm, DeafSA and National Institute for the Deaf led the conversation.

We then combined that insight with deep call-centre expertise to build South Africa’s first managed SASL-frontline service. Deaf individuals can now deliver customer experience directly in Sign Language creating access, skills development, and meaningful employment.

That is intentional inclusion.
- Not compliance.
- Not a tick-box.
-Not assumptions from the outside.
Collaboration. Listening. Co-creation. Real impact.

If your organisation is ready to move beyond disability compliance and create genuine inclusion, the opportunity is clear:
Bring the community to the table.
Bring your expertise.
Bring your resources.
Build the solution together.

Nothing about us, without us.

Watch the interview here:
https://youtu.be/6cSn41HrD24?si=mMoNIu0gnT5q_8r8

DisabilityInclusion

16/09/2026

Nothing about us without us!

This principle is non-negotiable for the Deaf community. It is a clear statement: without lived experience, you do not speak for us or decide for us.

At deaftouch we fully endorse this truth.

A problem is solved best by the people who live it every day. That is why we refuse to position ourselves as “the voice of the Deaf.” Lived experience cannot be underplayed or outsourced.

The stories belong to the community, and they must be told by the community especially in South African Sign Language.

What we are is an enabler.

We build the connection that removes the communication barrier so Deaf people can speak for themselves. We create the platform; they use their own voice.

This is how we have built our vision together: we understand them, they understand us, and most importantly, they speak for themselves.

We began in customer service because access starts at the point of interaction. Call centres remain the preferred service-delivery channel for both government and private sector. Here we developed South Africa’s first managed, outsourced SASL-frontline service. Deaf professionals now deliver customer experience directly in Sign Language to the organisations and services they themselves use and pay for.

This is accessible communications
in action. It sits squarely inside Global Business Services. It was co-created with the Deaf community and delivers three outcomes at once:
• Full accessibility in the customer journey
• Real skills development and meaningful employment for Deaf professionals
• Measurable B-BBEE contribution for our clients

We do not speak for the Deaf!

We enable them to speak and we enable organisations to finally listen.

If your organisation is ready to move beyond compliance theatre and into genuine access, skills, and impact, partner with us.

Let’s put SASL where it belongs: at the frontline.

23/07/2026