The Ethiopian National Association of the Deaf (ENAD) was established in September 1970. It was established by the deaf themselves with the support of some of their friends.
Now, the ENAD has 28 branches all over the country. Its contributions to the advancement of the deaf is acknowledged and supported by the government of Ethiopia. Among others, the Federal Ministry of Education awarded it a trophy and certificate in 2016 in recognition of its contribution in the advancement of the education of the deaf.
Before the establishment of the ENAD, the deaf were faced with many problems. While there existed a boarding school for the blind operated by the government, no government schools of any type were in existence for the deaf. There were, however two schools for the deaf in Addis Ababa and another one in Keren, in present day Eritrea, all of which were operated by religious missionaries. The society held the view that the deaf could not be educated. A deaf person was referred at as "Denquero" in the Amharic language, which means some one who could not be educated or an ignorant being. Opportunities for employment and other social activities were also none existent.
It was under such a situation that the ENAD came into being. The deaf needed an association through which they could advocate for their rights.
The Ethiopian National Association of the Deaf (ENAD) has published its magazine Birtat (Courage) during the celebration of its 50th year founding anniversary that took place from 1 to 6 November 2022. Here, you can find the soft copy of the magazine.
The ENAD has been, and still is, engaged in many activities that advance the rights of the deaf and insure their inclusion in all activities of the country.
The religious missionaries had brought sign language systems from their own respective countries. Those from America brought American Sign Language. Those from the Nordic countries brought Finnish and Swedish sign languages.
But, Ethiopia is a country that has its own alphabet. The deaf were being excluded from learning their own alphabet although not intentionally. No manual alphabet existed for it. ENAD's first action was creating a manual alphabet for the national alphabet. This was made possible by three of its founding members, namely Minasse Abera, Teklehaimanot Derso and Hailu Yesuneh. ... More
Before the establishment of the ENAD, sportive activities of the deaf were limited to their schools only. But, following the establishment of the ENAD, sportive activities increased so much that deaf were going as far as Diredawa and Jima to compete. ... More
Following the the celebration of the International Year of the Child, the ENAD presented a project proposal for a preschool for deaf children to then UNESCO Cooperative Action Program. The ENAD proposal was accepted and included in the UNESCO list projects that were selected for considerations for support by friends of the UNESCO all over the world. Thus the ENAD Co-Action Preschool for Deaf Children was born. ... More