Sign Language Training for Staff Working at Istanbul City Lines Piers

Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality City Lines Inc. started to give sign language training to the staff working on its piers. The training is carried out in cooperation with the Federation of the Hearing Impaired. Completing the training, the staff will start to help hearing impaired passengers with sign language starting today.

The trainings are given by the sign language instructor Neveda Öner in the headquarters building. In the trainings that will continue in March, a total of 64 scaffolding supervisors, box office-movement officers and grass-growers will learn sign language.

16 HOUR TRAINING WILL BE RENEWED EVERY 2 YEARS

Those who undergo a total of 16 hours of sign language training will take the exam on specified dates and, if they succeed, will be able to obtain the certificates of Hearing Impaired Federation and City Lines AŞ. Since the sign language is an application-oriented language, renewal training will be carried out every two years.

FIRST TIME AT CITY LINES INC.

Stating that it was the first time that sign language training was given at Şehir Hatları AŞ, İstanbul Büyükşehir Belediyesi Şehir Hatları AŞ. General Manager Sinem Dedetaş made the following statement on the subject:

“We planned the trainings to make the service we offer to the people of Istanbul more inclusive. In order to eliminate the communication barriers between our passengers, we wanted to teach the sign language to our staff on our piers. We made a protocol with the Federation of the Hearing Impaired. Our staff who speak the sign language will be able to communicate with our passengers in need more easily. ”

“We will speak the language that the hearing impaired can understand

Expressing the sign language education will help the visually impaired citizens to communicate more easily, the feelings of the City Lines staff are as follows:

Abdülkadir Sarıtaş (Karaköy Wharf Supervisor, 15 years of staff): “I am here to easily communicate with disabled passengers and understand their troubles. Until now, we would try to deal with hearing impaired people with hand and arm signs. Now we will start speaking a language that they can understand. I think the staff at the points where we first meet passengers should know the sign language. ”

Mehmet Yılmaz (Eminönü Wharf Supervisor, 15 years of staff): “I never knew the sign language. It is a good feeling to be able to help someone with what I learned. ”

Mehmet Civelek (Eminönü Pier box office and departure officer, 15 years of staff): “Eminönü passengers are many. Of course, there are disabled people among the passengers. With what we learn here, we will be able to respond to the basic questions such as what time the ferry will arrive and depart, where it will go, how long the passenger will wait. Our passengers can also ask us about the things they lost and forgot. We will be able to answer these questions as well. ”

Dursun Ali Kurban (Rumeli and Anadolu Poplars Piers box-motion clerk, 13-year staff): “These trainings will definitely benefit. We will use sign language both when doing business and in our social life. ”