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). The project is led by UCT’s SASL interpreter Michelle de Bruyn.
According to the university, this marks a major milestone for inclusion in higher education and aligns with its Vision 2030 commitment to transformation.
In collaboration with the Centre for Educational Assessments, which manages the NBTs, colleagues across UCT and the Centre for Innovation in Learning and Teaching’s One Button Studio team, De Bruyn translated essential content into SASL.
“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,” says De Bruyn.
A deaf prospective student recently completed the NBT using the support of an SASL interpreter, marking what UCT calls a first.
De Bruyn joined UCT’s Disability Service in the Office for Inclusivity and Change in 2023. Born to deaf parents, she describes interpreting as her calling. “The first time I saw a sign language interpreter was at a meeting my dad dragged me to,” she recalls. “I was blown away. I knew then that this was something I wanted to do.”
Her goal is to improve accessibility across the education sector. “This is the first time a tertiary institution in South Africa has made a website fully accessible in SASL,” De Bruyn notes. “It’s a massive milestone, and we hope to flagship this approach across UCT and eventually the sector.”
In partnership with UCT Libraries, De Bruyn and the Disability Service have also created SASL-interpreted informational videos about the NBT available in SASL, English, isiXhosa and Afrikaans.
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