Claudine Storbeck

Prof Claudine Storbeck is the Director & Founder of the Centre for Deaf Studies at The University of the Witwatersrand. She started the first professional teacher training programme for Teachers of the Deaf in South Africa, and the Centre currently offers both undergraduate and postgraduate training specialization for teachers of the Deaf focusing on among other things Deaf Pedagogy, Literacy, SASL, Deaf Culture and Literature.

Claudine founded the 1st home-based family-centred early intervention programme for families of deaf and hard of hearing infants in South Africa and the rest of the continent, and recently played a central part in the launch and roll out of the first National Universal Newborn Hearing Screening Progamme in South Africa.

The World Federation of the Deaf named her a world specialist in Deaf Education and as a fluent user of SASL (who interpreted at the inauguration for both Pres Mandela and Pres Mbeki) she has been part of the evaluation panel for International Sign Language Interpreters for the WFD.

The Centre for Deaf Studies has been named a Centre of Excellence by the Dept of Higher Education, and in 2023 it will celebrate its 25th Anniversary.