Recent news
Sign language frees Cambodia's deaf from 'prison'
The Straits Times, 10 January 2014
Until the late 1990s, Cambodia is one of the few countries with no sign language of its own. Through the work of American priest Father Dittmeier and with the help of foreign linguists, a local language has developed over the years, allowing the once scattered deaf population to communicate and participate in community life. Read this story of social liberation at The Straits Times Asia Report.
How We Are
By Kathleen B. Schreiber
How We Are
You hear the sound of laughter;
I see a smiling face,
You hear the rapid footsteps,
I see the stride and grace,
You hear a joyous greeting,
I see a friendly hand:
Yours is a word thats spoken,
Mine is an act as planned.
You hear a shrieking siren,
I see a flashing light,
You hear the blare of traffic,
I see the glare at night,
You hear the lilting music,
I feel the catchy beat:
Yours is the sound of motion,
Mine is the mute repeat.
You hear a tree that rustles,
I see the swaying leaves,
You hear a wind that whistles,
I feel a steady breeze,
You hear a songbird calling,
I see its graceful flight:
Yours is the sound of nature,
Mine is the gift of sight.
You hear the preacher praying,
I see the way he stands,
You hear the people singing,
I see it signed by hands,
You hear the final Amen,
I see the bow above:
Yours is a vocal worship,
Mine is an act of love.
Hitting the right notes: deaf pianist Ron Tan
Our Better World, June 12 2013
Born with 80 per cent hearing loss, Ron Tan taught himself how to play the piano at 17. Four years later, not only does he have a regular gig, but also helps musicians with disabilities make music. "People say – ‘Ron you are deaf, you can’t do this. You can’t perform,'" he says. "But you still want to do it because you love to do it.” Together with his friend Danial bin Hamdan, Ron founded a social enterprise for performers with disabilities. Called I.AM or the Inclusive Art Movement, Ron says he now wants to help others find their purpose through music in spite of a physical handicap.
Ngee Ann Polytechnic's HI! Club
http://www.hiclub.blogspot.sg/, July 11 2014
With the aim to unite the hearing and our non-hearing counterparts,
Hi! Club seeks to instill passion in its members by offering exclusive sign language courses executed by our dedicated instructors and even opportunities to put to use the obtained signing skills with the prospect of interacting with the hearing-impaired effectively.
Besides acquiring the ability to communicate with the hearing-impaired, Hi! Club engages in song signing and sign language drama performances actively for both school based and external events, occasionally tying up with Singapore Association for the Deaf, commonly known as ‘SADEAF’.
How Jimmy Wong has navigated a society that still has much to learn about the deaf
salt.org.sg, August 12 2013
This is the story of our ex-mentor from SADeaf, Jimmy.
Jimmy Wong became deaf at the tender age of four. Then, his parents couldn’t accept the fact that he was deaf, and didn't understand how it had occurred, as there were no injuries or illnesses to pinpoint (unlike the illnesses which typically accompany acquired deafness such as meningitis, mumps, or noise-induced hearing loss that cause damage to the auditory nerve or hair cells within the cochlea over time.)
Jimmy’s parents eventually became more comfortable with his signing, but continued to ensure that he complemented it with speech. He can now communicate using both as a result. What he is most proud of, however, is that his younger brother had learnt to sign at the age of three for Jimmy’s sake. According to Jimmy, “deafness is a hidden disability.” Because you can’t immediately discern a deaf from a hearing person, the initial moments of interaction always causes misjudgment and frustration.
What did the Mandela Memorial 'fake interpreter' Actually Say?
youtube.com, 13 December 2013
As one world leader after another paid homage to Nelson Mandela at a memorial service, the man standing at arm's length from them appeared to interpret their words in sign language. The closest the man's gestures came to anything in sign language at that point might possibly be the words for "running horse," ''friend" or "beyond," she said, but only by someone who signs terribly.
The incident, which outraged deaf people and sign-language interpreters watching the service broadcast around the globe, raised questions of about the state of sign language interpretation and our cultural understanding of deafness and disability across the globe.
Among those who noticed what was happening was Wilma Newhoudt, the first deaf person elected to South Africa's parliament and a vice president of the World Federation of the Deaf. "Shame on this male so called interpreter on the stage," she wrote on Twitter during the memorial service. "What is he signing? He knows that the deaf cannot vocally boo him off. Shame on him!"
Some takeaways we have from this incident are:
1. Deaf people around the world are in need of quality interpreters and standardization of qualification processes
2. It is so easy to pass off an act of helping the deaf as 'legitimate', because we still fail to consider if our actions actually address the deaf's needs. In this extreme case, the sign language interpreter continued signing gibberish for the entire duration of the eulogy, because the people attending the funeral (including influential world leaders and family of Mandela) had little to no knowledge of sign language.
3. After all this commotion, it's still all about the hearing people. As Slavoj Žižek has written for The Guardian: "And this brings us to the crux of the matter: Are sign language translators for the deaf really meant for those who cannot hear the spoken word? Are they not much more intended for us?" At the end of the day, we must remember who our beneficiaries are -- the deaf people of Singapore -- put themselves first, ourselves second, and treat them with respect as we are serving them.
A Loss for Words by a Lou Walker
Goodreads.com
Thousands of deaf people are socially excluded because of a lack of adequate services for sign language users, in healthcare access, television broadcasts, and in their workplaces, because there are limited interpreters and many television programmes are not subtitled.
This book nicely underscores the unique experiences a deaf person goes through, and answers some questions on a deaf person's way of life. For example, that prelingually deaf people have no interior monologue, but that some researchers theorize that deaf people's thought processes are like dreams.
He helps world hear the deaf
The Straits Times, 4 March 2013
Meet Zachary Tay, one of four full-time, sign-language interpreters in Singapore. He spends his time interpreting the spoken language to the deaf, in clinics, classrooms and even at National Day Rallies.
He says, "Sometimes, people lose patience easily because it takes time to communicate with the deaf. I hope society can be more inclusive towards the disabled, and I see myself as a tool in terms of interpreting for that purpose."
A more inclusive society can only be reached if its members believe and actively participate in redefining our attitudes towards the stigmatized.
Look out for our Sign Language Workshops so you can be an amateur 'interpreter' too! If not, there are other ways that you can get acquainted in the deaf community, such as by participating our penpal system in July, or volunteering at YouthBeats, SADeaf.
49 Famous and Historic Deaf (and Hearing) People
http://deafness.about.com/od/articlesandnewsletters/a/famousdeaf.htm
Behold, a list of the famous deaf people who ever lived. Clicking on each name will provide you with an in-depth article on the persona, and we hope this might inspire you to get involved in creating positive change for the Deaf community in Singapore.
Singapore Sign Language (SgSL)
http://sadeafyblog.wordpress.com/2014/01/07/jan14-sign-language-and-deaf-community/#more-23
Did you know? Singapore Sign Language (SgSL) is a mixture of sign language systems, namely Signing Exact English and Shanghainese Sign Language, and has a native speaking population of approximately 3000 people. The commonly used form uses spoken English word order with simplified or reduced grammar.
It is estimated that there are 137 living sign languages globally (Ethnologue, 13th edition), but the real number is much higher, with unofficial forms in auxiliary sign systems and manually coded languages. While some countries share similar sign languages, these similarities do not parallel that of spoken languages. People often find it surprising that British Sign Language differs greatly from American Sign Language (ASL), which is historically influenced by French Sign Language.
It is important to note in deaf studies, that use of the capitalized word 'Deaf' indicates membership of a Deaf community and use of an indigenous signed language as a primary language. The use of the lower case word ‘deaf’ on the other hand, refers to people who have a medically determined hearing loss, but may not use the sign language of their Deaf community.
