Being Deaf..

I asked the Deaf trainees at my work placements this: "what do you feel or think when you see 'Deaf'?"

This was the result:

Not fair
Unequal
Pity
Sad
Can't communicate
Mercy
Love
Community
Enjoyment

The negatives were by the girls and the positives were by the boys, one of which has a Deaf parents.

I wasn't so surprised at this, since the Filipinos' perspective on the Deaf is very low. Florita (OIC) told me that a lot of the Deaf go into work and leave because they get bored or they get kicked out because of their attitude. I strongly believe that they get bored because of the lack of communication. I also believe that they get kicked out possibly because they don't understand what they have to do. I may be wrong, but that's my perspective.

I asked why they felt like this, most of them said they felt like they were neglected by the hearing people, they were asked to do a lot of work while they do nothing, they feel like why can't they communicate 'normally' like the hearing people and they feel pity from them.

We, the volunteers, wrote the positive things of being Deaf, on the back of the whiteboard, such as language, culture, community, feeling proud and that we can do anything except hear.

They looked stunned at this and thought that they were wrong for writing the negatives things down. Joe explained that he had graduated from university, and that they can do the same. I explained that they can point or write things down for communication, and they have interpreters. We tried to make them realise that being Deaf isn't a bad thing and they should be proud. At the end of this session, they looked happier and I hope that they will feel this way forever.

Ciao!