Singapore's deaf community hosts presentations to educate country

From the Government of Singapore:

Talks, demonstrations and performances by the deaf community are being hosted to raise awareness and appreciation of deaf culture among the hearing community.

Fringe activities include a book discussion using sign language and an exhibition on assistive hearing technologies.

In conjunction with the International Day of Persons with Disabilities, the Public Libraries held the first public Seminar on Deaf Culture at the Woodlands Regional Library Auditorium Dec. 6, in partnership with the Singapore Association for the Deaf (SADeaf).

This free seminar attracted the participation of both the deaf and hearing members of the community. The opening was officiated by NLB’s new Chairperson, Ms Yeoh Chee Yan, 2nd Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Education.

The event was organised to encourage social integration between the deaf and hearing communities, as well as to provide a good opportunity for them to interact, bond and learn from each other. The event also aimed to showcase the Public Libraries as common social learning places that everyone in the community, including the underserved, can visit and enjoy.

To raise awareness of the challenges faced by the deaf community, SADeaf also shared tips on communicating with the deaf with basic sign language. Special guests from the deaf community came for the event, including Mr Adrian Yap, winner of the Amazing Race Asia Season 2, who spoke about his experience as a deaf person and how reading had influenced his life.

Said Mr Adrian Yap, “Initiatives like this help to bridge the communication gap between the hearing and deaf communities, enhance social cohesion and create an all-inclusive society. I am happy to be able to speak at the seminar to share my experiences as a deaf person with the audience.”

A book discussion, in sign language, based on excerpts from fiction and non-fiction books on deafness was facilitated by Public Librarians and representatives from SADeaf who assisted in interpreting the sign language and facilitated the communication among the participants.

“Our Public Libraries provide shared community spaces for everyone, including the underserved, to come together to form social bonds and build relations through knowledge sharing. As part of their lifelong learning, we welcome all to make use of the wide range of collections available at the Public Libraries for their reading needs. We also hope that this seminar will increase the awareness and appreciation of the special needs of the deaf community,” said Dr N Varaprasad, Chief Executive, National Library Board.

“This collaboration with the Public Libraries was meaningful as it provided us with an opportunity to reach out to the hearing community, and educate them on what it means to be deaf, hence increasing their understanding of deaf culture,” said Mr Ando Yeo, Executive Director, SADeaf.

In conjunction with the seminar, an exhibition on assistive hearing technologies for the deaf will run at Woodlands Regional Library from now till 7 December. Exhibits include vibrating alarm clocks, telephone amplifiers, phone flashers and neck loops.