DLPC Deaf showcased PUNCHINELLO

My DLPC Deaf students at College of Saint Benilde - SDEAS

They are a joy and an inspiration!

...award from the Philippine Federation of the Deaf

Best Award I ever received....

Thank you very much Philippine Federation of the Deaf for the "Outstanding Service to the Deaf Community" award! I wish you a very happy 10th Anniversary! I wish I was there to be with my sincere and loyal Deaf friends!

"A volunteer of the Deaf encourages, supports, gives inspiration, fights oppressors of the Deaf, advocates for the upliftment of the human dignity of the Deaf around the world. A volunteer of the Deaf faces the challenges and difficulties boldly and courageously despite the criticisms, doubts and suspicion of detractors-- Deaf and hearing alike. A volunteer of the Deaf wishes, hopes and prays that someday more and more Deaf would savor the fruit of “a Deaf-enlightened, a Deaf-empowered, and above all a Deaf-dignified!” - Naty

Dark Ages of Deaf Education: Is there a glimmer of hope?

Dark Ages of Deaf Education: Is there a glimmer of hope?

Personal Testimony of a volunteer/interpreter for the Deaf in the Philippines

I vividly remember the events that had transpired between the Deaf High School students at SPED school for the Deaf and their teachers. It was a microcosm of that “Deaf Oppression” happening all around the world especially on Deaf education since time immemorial. If Gallaudet University had a “Deaf President Now” movement in 1989 which shook the “hearing world” with their deafening outcry of “THE DEAF CAN!” the Deaf in Iloilo made history, right here in their own backyard, at that point. I may call it the “Deaf Liberation Movement.” Their clamor was”free us from ignorance, free us from a world of not knowing.”

The Deaf in Iloilo City, had for many years had long-sufferingly accepting the “Bahala-na”- anything-goes kind of Deaf Educational system. And no one questions it because nobody really knew that the way things are, is not supposed to be the way it should be. Not the teachers, who are clueless on how to handle their Deaf students and on the fact that there are other emerging methods of Deaf Education. Not the Deaf, who would only resort to that attitude of “patience, accept.”

For a long time, they had been blind followers of this educational system, which was brought by a Peace Corps volunteer to SPED in the 1980’s. Up to now, this system is still adopted and insisted in the Deaf school in Iloilo, by the high school teachers even though it has already become obsolete in other parts of the world.

It was just a matter of time, when that dormant volcano would come out from its hibernation. And now it is inevitable, an eruption has happened, mounting and swelling up hot molten lavas of long-hidden anger, discontent, and frustration. It is unstoppable, it will reach its fiery wrath to those who would want to block its path, or cover its crater with boulders of insults and aggression. Make way, make way, here comes an empowered Deaf…ready to fight for their own battle--- to liberate themselves and reclaim their birthright, their identity as a Deaf people--- their own Sign Language.

Recently, there was a meeting of the High school teachers of the Deaf to which they are opting not to adopt use of Filipino Sign Language (FSL) in teaching their students. They scorn upon the idea of teaching using FSL because they have wrongly perceived it as just initialized signs of Filipino words i.e. nanay (mother), tatay (father), paaralan (school), which is not at all the case. How amazing that the teachers could be so arrogant about something on which they are ignorant about – in particular the arrogance towards FSL.

FSL is not at all inferior initialization of Filipino words. It is the visual language naturally arising within the Deaf Filipino community.

In a sign language workshop at Cebu City, the Deaf learned that FSL is a product of history of language contact between American Sign Language, natural signs from the Filipino Deaf community and Manually Coded English Systems. FSL is a symbol for the Deaf Filipino Identity. It is a source of pride for the Filipino Deaf Community. FSL is a result of advocacy through the leadership of the Philippine Federation of the Deaf. FSL represents a dream, ideal and goal for the future. National language policy and planning will be important in the next 5 to 10 years. FSL research is going on as of the present.

The teachers believed that the methodology of using SEE and Total Communication to the Deaf at SPED High School would improve their English writing skills. Could they identify who among their Deaf graduates, really have improved English writing skills? Has it worked amazingly that the hearing teachers are not open to new emerging methodologies, especially to the movement towards use of FSL as base language and English-as second language for Deaf students.

The real issue here is not about the methodology used, it is about the question on their passion for teaching and imparting knowledge to the deaf, if at all they have it! Are the teachers doing their homework? Are they actually teaching in its truest and noblest sense? If so, why are the Deaf complaining that they don’t understand their teachers? Why did one teacher teach Filipino language and not at all sign it when the student asked her to explain it. Why was another teacher fuming mad when her student asked her to repeat what she was signing because the student did not understand her?

It is not about “parroting” English or Filipino sentences that make no sense at all, but it is about successfully communicating ideas, concepts, and knowledge to the deaf in a language that they would understand. To share the joy of successfully putting across knowledge and see that glow in their eyes and that imaginary spark of “light bulbs” on top of their head. A friend once told me, there are no bad students, only bad teachers, because good teachers make bad students good.

In a subsequent feedback meeting with the high school Deaf students, it was seen through their “angry hands, flying and flipping in the air” how they hunger for knowledge and crave for information. And that definitely is not filled in by their teachers. For the lack of understanding that the deaf are different and their means of acquiring knowledge is totally different from the hearing students, that the education that they have acquired should not be compared to a 4^th grader Fast-Learner student. After all, it is not a level playing field and more so, it is not a fair game.

The rules, the referee, the criteria and the decisions are definitely in favor of the opponent. It is like in a game of basketball, where the star player of the hearing team is Kobe Bryant, the manager is Michael Jordan, the referee is let’s say Larry Bird (of course I’m making up the characters)…. and then the Deaf team is composed of some not-known amateur team who won in some “barangay” (small town) basketball tournament! Get the picture?

What the Deaf students wanted is that they would understand and be understood, that they be respected. Respect for their language, for their culture and most especially respect for their identity, their personhood. How can that be when one teacher wrote on the blackboard in his fits of anger…”Deaf culture, FUCK!” That is really one scary picture!

In fairness for the teachers, I understand how something new, can be something scary, especially when it would mean dragging them away from their comfort zones. And if at all they are doing what they could to “educate the deaf”, then probably it is in a way that what they think is right, unmindful of the fact that the Deaf has not learned at all. I know how they are feeling right now, probably in total disbelief and shock that these kids are trying to attack their system of teaching. They perceive their students as persona-non-grata, gossip-mongers and downright “bobo” (stupid)! Should they have been objective enough and see the issue rather than taking things too personal, it would not at all end up to this. Rather than having a “secret meeting” among themselves and deciding on banning Filipino Sign Language, they should have called their students and some third party for a dialogue and ask what was the real problem. But of course the students would have been cautious knowing that “complaining” about their teacher would just be fruitless since the teachers exude this air of authority!

Seeing the other side of the coin, sometimes I am tempted to give my sympathy votes for these teachers, because they are left powerless and without a guided direction in their aim to produce Deaf kids who could write perfect English, in their ultimate goal to have a good reputation as “educators of the Deaf,” no quality and sincere support from the government especially from Department of Education. I know it can be frustrating when no matter how good a teacher you are but when you’re not equipped with the skills and the training especially on how to approach a Deaf child, all your efforts would just go down the drain. But I just could not reconcile the fact, why such aggression towards FSL, when even their counterpart hearing teachers at the Deaf Elementary level are open to such changes.

Would these inevitable changes unravel some disgusting truth about the real pathetic state of high school Deaf education? Would we find out the incompetence, inconsistency, indifference and indolence of these teachers if ever the accusations of their Deaf students are true? What is really the true motive behind the arrogance?

If they choose to be stuck in their own time-warped prehistoric zone of Deaf Education, if they insist on banning Filipino Sign Language, if they would exact unjust vengeance on their Deaf students by their negative attitudes and their power over their students’ report cards, if they continue to oppress the Deaf with their insults and humiliation, they’d better do their research on Deaf History and read especially on the Milan Conference in 1880, and the Deaf President Now movement in 1981, should they not want to be etched forever in a bad light and be disgraced in the history that is happening now within the Deaf community. Is there hope? Would the dawning of the Golden Age ever rise at the shores of my country for the Deaf? I believe there is a glimmer if not a bursting radiance of hope, if each one of us should light that wick of the candle called enlightenment, if we all work together to keep that spark glowing even for just one Deaf at a time, by then they would no longer be in the darkness.

Disclaimer: This blog is a personal reaction and opinion of a volunteer for the Deaf. She is sharing her opinion and views from the conflict that happened between the Deaf students and their teachers on the issue of Deaf Education last March 2003. Such reaction therefore is on a personal level.

Deaf camp with UPV students

An unforgettable weekend of fun and learning...breaking the communication barriers and bridging the Deaf and Hearing through activities, workshops, games, and interaction. University of the Philippines in the Visayas, Psycholinguistic Class (Psych 145) sponsored the Deaf Camp, a 3-day interaction with the Deaf with workshop on Filipino Sign Language and orientation on the Deaf Culture. February 3-5, 2006, Sea Breeze Beach Resort, Barangay Guibongan, Miag-ao, Iloilo. 33 College students and 15 high school students participated in the said activity.

sharing the spirit of volunteerism and the joy of sign language

DAI started the year with a big bang! Last January 8, 2006 young and vibrant students from UP and WVSU came to interact and party with the Deaf. It was a potluck party and an open house as well. Shared snacks, fun and laughter as the Deaf prepared some games wherein both the Hearing and Deaf have participated. See all the fun and excitement in this link in imagestation.

the reunion...

Rare moments like this indeed are my most cherished! They are my closest friends Arlene, Anna Lizza from High School, and my Deaf friend Joseph! We shared wonderful times back in the glorious KAPPAL days. I now seldom see them. As for Dr. Anna Lizza she is currectly working in Manila. Joseph is studying Political Science in Samar. For Arlene, although she just lives like a 3-minute ride away, my graveyard shift hinders me from spending some quality time with her. But that day, in the afternoon of Dec.27th, we had the chance to spend this bonding time. It was as if, it was only yesterday. Updating ourselves with what's going on with our own lives, and what are our plans for the future. Although some of the KAPPAL gang was not there, we still enjoyed the moment... just a lot of laughs, of chikahan, and kainan! Enjoyed the ride aboard Anna's yellow cab, feasted on oysters, shrimp, and fish at Orly's Talabahan in Villa, went malling at SM city. I just missed this circle of friends...I am most grateful for their listening ears/eyes that I was able to vent out all my heartaches and gripes. I could only wish that this would ever happen again..if not in the soonest time, then at least once every year! Thank God for friends!!!

The KAPPAL Manifesto.

People who share the same passion for Deaf Volunteerism are the guys and gals of K.A.P.P.A.L. an acronym for "Kabalikat, Alalay, Puno ng Pasensiya, At Lab" ... that says it all for what we had experienced, endured and triumphed in our LOVE AFFAIR with the DEAF.We are their 'shoulders to lean on ' (kabalikat), we offer our help (alalay), we learned to have lots of patience (puno ng pasensya) in learning their language and understanding the Deaf, their individuality and their culture, and we are full of "LAB"...which can mean a lot of things.. like 'LOVE' ...we have learned to love everything about the DEAF (that we can be mistaken as one...every time we go out with them and pretended to be DEAF) "LAB" ...can also mean "Labutaw" an Ilonggo dialect which has a myriad of meanings such as being a joker or funny, being mischievous or naughty, among others... Indeed in our constant interaction with the deaf, we had appreciated the simple joys (and not to forget the corny jokes, and pranks ) that we shared and did to each other. "LAB"...can also mean "Lab-as" a colloquial which means fresh. We become youthful, innovative, and creative in our dealings with the deaf. We never run out of new and fresh ideas so as to make ends meet. To sum it up....KAPPAL...which in itself literally means "thick-faced" ....takes a whole new meaning...For us it means being gutsy, confident, brave, being able to forget ourselves and go beyond the limits of what we thought we could not do, all in the name of LOVE for the DEAF... That is what we had all undergone at one point in our lives being with the DEAF. And that experience is what we will treasure as long as we live...Who are the KAPPAL? Taba (our 'manong' wherever he may be), Tin Tin, (our energetic sole Paulinian survivor) Naty, Anna Lizza, and Arlene (the pioneer Hijas trio), Alan, Leda, Matoy (the import from WVSU), Mary Ann (ang loyal nga recruit ni Alan), Joma and Peter (gin-pirate ni Leda sa Special Camp). The KAPPAL family is growing bigger. We welcome them in the wonderful world of KAPPAL-hood, a combination of selfless, humbling, and exhilarating experience. It is a world of great sacrifices, of dying to one's self, of testing your patience to the extreme. But also it is a world of unspeakable joy, of inner fulfillment, of discovering your relevance in this world. We welcome into our world, June Ann (the very talented, generous and full of initiative volunteer from Antique), Sherwin (our very witty import from UPV, who has a knack for words and a good ambassador for the Deaf), Gael Le Cornec (the very industrious and enthusiastic volunteer all the way from France, just proves Kappal-hood is universal!), Misaki Toyota (the cheerful AMA volunteer from Japan), Itza Sanchez Aleman (the funny and energetic AMA import from Mexico) and many are following suit. Once a KAPPAL, always a KAPPAL, in heart, in mind and in spirit. Once you give, once you love, once you've become one with the Deaf, there is no turning back. There is only one way and that is "salumay"… a colloquial which literally means "to dive,"... to give without expecting in return, to finish what you've started, to fulfill a thing you promised to deliver. We, the KAPPAL, never expect anything in return, we have God as our "boss" and His graces are abundant. He has His rewards for us piled up in heaven. And the love, the laughter, the warmth and the acceptance of the Deaf are rewards in itself. To see them grow, mature, and become enriched, fulfilled, and empowered individuals is more than any compensation that this world could offer. To know that I have made a difference in this world to one Deaf at a time, to have become an instrument in making this world a little bit better for them to live in, is to have lived this KAPPAL life to the full. I am a KAPPAL volunteer to the Deaf….and this is my manifesto! Take a glimpse of my Journey with the Deaf.

Close encounters with the Deaf kind!

It was a day full of adrenaline rush, at least for me and I guess for everybody else. A lecture on Deaf Culture and Filipino Sign Language workshop was held last December 3, 2005, Saturday at UPV AVR. At 8 a.m. right after my work from the call center Friday night shift, I met with 5 other Deaf facilitators and then we proceeded to UP and meet my friend, Sanley (classmate from Elementary), now a professor at UP Miag-ao campus. He was able to help me facilitate this event together with Ma'am Nice Landoy, teacher in Psycholinguistics. All in all there were 33 participants, UPV students with courses ranging from Psychology, Broadcast Communication and 2 other from West Visayas State University, majoring in SPED. It was one experience the participants could not forget. They were utterly amazed by the wacky and very confident Deaf facilitators namely Angel, Mary Jane, Christian Phyllis, George, Kristel Mar and Jonaden. Dotty, guidance counselor for the Deaf at SPED school and a hard of hearing herself gave a testimonial and shared her touching experience of what it is like being Deaf and being oppressed. We had small group sign language sessions, sign and acting presentation, games, lecture about the Deaf culture, Filipino Sign Language and a Basic Sign Language Class. At the end of the day, everybody were all smiles...as they learned a lot and are now aware about the Deaf. We hope that in their own little way they will become advocates themselves for the Deaf. See pictures of the Deaf in Action. Click the link Deaf meets the Iskolars ng Bayan.

Reunited with the Deaf

It's been 13 years since the day I began my on and off love-affair with the Deaf. My perception and impression of the Deaf has drastically changed over time as I met and truly admired Deaf people from all over the country, or around the world (to at least those places I had the chance to go to.) Now, whenever I meet a Deaf person, I see beyond the "broken" ears, the obscure voices that they make, the flipping and flying of their hands in mid-air, the exaggerated pouts and expressions of their faces. I see a wonderful and unique person who just happens to be Deaf, who uses a more interesting language, a person who has a special way of communicating their thoughts and of how they perceive things in the world we live in. Proudly, I can say now that I am "mind-Deaf". Although my ears can hear sound and music perfectly well, I have the sensitivity and heart for the Deaf. Not that I pretend to be audiologically-challenged, but it is more of immersing into their culture and the language that uniquely belongs to the Deaf community. But then truly being able to say I belong to the Deaf-World is a miniscule of the whole macrocosm on the complexities and hazards of being "Deaf." Not to undermine also, that I am not able to share that feeling, what it is like to be left behind from the deluge of information, to be left out from a conversation, to be teased, to be insulted, to be hurt, to be oppressed. Alas... I can only empathize...but not truly belong.

Last November 19-21, I was fortunate to once again meet Deaf friends from the Philippine Federation of the Deaf and other Deaf organizations from different parts of the country. I was invited to join the seminar in Manila. I was with Angel Laygan, (President) Frederick (B.O.D. member.) as delegates from the Deaf Association of Iloilo. I am currently adviser of the said organization. It was just another overwhelming experience for me, as if I have found again a long-lost love.... my advocacy for the Deaf!