September 2013 Volume 7, IsSue 1
Awash National Park, ETHIOPIA
www.discoveringdeafworlds.org
Board Members President Harold Mowl, Jr., Ph.D.
Opportunities in Our Hands Foundation
Vice President James DeCaro, Ph.D. Treasurer Bryan Hensel Secretary Stacey Miller Donalda Ammons, Ph.D. Carol-lee Aquiline Bernard Bragg Marty Hiller Khadijat Rashid, Ph.D. Michael Schwartz, Ph.D. Denise Thew, Ph.D. Madan Vasishta, Ph.D. Staff Executive Director Davin Searls International Programs Director and Co-Founder David Justice Newsletter Services T.S. Writing Services www.tswriting.com
About DDW
Discovering Deaf Worlds is a 501(c) (3) nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing the self-determination of signing Deaf communities through local capacity building in developing countries. DDW recognizes that all people, regardless of their social or economic background, possess the capacity to succeed, and deserve equal access to education, the workplace, and the benefits that society has to offer. For more information, visit www.discoveringdeafworlds.org.
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Leonel Lopez (right) meets with Siglo 21 members Victor Hugo (far left) and Giselle Ugalde Sanchez (left).
By Leonel Lopez Since receiving training from DDW representatives David Justice and Scot Atkins in Costa Rica last year, our Siglo 21 (21st Century) team continues to make progress. The team is comprised of seven people: two hearing educators teaching Deaf people, and five Deaf members of the Costa Rican National Association of Deaf (ANASCOR). During DDW’s visit, we came up with the idea to establish an organization to empower Deaf people and how to organize our work. Since DDW’s visit, it has not been easy to continue this work. Trying to find available meeting dates for Siglo 21 team members is difficult, given how members are balancing their responsibilities with work, studying, and family. Nevertheless, we meet each month, sometimes in our homes, and eat dinner together as we discuss the project, its mission, vision, and values, and how to ensure our objectives align with those of the Costa Rican Deaf community. After these meetings, we cre-
ate summaries of our discussions and email them to DDW. We always welcome feedback, and we also chat with David or Scot via Skype, especially for important questions about the project. We have developed a name for the organization we plan to establish: Opportunities in Our Hands Foundation. The goal of the foundation is to ensure that the Costa Rican Deaf community fully participates in new opportunities to investigate, train, inform, back up and defend Deaf people’s civil and human rights and to preserve LESCO, the Costa Rican sign language. We want Deaf Costa Ricans to have equal rights so that they can develop just like the general population. Now that we have defined our mission, vision, and values, we are raising funds to hire an attorney to assist us in registering with the government. This will then allow us to become an official non-profit. Once the Opportunities in OUr Hands Foundation has attained non-profit status, we can really get to work! More information is at www. discoveringdeafworlds.org. programs/costa-rica.
International Medical Health Organization builds alliances in Ethiopia
By Dr. Betsy Finigan The Ethiopian Deaf Youth Empowerment Program, sponsored by the International Medical Health Organization (IMHO), was a great success. A group of U.S. volunteers traveled to Ethiopia to work and learn about the current conditions, hopes and strengths of Ethiopian Deaf people. The volunteers shared their skills in education, crafts, community organizing, planning and sports. Twelve volunteers actively touched the lives of more than 200 deaf children and adults during the two-week program. We returned with profound respect for our Ethiopian colleagues and friends as well as a renewed conviction that working together, as partners, we can foster change. The IMHO program began three years ago after a chance encounter between IMHO medical volunteers and the students at Yekatit 23 (School #23) in Bahir Dar. Located in the Amhara Region of Ethiopia, Bahir Dar is known for extensive poverty and a lack of educational and health resources. The volunteers spent an afternoon at the school and felt a strong connection to the children there as well as great sadness about how Deaf people were educated and their living conditions. As a result, this program was established as an attempt to engage with Ethiopians who are Deaf or who teach Deaf students and work to improve the system. Volunteers this year included students, graduate students, and professionals in Deaf education, special education, speech and language pathology, planning and organizational development, community organing, ASL interpreting, cognitive neuroscience and medicine. Each volunteer paid a program fee and travel expenses. The program fee provided the funds to provide snacks and lunches during educational programs at the schools, a field trip for the students and travel expenses for four Ethiopian colleagues from Addis Ababa to join us in Bahir Dar. Our first day in Addis Ababa consisted of a community meeting sponsored by the Deaf Development and Information Association (DDIA). DDIA is a Deaf
community-based organization that works to provide adult education, informational services and advocacy for Deaf Ethiopians. The coffee celebration, community program and storytelling session they provided helped orient the volunteers to current conditions and experiences of Deaf Ethiopians, particularly their struggles of Deaf children and adults for education and recognition as full y participating society members. The next two days, the volunteers coordinated four half-day workshops at Addis Ababa University. With approximately 50 participants expected, we were delighted to see over 100 people on the first day. The workshops covered community organizing, goalsetting, teaching, interpreting, and Deafhood. Our university partners requested we return for additional sessions in the future, much to our delight. Boarding a bus the fourth morning for Bahir Dar, the group embarked on the central work of the trip: a weeklong day camp for Deaf children and young adults at Yekatit 23. The number of participants grew from 30 last year to 56 this year. The age range, educational experience and language capabilities were as varied as the participants. This provided huge challenges daily. We offered activity choices such as art, fiber craft, puzzles, games and sports, quiet reading and storytelling in sign language. Activities relied on Ethiopian Sign Language to teach. The highlight of the day camp was a field trip to Gondar, the old capital of Ethiopia, and home to some of the most important historical sites. After a tour of old castles, our busload of 80 folks went to the public school in Gondar, where classes for Deaf students were offered. The students were excited to meet other Deaf children and adults over lunch. We left with potential partnerships, and prepared for a long trip back to Addis Ababa. The last two days were spent in retreat at the Awash Falls Lodge within the National Park of Ethiopia. The retreat allowed us to discuss the program in depth, evaluate successes and identify challenges. We returned to the U.S. with a renewed sense of excitement and commitment. Plans are underway for an expanded volunteer trip next year. For further information, contact Greg T. Buie of the International Medical Health Organization Ethiopia Deaf Youth Empowerment Project at gtbuie@gmail. com or Dr. Betsy Finigan at finiganbetsy@gmail.com.
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Manila to Dumaguete to Bohol: Deaf leadership in the Philippines
By Davin Searls
I
n the non-profit world, when describing our ambitions and goals, we often use phrases like, “sustainability,” “community impact,” and “lasting change.” As the maxim goes, however, easier said than done. Our first federal grant from the U.S. Department of State, the EMPOWER Program has allowed DDW to pursue these goals with representatives from the Philippine Federation of the Deaf (PFD), an organization DDW has developed a close working relationship with over the past several years. As DDW newsletter readers know, 11 Filipino participants visited the U.S. for nearly a month last May, during which DDW provided organizational development consultation and
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Fifty-eight attendees from four cities traveled to Dumaguete City on July 6 to see Jesse Flores (standing far left), treasurer of Dumaguete Effata Association of the Deaf, Inc (DEAF, Inc.), present about the leaders she met, such as the National Association of the Deaf CEO Howard Rosenblum and DDW Vice President Dr. James DeCaro, who also serves as Director of the Center for Access Technology at the National Technical Institute for the Deaf. She and DEAF, Inc., officers are already planning another workshop later this year. Naty Natividad, founding board member of the Philippine National Association of Sign Language Interpreters, presented to over 40 teachers, administrators, and students of the De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde (DLS-CSB) about sign language education and research, and interpreter ethics and practices. Naty and PNASLI have begun developing a proposal for improving the standardization of the Philippine national interpreting system under the National Council on Disability Affairs.
September 2013
Mackie Calbay, founding member of the Philippine Federation of the Deaf – Youth Section (PFDYS) and Deaf Advocacy Program Coordinator at DLS-CSB, shared recommendations with 60 people on how to leverage the “pitchfork” strategy utilized by the Center for Disability Rights in Rochester, N.Y., for the Filipino Deaf community’s interests. For more information about this strategy, visit: http://goo.gl/ VVx0QC.
PFD President Rey A. Lee and Education Access for the Deaf Coordinator Raphael Domingo, at the Center for Education Access and Development of DLS-CSB, presented to 50 people from 11 organizations serving Luzon Province. They discussed the organizational development process, grant writing, and strategic planning, among other topics. Rey wrote to DDW saying, “We are happy that we gave a presentation, because the participants [already] want to have more workshops like this.” Filipino Deaf Women’s Health and Crisis Center Vice President Yvette Apurado-B., and PFD Secretary George Lintag, Secretary of the PFD, presented to over 50 attendees about domestic violence and disability law, respectively. When asked if another workshop would be hoested, George replied, “Yes. The participants want to learn more, [and] the young leaders are asking to be invited/recommended to participate in disability/Deaf-organized forums, trainings, workshops and seminars.”
arranged for over 50 workshops and presentations on a variety of capacity-building topics. One expectation of our participants was that, upon returning to the Philippines, they would conduct a presentation or workshop in their communities to share what they learned. DDW is immensely pleased that only three months later, the participants have already far exceeded these expectations, presenting to over 300 people in four regions of the Philippines. While some international development organizations are working to build schools, or invest in small businesses, DDW is working with local leaders to build skills and invest in people. DDW can take credit for facilitating the organizational development process, but in the end, it’s up to DDW’s partners to turn their skills into action. As shown in the photographs at left, this ambitious group is already making an impact by proactively hosting community workshops with the intention of improving rights, education and employment for the Filipino Deaf community. Please note the content of this article does not reflect the opinion of the U.S. Department of State, the United States, or its officers or employees.
Patrick Ablaza, former PFDYS Secretary, and Rowella Boglosa Tanjusay, former PFDYS executive board member, shared what they had learned about disability rights, social entrepreneurship, and organizational development. They are also planning additional presentations at Deaf schools around Manila. One participant shared her thoughts on their presentation, saying, “Deaf people severely lack accessibility [in the Philippines]. Hopefully things will improve with technology and with the lessons mentioned in the presentation that [Patrick and Rowella] shared about their experiences in the U.S. I truly hope that the older Deaf leaders can assist young Deaf people in becoming empowered leaders for the future.” September 2013
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5th National Deaf Women Empowerment Seminar By Angel Singha and Madan Vasishta, Ph.D.
The Women’s Wing of the National Association of the Deaf in India is very proud to announce the 5th National Deaf Women Empowerment Seminar on Dec. 4-5. This is a great opportunity for deaf women leaders to come together on a single platform and fine-tune their knowledge of the rules and policies relating to women and disabilities. Participants will work in groups to learn from each other. They will develop expertise in disability law and advocacy, as well as learn about draft bill for protection of women. This is a place where we welcome new leaders who look up to experienced leaders to be inspired, and in turn, share their fresh perspectives about various situations. There are only 250 professional interpreters to serve 18 million deaf people (of which 40% are women) in India. We often miss out on opportunities to gain knowledge about resources, especially if we do not read or write. In cases of rape and domestic violence, most deaf women do not seek help. Even our incident reports are not registered because the police refuse to try and understand what we say. We are often left alone. The seminar, expected to bring at least 250 attendees from most Indian states, will be facilitated by the National Association of the Deaf, with assistance from Erin Finton from the United States. Finton has Deaf parents and grew up in the Deaf community in Rochester, N.Y. Multilingual, she has lived in France, Spain, Morocco and South Africa. In December 2013, Finton will finish her graduate studies at the University of Toronto in adult education and community development, along with a collaborative program in international development education, where much of her course-
In India, there are
18 million deaf people and only
250
professional interpreters.
“The people are the only ones capable of transforming society.” - Rigoberta Menchu 6
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172 Deaf women from 16 different states attended the first National Deaf Women Empowerment Seminar in 2008. work focused on women. She has also done extensive research on women’s issues – particularly Deaf women – in the developing world. Additionally, she teaches English as a foreign language to newly arrived adult refugees at a non-profit refugee center. The seminar will focus on how-to-deal with situations such as sexual harassment at the workplace, troubled marriages, domestic violence and how Indian laws can help victims. We also will share
guidelines developed by the National Commission for Women in cases of violence against women, especially related to rape and sexual assault. These guidelines provide information about the roles of police, prosecutors, magistrates, medical professionals, social workers and the media. There will also be a session on building morale and confidence in attendees’ day-to-day lives. For more information, visit www.nadindia.org.in.
“It is not enough to be compassionate – you must act.” - The Dalai Lama
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Shout-Outs Jim and Pat DeCaro: You do so much for our community, from local to regional to national to global levels. It is an honor to have your support and we are humbled by your continued willingness to give. Thank you! Bob Pollard: We appreciate you going the extra mile to drum up support for DDW. Thank you for your kindness and all that you do.
Carl and Michelle Justice: Your ongoing generosity is deeply appreciated. Thanks for your monetary support, your “office” space, and your encouragement from day one. Sarah Wegley: From your blogs and networking to your donations and outreach, we are grateful to have your support again and again each year. Pura vida! Ken Mikos: Thank you once again for your continued generosity to DDW. This organization exists thanks to friends like you who believe in our mission. You are appreciated. Rob Troy: You continue to be one of our most generous supporters. Thanks for helping DDW when we need you most!
International Week of the Deaf This year’s International Week of the Deaf, Sept. 23-28, is themed Equality for Deaf People. If you’re in the U.S., please help achieve this equality by calling your senators and encouraging them to ratify the Convention on Rights of Persons with Disabilities. For more information, visit www.nad.org/news/2013/9/ nad-joins-celebration-international-week-deaf.