Deaf Christmas Get Together 2011 held

Deaf Students with their parents

LSU School for the Deaf family

Post Secondary Deaf students

High School Deaf students

Elementary Deaf students

Post Secondary Deaf students leading the invocation

The Deaf students of La Salle University School for the Deaf conducted its Christmas Get Together December 15, 2011 at the School for the Deaf of LSU. All the Deaf students together with their family members were in attendance.
A Deaf way Program and presentations were facilitated. Different presentations were exhibited like dance presentations, Deaf poetry presentations like Name Story, ABC story, and Number story showed by the different deaf groups from elementary, high school, and college.
The foods brought by the students were shared by everybody. Also, the yearly gathering was planned and organized by the Deaf students themselves.
The day was filled with joy, fun and laughter as each Deaf received their Christmas gift.

Curricula for Sign Language as a Mother Tongue and Written Language as a Second language for the Deaf - PDF file

http://www.deafvoc2.eu/deafvoc1/pages/products/Curricula%20and%20Teachers%20Guide%20in%20Czech,%20English,%20Finnish,%20German%20and%20Greek/English/Contents.pdf

Every child is special

It's only been three times I have spent time with them but my eyes were opened and my heart sank along with realizations that I could actually interact with them. I was speechless, awed by the work of their hands, their quick expression of their thoughts and how the sounds that would come out of their mouth speak more clearly of their excitement and enthusiasm to learn. God, You are so amazing!
At the back of my head, I thought to myself how blind most of us are that we may have a keen sense of hearing and yet we missed the important things we should remember, we find it difficult to use those ears to listen, we have grown accustomed to the nuisance in the world that we can no longer distinguish music from noise.
They are quick and smart and in a short span of time of being with them, I have felt so confident that they are just gonna be fine. In fact, many of them would be able to change the world, starting in their own homes, in their own communities.
They know how to listen, truly listen.
They pay respect and thus, they have gained my high respect to each one of them
Their smiles and laughters could ease all the worries of this world.
Thank You Lord for creating such people.
They are wonderful.... amazing.....
Their being makes me stand in awe of You.
Thank you for teaching me how to say 'Good afternoon'
Thank you for teaching me how to respond to your 'Thank you's' with "Welcome"
By: Tessally Villanea

3rd Deaf Week 2011 observed in LSU School for the Deaf

The School for the Deaf of La Salle University observed its 3rd Deaf Week November 13-19, 2011 with the theme "Educate, Enrich, Empower."
The annual celebration was opened with a Holy Signed Mass at Immaculate Conception Cathedral with the community. Deaf students, teachers, and interpreters were in attendance.
Activities performed among the Deaf were the opening program, poster making and hand painting contests, sign language instruction, Lecture on Deaf Awareness to College of Education students, Deaf Got Talent 2011, and the Culmination program.
The highlight of the week-long celebration was the instruction of Basic Sign Language to the hearing students of BMSLS, Integrated School (IS), and college. Selected Deaf students together with their teachers taught basic sign language.
In celebrating this year’s 3rd Deaf Week, LSU School for the Deaf not only pays tribute to countless individuals who, despite their hearing and other impairments, but also endeavor to have access to education for the Deaf community.
The LSU School for the Deaf has urged everyone to support every effort to bring Deaf students into the mainstream, where they too have a rightful place, and help them gain access to opportunities to become productive members of the community.

Terms acceptable and NOT acceptable to the Deaf community

The following terms are NOT ACCEPTABLE to the Deaf community:

1. Deaf - and – Dumb
* The Deaf may not be able to hear, but it does not mean that they are stupid or retarded.
2. Deaf – Mute
* Some of them voiced, and voiced well. But they decide when and with whom they want to voice. Because they cannot hear how loud/soft, how high/low their voice is, sometimes they are ridiculed and they feel terrible. Would you want to be laughed at? Neither the Deaf.
3. Amang
* Visayan version of mute. Not true.
4. Hearing – Impaired
* Why focus on the negative? This term was popular in the 70s and 80s, but now it is just used mostly by doctors, audiologists and other people who are mainly interested in our ears "not working".

The following terms are ACCEPTABLE to the Deaf:

1. deaf
* This is OK, if talking in general about people with hearing loss.
2. Hard - of - Hearing
* Some of the Deaf can use the telephone, and hear quite a bit. Hard-of-hearing people live in both the hearing world and Deaf world - they have an identity of our own.
3. Deaf
* YES! The big D distinguishes the Deaf as a group of people with their own unique language and culture. They have their own identity, and they would like to be respected as such. Many people all over the world call themselves Deaf.

1ST International Deaf Day 2011 held

The School for the Deaf of La Salle University Ozamiz spearheaded the 1st International Deaf Day 2011 local celebration, September 24, 2011 at the OSROX Park, Ozamiz City.
This year’s theme “You are Right, We have RIGHTS” was attended by 36 Deaf and hearing participants composed of 22 Deaf students from LSU School for the Deaf; 2 Deaf students from Ozamiz City Central School SPED Center, 4 Deaf visitors from Oroquieta City, and 1 from Iligan City. The event was also graced by 4 parents; 2 teachers; and 2 volunteers.
Program and different presentations like dance, ABC, number, and name stories were presented by selected Deaf students. Various parlor games were also facilitated.
The Deaf way activity was planned and organized by the officers and members of the newly created Misamis Occidental Association for the Deaf (MOAD) headed by the president, Mary Jhoy D. Tabuco (Deaf)with the full support of the teachers of LSU School for the Deaf.
It was also celebrated by the different schools for the Deaf in the Philippines.

The right of the deaf to their language

Department of Education officials recently announced in a forum that hearing-impaired children will continue to be taught using Signing Exact English (SEE) instead of Filipino Sign Language (FSL). They also said that the existing DepEd policy calls for “using the oral method from preparatory to Grade 2 and total communication from Grades 3 to 6 using English and Filipino Language,” and that “SEE shall be used in all subjects taught in English.”
SEE and other manually coded systems of English are visual representations of spoken English. Natural visual languages like FSL have their own unique syntax and use non-manual signals (of the face and body) in place of many grammatical features of spoken and written languages.
The DepEd announcement triggered outrage from the deaf community and its stakeholders and resulted in position papers from the Philippine Federation of the Deaf, Philippine Deaf Resource Center, Philippine Coalition on the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, De La Salle-College of St. Benilde: School of Deaf Education and Applied Deaf Studies and Center for Education Access and Development, University of the Philippines College of Education, Special Education Area, Anthropology Department and UP Layap, and the 170+ Talaytayan MLE Inc.
To resolve the controversy, Alliance for Concerned Teachers Rep. Antonio Tinio organized a dialogue last Sept. 12 between the DepEd and the Filipino deaf community and its stakeholders. In that dialogue, Rep. Magtanggol T. Gunigundo, author of House Bill No. 162 (An Act Establishing a Multi-lingual Education and Literacy Program), read a statement of support for FSL. He pointed out that Department of Education Order No. 74, series of 2009, clearly states that the child’s first language should be the medium of instruction in the early years. In the case of deaf children, this should be FSL and not English, or SEE.
The Philippine Federation of the Deaf invoked the rights to education, language, linguistic identity and deaf culture as stated in Art. 24 and 30 of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD). It “calls on the State, through the Department of Education, to immediately, effectively and fully: halt the violation of the rights to language, culture, participation and self-determination of deaf Filipinos; and institute, facilitate and promote all appropriate measures to guarantee the full enjoyment of these rights.”
The Philippine Deaf Resource Center likewise called on the state to recognize the existence of Filipino Sign Language as a true and legitimate visual language, citing research on its structure, socio-linguistics, and applications. It also called for the declaration of FSL as the national sign language in fulfillment of international commitments (i.e., Salamanca Statement, UNCRPD) consistent with Art. 5 of the 1997 SPED Policies and Guidelines.
Education Secretary Armin Luistro responded by saying that priority should be given to action-oriented measures such as mapping resources at the regional and division levels, and crafting inclusive programs, parallel to that of other disadvantaged sectors. He directed the formation of a small group of deaf and hearing experts to coordinate with his office regarding the above.
It was evident from the dialogue that the DepEd needs to situate its understanding of communication and language in the context of empirical research and not on its own definitions and operationalization of total communication, and the bilingual goal for the deaf.
The following notions are also highly questionable: that the sign language for training and certifying teachers is “formal” sign language; that the only way to standardize sign language is to certify teachers; and that FSL is a language that I created.
In this regard, SPED has to re-craft its programs consistent with local policy and international commitments. To many deaf education stakeholders, SPED officials as well as the academic teaching institutions which have granted them their advanced degrees are seriously disconnected from research and information and from the progressive reality that education is a basic human right and a fundamental development goal. They need to be able to overcome their inability, or perhaps unwillingness, to recognize that the deaf children they once taught are now educated, experienced adults who are speaking their mind and asserting their right to self-determination. Rank, advanced degrees and the ability to hear cannot supplant the legitimate human experience of the deaf community.
The SPED experience in formal education contrasts with that of the Bureau of Alternative Learning Systems (BALS) which has actively initiated training in learning Filipino Sign Language. Last year in February, Director Carolina Guerrero requested the Philippine Federation of the Deaf to hold an FSL Training for Mobile Teachers for 80 teachers from the various regions. The BALS teachers are already using FSL including areas in Mindanao such as Basilan.
The receptiveness and resolute action of BALS for its teachers to become fluent FSL signers is because of an unencumbered view on the ground of the realities of literacy and survival for many isolated, poor and rural deaf children, youth and adults. (To be concluded)
Dr. Liza Martinez is one of only two hearing sign linguists trained at the renowned deaf institution, Gallaudet University (Washington, D.C.). She is the founder and director of the Philippine Deaf Resource Center.
By: Liza B. Martinez
Philippine Daily Inquirer
http://opinion.inquirer.net/12233/the-right-of-the-deaf-to-their-language