Violence against the Deaf happens frequently. Aiming to provide a safe environment for empowerment and exploration of personal strengths against sexual abuse, 47 Deaf students of La Salle University School for the Deaf attended the 3-day Child Sexual Abuse Prevention for the Deaf (CSAP), June 22-24, 2011.
A team from the Gualandi Volunteer Service Program (GVSP) from Cebu City composed of John Paul Maunes, Ioulene Intano, Ysrael Diloy, Denven Verano, and Marlou Agbay came to LSU to facilitate the 3-day seminar.
All the deaf students were grouped together: the elementary deaf students as 1 group while the high school and college deaf students as another group. The sessions covered the following: Rapport building with participants; Differentiating Adults with Children; Children’s Rights; Film showing “A Good Boy”; What is Child Sexual Abuse? ; Kinds of touches (focus on teaching what confusing touch is); The 4 touching rules; Film showing “Daughter”; Reiterating the Touching Rules; How to say No assertively, and Where to report .
“For the first time we were able to reach beyond Cebu and conquered Ozamiz City through the invitation of La Salle University school for the Deaf. It was really inspiring to see the eyes of Deaf children as they discover experiences and ways on how to prevent themselves from sexual abuse and violence. After the 3-day session with them, they walk out from their classroom as better persons bringing with them the knowledge and the skills to protect themselves and their fellow Deaf”, Maunes said.
In relation to the activity, all the Deaf students are learning year round Karate through the help of the Shidukan karate group of LSU for self defense and protection.
Also, a seminar on Deaf Culture Awareness and Understanding the Basic Structure of Filipino Sign Language was conducted by Maunes last June 24. It was attended by 13 parents of Deaf students, 3 teachers from the public school, and 56 SPED major students of LSU.
