Month: November 2018

This is my story, let’s start

By Mostafa Kamal

I am a disabled activist and researcher born in Egypt, who lived through many barriers and deprivations that face disabled people in accessing basic services. At my segregated boarding school for blind students in Egypt, I gained many experiences of independence and how I could think of many creative solutions to overcome both the educational and social challenges that I faced during my educational life. The blind education system at that time had many problems, for example lack of tactile mapping or audio descriptions of the physical word. As a result of this we were not allowed to study geometry, shapes etc.

Despite this, I managed to reach and complete my undergraduate studies at an Egyptian university (English Department), where neither assistive technology nor personal assistant schemes were part of the higher education system. As a result, blind and physically impaired students faced various barriers, and deaf students were not even allowed to join higher education. This is not even to mention our difficulty of being included in university life at a social level. It’s also worth mentioning that I was denied access to join the media and communications department and the Arabic Music Institute due to my impairments, despite being qualified for both of these. This was especially frustrating as I played keyboard in bands in Egypt from the age of 18 (a story that I would love to share in another blog post).

Starting in 2004 I worked in the field of disability for over ten years, joining the National Council for Childhood and Motherhood – both policy making organisations. Through various scholarships I was accepted to travel widely to continue my academic career (MA and PhD in Disability Studies) and to take part in academic conferences, fellowships and disability activism over the globe. My MA was the first time for me to travel outside of Egypt, an interesting and challenging experience as a blind person that I will definitely share in future. In 2011 I lived through the events and consequences of the Egyptian revolution, where we, disabled people, fought for inclusion by participating in marches and demonstrations. Immediately after the revolution, I was engaged in the creation of many national discourses e.g the Egyptian Constitution of 2014 and new Egyptian disability law. In addition to these, being a member of many global alliances of the disability movement assisted me to become more involved with disability challenges at the global level.

This also showed me the large gap between the barriers faced by disabled people in the Global South and Global North. The aim of this blog is for disabled people from both continents to share and debate these differences in barriers.

This may help to structure a more unified global activism, merging different disability movements together and providing solutions towards more inclusivity and equality for disabled people. Although this blog is not purely academic, it will learn from the academic world, which I currently work in, and this may lead to further research and encourage scholars to consider disabling barriers across borders.

My story is indicative of many of the barriers that I have no doubt that other disabled people across the world, may have faced. The upcoming blog entries will contain a focus on each of these barriers, which will be enriched by your opinions and experiences.

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Meeting deaf leaders from Vietnam

By Elizabeth Lockwood Ph. D.

Recently Sian Tesni, Senior Education Advisor at CBM, and I had the fantastic opportunity to meet with deaf leaders in Vietnam. We met with dynamic leaders, Ling from Hanoi and Huong from Ho Chi Minh City. We were able to learn some history of the Deaf community and also the myriad barriers deaf and hard of hearing encounter in Vietnam. The following is a summary of what we learned, which is only a glimpse of this rich culture. We hope to work more with this community in the future.

The first deaf school in the country was established in 1886 in the South of Vietnam. At the end of the war in Vietnam in 1976, the first school for deaf children was established in the north in Haiphong City with the fist school for deaf children in Hanoi established the following year in 1977. These schools used sign language indeed sign language was used in schools for deaf children throughout Vietnam. In 1990 Dutch missionaries arrived in Vietnam and spread the oral method of educating deaf children, which spread throughout the country and consequently removing sign language as a primary source of communication.

In 2000 Professor James Woodward established a sign language program in Vietnam with the support of the Nippon Foundation. He was director of the project “Opening University Education to Deaf People in Viet Nam” at the Dong Nai Provincial Department of Education and Training. This program brought back sign language use in Vietnam and provided opportunities for empowerment for deaf leaders such as Lin. In 2001, Lin left the oral school where he was a student and instead attended Woodward’s sign language program. Since then, Lin has become a formidable leader in the Deaf community. Lin empowers other deaf leaders as well, such as Huong whom he met and to whom he taught sign language. Now she is another empowered deaf leader in Ho Chi Minh City.

Currently there are 100 schools for deaf children in the country and 27 deaf students have graduated with a college or university degree. There are currently three deaf teachers in Hanoi and two in Dan Nang.

Currently there are 100 schools for deaf children in Vietnam and 27 deaf students have graduated with a college or university degree. There are currently three deaf teachers in Hanoi and two in Dan Nang.

There are many barriers for deaf and hard of hearing people to have equal access into Vietnamese society. There is lack of access to information. In the entire country there are only 10 sign language interpreters, and all are unpaid, as the government does not provide these services or fund interpreters. In addition, as of yet, there is no formal sign language interpreting program and Vietnamese Sign Language is not recognized by the government. There are no interpreters or closed captions on television, no interpreters in universities, or for public services, including healthcare services.

Not having interpreters in medical settings leads to lack of access to important healthcare information. This can be a frightening situation to be in. One example given was that a deaf couple went to the doctor for a routine checkup since the woman was pregnant. The healthcare personnel thought she was there to get an abortion instead. Fortunately the couple realized this grave error in time and received the appropriate healthcare attention they wanted. 

In addition, deaf people are not permitted to get driver’s licenses, which creates another barrier and deprives and restricts access to essential services, employment and social opportunities. The World Federation of the Deaf (2016) indicates that deafness does not in any way limit a person’s ability to drive a car or other vehicles. Globally, there are no known reports that deaf drivers are a threat to other road users or that they are involved in more traffic accidents or injuries than the general population. On the contrary, according to studies, deaf drivers are involved in fewer car accidents than the average driver.

Keeping in line with the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, all persons with disabilities are guaranteed their full enjoyment of human rights without discrimination with the commitment to leave no one behind. This includes those furthest behind, such as deaf people in Vietnam.

References

World Federation of the Deaf. (2016). WFD Statement on Deaf People’s Right to Drive a Car or Other Vehicles. Accessed from: https://wfdeaf.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/WFD-statement-on-right-to-drive-a-car-or-other-vehicles-FINAL-31-Aug-2016.pdf

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