Yes, we are Deaf but we do have so much potential Have you heard about Gallaudet univeristy in the USA? well, guess what? There is another big university, but It is a huge program that shares the campus with Hearing students There is about 400-500 Deaf students here wow, that's a huge number! It is located right here in Tianjin, China! It focuses on educating Deaf community There are technical classes, such as computer science art, fashion and different technical classes for the Deaf community here So, what is the subject of this class? It is a woodcarving class? female: look at this yeah, woodcarving. Look at this one! so this is a Deaf school, right? All of you? female: yes, that's right. All of us are Deaf. There are so many of us, in different buildings too! They said that they don't know American Sign Langauge and I told them to not to worry about that, it's fine so how do we communicate? What's important is that you try to use a translation app you can translate from Chinese to English and you can also use gestures to communicate ah. so, this translation app says, "Waste tree, gets treasure." the translation to English is wrong but but I can assume that she's saying that some trees are cut down and cannot let it go to a waste so they bring it for woodcarving classes and they will make it useful by by making different beautiful wood sculptures I've always wanted to learn woodcarving! because it would be convenient to make or fix something myself at home are there no Deaf teachers? you know - Deaf [attempting to sign CSL] female: no, no. Only Hearing teachers. All of them are Hearing teachers, none of them are Deaf teachers. Stacey: there are really no Deaf teachers here? both females: no, none of them at all male: no, none at all. I will ask them if they hope to have Deaf teachers someday. do you wish - ah, um. Can you let me use your translation app? I'll have to use the translation app because our sign is very different. We can use gestures but it can be difficult to use it with limited gestures and to have a deeper conversation but let me just try gestures then - do you hope that there will be Deaf teachers in the future? female: mm, yes. I hope Deaf - how do you sign that in Chinese Sign Langauge? "Do you wish you have Deaf teachers?" I'm learning! Some of students say that there are no Deaf teachers but they hope that they will have some in the future On the phone, he was telling me that there are finished works of their wood sculptures and put it in display upstairs. People have been look at me because they obviously notice that I am not Chinese I obviously look very different and stand out here you can see people keep look at me one of the reasons is because I'm signing and a foreigner. There are even dorms for the Deaf students here! They are going to show us another classes for the Deaf such as painting class they said that the computer classes are private she says it is her favorite teacher who just walked by and he is also a very famous painter in China So, the Deaf students are learning by reading lips? female: yes, they are watching the lips female: we all sit here and watch the screen there ah, you watch everything on screen here? so if there is a video with someone speaking, are there subtitles available? where you can see and read the captions on screen? female: yes, there is. Stacey: so there are no interpreters? female: no, there are none. are there any funds from the government to provide interpreting services? female: there are only one teacher - they usually don't know CSL or know a little bit of CSL ah, I see. So there are teachers that know a little of CSL but they mostly write down everything on the board do you all wish that there is an interpreter? female: yes! yes! yes! they really would like to have teachers that know CSL or Deaf teachers to communicate with them directly which is more visually accessible for them on her phone, she said that China hasn't really focused on supporting the community, such as their rights and Deaf education. there is a little focus on them, not enough she also says that the Deaf culture here isn't strongly acknowledged or aware here oh, the majority of you talk? Many Deaf Chinese people here are Oral which means they speak and sometimes may or may not know CSL most of them are speaking and lip-reading she says that she feels that the future will be bright and better for them, in terms of accessibility female: yes!!! they are hopeful that there will be changes and they can do anything what's important is that the Deaf community stand together educate the society, advocate and spread awareness of their Deaf community here in China. Wow, I feel... very lucky. I've learned a lot here. They are still facing lack of inclusivity even though it's now the year of 2018. There are a lot of reasons such as culture, finance, and education about Deaf culture. The Hearing society really needs to be more aware how to support the Deaf communities around the world I was really fortunate to have interpreters growing up I was lucky to have some Hearing teachers who kinda know sign language although it's SEE language not ASL Some of the teachers know ASL I had different experiences with them. Do you see all of these works on display? they are all made by DEAF Chinese students. I am very proud. they are showing these that Deaf people CAN do it. We have abilities. we can do anything - designing, fashion, making jewelry, any designs, and even any computer tasks honestly, it's anything! unfortunately, we have to keep constantly proving the world despite being Deaf. We have ABILITIES. WE ARE INTELLIGENT. the problem is that the society that looks down upon us countless of times.... So many times that we have to work so much harder to fight for our rights. to make them see our abilities. Yes, we are Deaf, but WE CAN DO SO MANY THINGS. thank you.
