Hello friends! We are 7+ months into our travels of discovering deaf worlds and realize we are well overdue for an update. We are currently in Kolkata, India and originally planned to travel throughout this country for the next 6 weeks. However, there is currently a major protest happening in Northern India that may escalate with more potential violence. In the last nine days, over 15,000 protestors, many Gujjar tribe, have gathered to block railways in and out of Delhi and Jaipur. They are pressuring the government to reclassify them as members of the lowest caste so they can benefit from government quotas. Clashes with the 45,000+ police have already occurred and at least 43 people have been killed.
We planned to visit both Jaipur and Delhi within the next couple weeks but have decided to change our plans. Between the current political issues, and the nearly unbearable pre-monsoon heat, we instead will visit Nepal. After the dust settles, we plan to return to India in August and pick up where we left off.
In the meantime, we are spending much of our time in Kolkata at the Shuktara house, a residential care for boys and girls with disabilities who have no families. We are stunned by the stories of each of these children and have fallen in love with the family they have created amongst each other.
We will continue to post blogs when internet access is convenient. But a more reliable way to hear from us for the remainder of our trip is through our monthly newsletter that you can sign up for at: www.discoveringdeafworlds.com
For more news on the protest, visit http://www.boston.com/news/world/asia/articles/2008/05/30/2_lower_caste_protesters_killed_in_india/
Saturday, May 31, 2008
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
Not Your Typical Mainstream Environment
After seven months of travel through six different countries, today was the first time we observed an environment where balanced numbers of future interpreters and deaf students share the same classroom. At Ratchasuda College in Bangkok, Thailand, the goal is hearing/deaf integration. The philosophy of this program has been rooted in bi-lingual, bi-cultural education since the official acceptance of Thai Sign Language by the government in 1999.
Jitprapa Sri-oon, Dean of Curriculum for Deaf Education, explained to us the importance of deaf and hearing students working together, using Thai Sign Language as the main mode of communication, in an equal learning environment. With an integrated classroom, the goal is for interpreting students to develop sign language skills and exposure to deaf culture from their peers and deaf students to learn more about working in the hearing world after they graduate. The focus is on peer education and support to break down barriers between the hearing and the deaf world.
Does this system exist in your country? Should interpreting students and deaf students share the same classroom at the university level?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
