"We Share the Same Sky"- Wuhan Deaf Community

With only a 30-day visa in China, we were blessed to have visited so many cities. This meant several long, sun-up to sun-down days and overnight train rides, but worth every second to arrive and see how thrilled our hosts were to greet us. Our final chance to emerge in the deaf community was a three-day stop in Wuhan. With amazing hospitality, they showed us what China is really about…friendship, support, and encouragement. They succeeded in changing many negative perceptions of China often portrayed in the news.

At the No.1 and No.2 Deaf Schools of Wuhan, we witnessed brilliant art work and dance performances from students. Many of these students will move on to ChangChun University and become well known artists and dancers in the country, as well as throughout the world (the famous Dream Team Deaf Dance Group is from Beijing). These schools are where leaders start to grow their roots.

We were also welcomed by organization leaders to the Association for the Deaf of Wuhan and Hubei Province Disabled Persons Federation. They shared their visions for helping deaf people find jobs, recover from their hearing loss (getting hearing aides adjusted to your hearing loss and speech therapy), and advocate for deaf rights. Through these associations we were able to visit several worksites that hire hundreds of deaf employees, including the Titanium Dioxide Co., LTD and Wuhan Spaceflight Corrugated Pipe Co., LTD. Deaf employees are treated equal to hearing employees and encouraged to move up in the ladder through experience and training programs offered in sign language by the company. They also have a yearly disabled day where employees take the day off (with pay) to travel to another city.

We met a famous deaf 84-year-old artist, Mi Wen Mo, whose paintings are sold for up to 3,000 RMB. He welcomed us to his home for tea and shared stories of his lifetime, including how he became the first President of the Association for the Deaf of Wuhan.

We can’t thank this community enough for their warm welcome, guidance and hospitality. We were treated like royalty as visitors to their hometown. A special thank you to Zhang Peng and Jun Peng Li, who taught us that we do in fact, “share the same sky.”

Yang Cui, raising the bar in Changchun

In a country where people with any kind of disability (deaf, blind, physical, etc) are grouped together, often left out, and provided with minimal opportunities, there stands a proud deaf woman out to make change.

In China, deaf people are not allowed to drive. There are no interpreting services or interpreting schools, only translators who are often friends or family. Job and education opportunities are limited. For example, deaf university students can only choose their major from four options: painting, scroll calligraphy, animation/comics, or graphic design. (Blind students only have the option of massage and acupuncture).

This is not the wish of many deaf students, but this is what they are offered. The perception from the education system is that deaf people are visual and therefore should be limited to study visual arts. Yang Cui, a 23 year old student at Changchun University Special Education College, has a dream to make change. Her university is the first of it’s kind in China, beginning in 1987. Her dream is to help expand more options for deaf students, because when given the opportunities, deaf people can do anything.

Yang Cui recently received a community award as an up and coming deaf leader. She is a “go-to” person among her peers, and a communication facilitator within her university. We had the opportunity to spend five days with Yang Cui and witness the impact she is making as a leader of her school, her community, and her country. Next month Yang Cui will make her way to England for the PEN-International leadership conference with several other deaf leaders to come together and talk about current issues.

Keep doing what you do best Yang Cui. We are honored to have met you!

A Bump In The Road

On day two of our arrival to China, our video camera went kerplunk. After 4 ½ months of over use and abuse, bouncing around in a backpack through 5 different countries, it has gone to video heaven. Cannon HV10, you've been good to us until now....R.I.P.

So now we are in a jam. dam. The formatting system in China is different from U.S., so buying a new camera here is no easy option. And having one sent to us from home isn’t easy either...We have heard story after story of mail never arriving, or being tampered with, or just sitting in the post office for weeks because the postal workers were unable to read mailing addresses written in English, only Chinese characters.

DO-DO!? We have spent our first 3 days in China, talking with sketchy local electronics dealers, trying to find a solution. We've spent loads of time on SKYPE with with friends, family, and our sponsor Rowe Photo at midnight (b/c of the time difference) to get a new video camera. We are now trying our luck to find someone traveling from the US to China in the next 30 days before our visas expire to deliver a new video camera. Any volunteers?! (smiles)

In the next few weeks, we will be visiting deaf schools/organizations, connecting with the deaf community in Beijing, Changchun, Xi’an, Wuhan, etc. Unfortunately, filming may not be an option for this leg of our trip. But we will continue to document what we learn through our newsletter, pictures, blogs, etc.

Keep us in mind and send some wishful thinking that our tech problems will be solved soon.

Tsukuba University, Paving the Way for Higher Deaf Education in Japan

The Deaf community is fortunate to have Tsukuba University of Technology (TUT), a sister school to NTID through the PEN International Progra. It is the only higher education university for both deaf students and blind students in Japan. Classes for deaf students are taught or interepreted in JSL. Therefore they can focus on their education fully instead of splitting time advocating for interpreting services, notetakers or lipreading while studying. Students can chose to major in Engineering, Computers (IT), Electronics, Architecture, etc. The most fascinating statistic we learned from Dr. Mayumi Shirasawa in the Research and Support Center is that TUT has a 100% job placement percentage for graduates!

TUT is currently developing a Remote Sign Language Interpreting System to make more university level courses readily available to Deaf and Hard of Hearing students. We had an opportunity to view a demonstration of this technology and look forward to learning more about it's future availability. It is wonderful to know that this kind of techology is breaking through to help better the lives of deaf people all over.

We Need Your Help to Connect in China!

Yesterday was met with mixed emotions as we exchanged our Lonely Planet book from Japan to China. We have had such an amazing time and felt so well embraced in Japan, but also eager to move on. So off to Bejing, China we go!

Do you know anyone connected to the Deaf/Hard of Hearing community in China? Someone who works for a Deaf or mainstream school, organization, or business? Someone who can help us translate from English to written Chinese characters?

Please send us an email if you have any contacts, resources or input for us as we travel throughout China. We will be there from Feb 26thーMarch 26th.

info@discoveringdeafworlds.com

Hearing Japanese Woman, Bridges the Gap

With only six weeks to explore Japan, so many locals kept asking us “Why would you spend a week in Kochi of all places!?”

Kochi is a smaller non-touristy city off the beaten track from the ‘bright lights, big city’ atmosphere of Tokyo and Osaka. But it was the motivation, commitment, and unprecedented generousity of a woman named Koko that brought us there.

Koko, a hearing woman fantastically fluent in spoken/written Japanese and English, has always been an intermediary for those two worlds. Throughout her life, Koko has been sensitive and passionate about breaking down barriers of race, gender, and cultural diversity, yet has had minimal exposure to the deaf community (common for most hearing people). But when Koko heard about our project through a mutual friend, she decided to roll up her sleeves, get involved and fulfill a new curiosity.

Offering to be our personal coordinator and interpreter for the week, Koko arranged visits to the Kochi Deaf School, Kochi Deaf Association, and a meeting with an inspirational calligrapher named Shunsuke where local TV and newspaper reporters joined (see previous blog). She also earned permission for us to visit & interview deaf employees at a local hospital and hearing aid company…and even tapped into family connections to line up a short DDW presentation at the Kochi Rotary Club International!

In between visits, Koko and her equally dedicated mother Kihoko, began learning Japanese and American Sign Languages. We all learned incredible amounts about the educational opportunities and communication access for deaf people in Kochi. Watching Koko jump right in head-first to meet and learn about the Kochi deaf community shows she is bridging the gap, not only between Japanese and Western culture, but between deaf and hearing subcultures as well.

Through people like Koko, a ripple effect of awareness is created. She is now working on an article of her experience to submit to the local newspaper.


Photos:
Koko interpreting at Shunsuke's house
Kochi Rotary Club International with President Morimoto-san and our generous host Sugimoto-san
Kihoko & Koko sharing a traditional Japanese lunch