DEAF KIDS THRILLED WHEN THEY SAW US SIGNING
AS a Malaysian, I am proud to say that most Malaysians are bilingual. Wherever you go, you can hear that everyone can converse in more than one language.
Unfortunately, it is sad to admit that not many know how to communicate with a deaf person. This is because everyone forgets or do not know that sign language is also considered a language, but it uses non-verbal cues.
Everyone should acknowledge
that learning sign language is important as learning other languages. This is to ensure that the deaf community do not feel excluded.
Speaking from my experience handling and interacting with deaf children, it was a wholesome experience that everyone should experience once in their lifetime. This was during the “Rocks 2.0: Deaf Awareness Rallies Everyone” event held by the public speaking club of Universiti Teknologi Mara in Shah Alam.
Before the big day, we were required to attend sign language classes, which was to make it easy to mix with the children in their “native” language.
To be honest, everyone struggled to learn sign language, but during the event, seeing the children’s face light up when they saw us using their language was worth it.
Language does bond everyone.
However, it would be helpful if the Education Ministry added a new module in the system, which gives students the choice to take sign language as their third language besides Mandarin and other languages.
This includes hiring a translator or a professional interpreter as the educator and providing the suitable teaching methods so that students who are not deaf can understand what it feels like to be deaf.