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Fulbright scholar with profound hearing loss will study deaf education in Nepal | greatfallstribune.com | Great Falls Tribune
A tradition of viewing deafness as a divine punishment is giving way in Nepal to greater acceptance.
"They're beginning to really work with special education and education in general so it's a great time to do research," said Bethany Hundley, who departs Great Falls the first week of September for 10 months in Nepal.
Hundley, who recently earned a master's degree from Idaho State University, has been awarded a Fulbright scholarship to study deaf education in the Asian country of almost 29 million people.
One of more than 1,500 Americans who will travel abroad this year through the federal Fulbright U.S. Student Program, Hundley is the daughter of Elaine, a Christian education director, and the Rev. Stephen Hundley, minister at First Presbyterian Church on Central Avenue.
Hundley said she looks forward to seeing methods of instruction in Nepal's deaf schools.
As she looked through the 155 countries where Fulbright scholars operate, Hundley felt compelled to go to South and Central Asia. She looked at Laos and Sri Lanka but was able to connect only with an affiliate in Nepal.
The Fulbright application took about 90 hours, and Hundley got a late start, only learning about the program a few weeks before the application was due.
Hundley has been studying Nepalese Sign Language but hasn't found many good resources besides some videos online. However, the language has many similarities with American Sign Language.
About 20 miles east of Katmandu, Hundley will work in the Kavre Deaf School in Banepa and live with a local family. She hopes to take in as many other deaf schools in the country as possible.
During the final four months of her stay, Hundley plans to learn from the Rotary-supported PurwanchalDeaf School in Dharan. She hopes to see how a community near the Tibetan border with an unusually high rate of deafness has developed a complex signing system in response.
She's been told to expect the unexpected.
"You don't know what's going to happen and it may morph into something completely different," she said.
One problem deaf Nepali students face is that at home and in their communities they develop particular signs to communicate. Then at school they learn Nepalese sign language, losing their home signs. Parents don't know the new signs and often can't communicate with writing because more than half the population is illiterate.
"I'd like to see if there's a way to bridge that gap, for students to teach parents signs or, better yet, to read and write."
Many of the deaf Nepali now end up in Katmandu and lose touch with home.
Only recently has the Nepali government begun requiring deaf schools, though the government isn't necessarily paying for them. Hundley will work with the Rose International Fund for Children, which has been helping Nepali children with disabilities.
"The Rose Fund is trying to change the idea from 'disabled' to 'differently abled,' " Hundley said. "They're focusing on how deaf people can contribute to society. For so long they've been on the fringes so it's going to take time to get them back in."
According to the Rose Fund, nearly a quarter of the population is deaf or hearing impaired and most have no access to education, no training in sign language and even those in deaf schools might be without a proper curriculum.
Hundley's research may serve as a starting point for others' work, provide help for deaf students and their families and aid her own teaching when she returns to the United States.
"I hope it helps somebody, but it's probably arrogant to think it would," she said. "I hope to help even just one family learning Nepalese Sign Language so their child can stay with them, to touch a life somewhere down the road."
Hundley hopes to see much of the country and get to know its people.
She met many Nepalis who studied at ISU. The ISU exchange students told her to expect people to be warm, friendly and eager to practice English.
The Nepali workweek runs Sunday through Friday with Saturday as the weekend, so that will be an adjustment, as will the frequent labor strikes, daily power outages and water purification, she said.
The food is good, she said, with lots of vegetables, rice and lentils. No beef, though, as cows are revered in the mostly Hindu country.
"I'll either come back wanting beef or be a vegetarian," she said.
Hundley failed her kindergarten hearing test and began learning in a deaf school in fifth grade, where it was "sink or swim" sign-language only, much the way Nepal will be.
"I hope once I'm in the schools I will learn by immersion," she said.
The oral language will be more difficult, though, especially because she lip reads English and it's considered disrespectful to make eye contact. Hundley plans to hire an interpreter and to explain her cultural faux pas to those she meets.
Since Hundley applied to be a Fulbright scholar, she's lost more of her hearing. She hears high frequencies and generally catches the sound of consonants. She can tell someone is talking but not what they're saying. Now about 85 percent deaf with progressive hearing loss, Hundley reads lips and is fluent in American Sign Language.
"I have a lot of good tools in my belt so I'll be fine," she said.
And then there's the "deaf nod," the nod suggesting a comprehension she doesn't always have.
On the other hand, on mission trips to Mexico, Hundley found she was better able to communicate than some people with rudimentary Spanish since she's a master at facial expressions and many signs look like what they represent.
"One thing I love about the deaf community is the animation," she said. "I get animated around them, too."
A tradition of viewing deafness as a divine punishment is giving way in Nepal to greater acceptance.
"They're beginning to really work with special education and education in general so it's a great time to do research," said Bethany Hundley, who departs Great Falls the first week of September for 10 months in Nepal.
Hundley, who recently earned a master's degree from Idaho State University, has been awarded a Fulbright scholarship to study deaf education in the Asian country of almost 29 million people.
One of more than 1,500 Americans who will travel abroad this year through the federal Fulbright U.S. Student Program, Hundley is the daughter of Elaine, a Christian education director, and the Rev. Stephen Hundley, minister at First Presbyterian Church on Central Avenue.
Hundley said she looks forward to seeing methods of instruction in Nepal's deaf schools.
As she looked through the 155 countries where Fulbright scholars operate, Hundley felt compelled to go to South and Central Asia. She looked at Laos and Sri Lanka but was able to connect only with an affiliate in Nepal.
The Fulbright application took about 90 hours, and Hundley got a late start, only learning about the program a few weeks before the application was due.
Hundley has been studying Nepalese Sign Language but hasn't found many good resources besides some videos online. However, the language has many similarities with American Sign Language.
About 20 miles east of Katmandu, Hundley will work in the Kavre Deaf School in Banepa and live with a local family. She hopes to take in as many other deaf schools in the country as possible.
During the final four months of her stay, Hundley plans to learn from the Rotary-supported PurwanchalDeaf School in Dharan. She hopes to see how a community near the Tibetan border with an unusually high rate of deafness has developed a complex signing system in response.
She's been told to expect the unexpected.
"You don't know what's going to happen and it may morph into something completely different," she said.
One problem deaf Nepali students face is that at home and in their communities they develop particular signs to communicate. Then at school they learn Nepalese sign language, losing their home signs. Parents don't know the new signs and often can't communicate with writing because more than half the population is illiterate.
"I'd like to see if there's a way to bridge that gap, for students to teach parents signs or, better yet, to read and write."
Many of the deaf Nepali now end up in Katmandu and lose touch with home.
Only recently has the Nepali government begun requiring deaf schools, though the government isn't necessarily paying for them. Hundley will work with the Rose International Fund for Children, which has been helping Nepali children with disabilities.
"The Rose Fund is trying to change the idea from 'disabled' to 'differently abled,' " Hundley said. "They're focusing on how deaf people can contribute to society. For so long they've been on the fringes so it's going to take time to get them back in."
According to the Rose Fund, nearly a quarter of the population is deaf or hearing impaired and most have no access to education, no training in sign language and even those in deaf schools might be without a proper curriculum.
Hundley's research may serve as a starting point for others' work, provide help for deaf students and their families and aid her own teaching when she returns to the United States.
"I hope it helps somebody, but it's probably arrogant to think it would," she said. "I hope to help even just one family learning Nepalese Sign Language so their child can stay with them, to touch a life somewhere down the road."
Hundley hopes to see much of the country and get to know its people.
She met many Nepalis who studied at ISU. The ISU exchange students told her to expect people to be warm, friendly and eager to practice English.
The Nepali workweek runs Sunday through Friday with Saturday as the weekend, so that will be an adjustment, as will the frequent labor strikes, daily power outages and water purification, she said.
The food is good, she said, with lots of vegetables, rice and lentils. No beef, though, as cows are revered in the mostly Hindu country.
"I'll either come back wanting beef or be a vegetarian," she said.
Hundley failed her kindergarten hearing test and began learning in a deaf school in fifth grade, where it was "sink or swim" sign-language only, much the way Nepal will be.
"I hope once I'm in the schools I will learn by immersion," she said.
The oral language will be more difficult, though, especially because she lip reads English and it's considered disrespectful to make eye contact. Hundley plans to hire an interpreter and to explain her cultural faux pas to those she meets.
Since Hundley applied to be a Fulbright scholar, she's lost more of her hearing. She hears high frequencies and generally catches the sound of consonants. She can tell someone is talking but not what they're saying. Now about 85 percent deaf with progressive hearing loss, Hundley reads lips and is fluent in American Sign Language.
"I have a lot of good tools in my belt so I'll be fine," she said.
And then there's the "deaf nod," the nod suggesting a comprehension she doesn't always have.
On the other hand, on mission trips to Mexico, Hundley found she was better able to communicate than some people with rudimentary Spanish since she's a master at facial expressions and many signs look like what they represent.
"One thing I love about the deaf community is the animation," she said. "I get animated around them, too."