Miss-Delectable
New Member
- Joined
- Apr 18, 2004
- Messages
- 17,160
- Reaction score
- 7
http://www.democratandchronicle.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060516/NEWS01/605160333/1002/NEWS
In some parts of the world, a deaf child is viewed as a punishment from God. The child is chained to a bed, occasionally fed and can have its tongue cut off to help stop it from crying.
"The parents don't know what to do with them," said Markku Jokinen, president of the World Federation of the Deaf.
Jokinen, 46, of Finland, spoke Monday to nearly 100 people at the University of Rochester Medical Center about the role of the WFD and the challenges that deaf people face globally. He said 80 percent of deaf people live in developing countries, where their needs or desires aren't met. Most are isolated and do not receive an education of any kind.
"Deaf people have a hard time protesting," he said. "Governments will tend to ignore them."
Jokinen, who attended UR in 1992, said the WFD hopes that by 2010, through lobbying and with help from the United Nations, all deaf children will receive a quality education, that their sign language will be accepted and that deaf people will have full integration in the community with the aid of interpreters.
Other than education, Jokinen said sign languages should be viewed by governments as unique languages. Some want to see an international sign language developed to aid communication among deaf people in different countries.
"The world is becoming a more global community," he said. "I'm amazed wherever I go, I easily develop a way of communicating with other deaf people. The differences disappear. We become just deaf people."
But with technological advances that make information more accessible, Minoru Yoshida, 26, of Henrietta, said he was concerned the deaf youths in his native Japan are more interested in learning American Sign Language than Japanese Sign Language. "I don't want Japanese Sign Language to be oppressed by ASL," he said.
Jokinen said learning another language isn't a bad thing; he said the Japanese government should require students to learn Japanese Sign Language first.
Jokinen remained diplomatic regarding the current protests at Gallaudet University in Washington, where deaf students object to the selection of the school's next president because they say she isn't qualified and their opinion in the selection wasn't considered.
"We're hoping they will find an amicable resolution so they can begin to work on issues concerning the college," he said.
In some parts of the world, a deaf child is viewed as a punishment from God. The child is chained to a bed, occasionally fed and can have its tongue cut off to help stop it from crying.
"The parents don't know what to do with them," said Markku Jokinen, president of the World Federation of the Deaf.
Jokinen, 46, of Finland, spoke Monday to nearly 100 people at the University of Rochester Medical Center about the role of the WFD and the challenges that deaf people face globally. He said 80 percent of deaf people live in developing countries, where their needs or desires aren't met. Most are isolated and do not receive an education of any kind.
"Deaf people have a hard time protesting," he said. "Governments will tend to ignore them."
Jokinen, who attended UR in 1992, said the WFD hopes that by 2010, through lobbying and with help from the United Nations, all deaf children will receive a quality education, that their sign language will be accepted and that deaf people will have full integration in the community with the aid of interpreters.
Other than education, Jokinen said sign languages should be viewed by governments as unique languages. Some want to see an international sign language developed to aid communication among deaf people in different countries.
"The world is becoming a more global community," he said. "I'm amazed wherever I go, I easily develop a way of communicating with other deaf people. The differences disappear. We become just deaf people."
But with technological advances that make information more accessible, Minoru Yoshida, 26, of Henrietta, said he was concerned the deaf youths in his native Japan are more interested in learning American Sign Language than Japanese Sign Language. "I don't want Japanese Sign Language to be oppressed by ASL," he said.
Jokinen said learning another language isn't a bad thing; he said the Japanese government should require students to learn Japanese Sign Language first.
Jokinen remained diplomatic regarding the current protests at Gallaudet University in Washington, where deaf students object to the selection of the school's next president because they say she isn't qualified and their opinion in the selection wasn't considered.
"We're hoping they will find an amicable resolution so they can begin to work on issues concerning the college," he said.