Understanding culture of the hearing impaired

YMCA KL brought the hearing through a “Journey Into the Deaf World” at YMCA Brickfields, KL during the celebration of International Day of Sign Language (IDSL).

International Day of Sign Language (IDSL) is an occasion to create awareness of the deaf community, culture and sign language as well as to educate the public on the daily lives of the deaf.

Who are Deaf people?

Who are Deaf people? 

Should we be seen as a Deaf person because of our deafness? 

Should we be seen as a Deaf person because we use different language to communicate daily? 

This is the question many hearing people as well as Deaf people struggling to answer. Both hearing and Deaf people could not understand how Deaf people should live in Malaysia? 

I asked many Deaf people throughout Malaysia whether they see themselves as having a hearing disability. Most of them answered yes. Why did they answer yes to such question? Is it because they can’t hear sound? I have a question for myself. How do they know that they do not have hearing ability when they actually never experience it for themselves?

I met many hearing people. I told them that I am Deaf. They responded me, “Oh I am sorry for your hearing loss.”. Initially I thought it was normal response I should have received and I should be identified as a person with hearing loss. 

But wait. Did I actually lose my hearing ability? I did not come to this world with hearing ability, how could I experience the loss? Therefore, we do not need anyone to feel sorry or pity for us because we are not with hearing loss. We actually acquired deafness which led us towards a new life culture, which would be different from those people with normal hearing ability. The acquisition of deafness is good news, and it makes us differently from people here. 

聋哑电召车司机考执照 不满被强制戴助听器 24 June 2019 (No English translation is available)

记者: 司徒洧齐独家报导 

(吉隆坡24日讯)聋哑电子召车司机声称考取商用车辆执照(PSV)期间，在体检阶段称 遭到刁难，除了被要求测试听力，更被强制规定需佩戴助听器，眼看距离下月12日获取商 用车辆执照的期限接近，令他们心急如焚。

代表这些聋哑电子召车司机的大马聋哑人士权益分子张伟义，及雪州聋哑青年组织成员哈 尔马苏丹透过手语师吴小姐接受《中国报》访问时说，早前政府虽然阐明聋哑电子召车司 机可在全国的医院接受体检，现在却规定他们前往蕉赖康复医院体检。 

Statement On PSV Program From Malaysian Federation Of The Deaf; Malaysia’s Deaf Community & Persatuan Belia Pekak Malaysia

With the new regulations regarding e-hailing services and Grab Car, we have to keep in mind the stringent health checks and such. And now, people are finding issues with the new system, particularly those in the Deaf Community. There are factors that are hindering them in receiving their PSV license, and you can read their exact sentiments from the letter below;

Intersectionality

Are women all the same? Are men all the same? Are Chinese all the same? Are Deaf people all the same? 

The answer is intersectionality. It means each person is born with different traits and grew up with different experiences, some bad and some good leading to differing identities in each individual. What counts is oppression against these differing identities. 

Intersectionality was initially meant for women who experience discrimination based on both colour and gender simultaneously. Kimberle Crenshaw, a legal scholar, saw it and coined the term in 1989. She realised that anyone would treat these issues separately. 

There was a case: 

There was a group of African American women who sued a company for racial and gender discrimination. However, the courts found that women in general were not discriminated against when it came to jobs as secretaries in the company. Therefore, the court dismissed their suit relating to discrimination based on gender. The company also employed African American factory workers and the courts found that this disproved racial discrimination. So the court saw race and gender as two separate issues and therefore dismissed the suit. 

What is the problem? The court failed to consider that the majority of secretaries were white women, and factory workers were all men. The women of colour were not seen to be doubly discriminated against and should be treated as a facing a separate category of oppression.

LGBTQ Malaysians Fight Back After Gov't Official Says They Don't Exist

BY NICO LANG

MARCH 07 2019 4:41 PM EST

“I don’t know why I was shocked.”

Harjinder Kier, a nonbinary advocate and conservationist, says after another exhaustingly long day— one of many for Malaysia’s queer and trans community in recent months. On Tuesday, the country’s tourism minister, Datuk Mohamaddin bin Ketapi, claimed there are no LGBTQ people in Malaysia.

“I don't think we have anything like that in our country,” Mohammaddin told the German broadcaster Deutsche Welle during the ITB Berlin travel conference.