Deaf activist Dr Anthony Alexander Chong outlines plans for literary workshop that highlights Bahasa Isyarat Malaysia

He's also one of the 11 beneficiaries of this year’s Krishen Jit Fund.

By Anandhi Gopinath

23 December 2021 - 10:37am

Supported by Astro and the Creador Foundation, the fund — of which Chong is one of 11 beneficiaries this year — is inspired by the late theatre director’s pioneering work in celebrating original Malaysian creativity (All photos: Anthony Alexander Chong)

It was while setting up the interview with deaf activist Dr Anthony Alexander Chong that it occurred how much we take for granted, and how mortifyingly unaware we are about the daily minutiae that can be difficult for people who are hearing-impaired. Chong is exceptionally gracious about it all, but the effect of that initial exchange is permanently seared in our collective consciousness: While we may acknowledge that the world can be a difficult place for the differently-abled, we really have no idea what some of their day-to-day challenges are.

In fact, Chong’s own activism work would not have been further highlighted if not for the Krishen Jit Fund, which is aimed at providing deserving arts practitioners with monetary aid to pursue projects in the arts. Supported by Astro and the Creador Foundation, the fund — of which Chong is one of 11 beneficiaries this year — is inspired by the late theatre director’s pioneering work in celebrating original Malaysian creativity in as varied and alternative ways as possible.

Queer and Deaf in ASEAN Countries

PUBLISHED ON 13 DEC 2021
POSTED BY DR. ANTHONY CHONG
POSTED ON ACTIVIST VOICES

I would like to begin with a few facts about Deaf people in Malaysia. It is already difficult to live as a Deaf person in mainstream society, as many people are ignorant about Deaf people and do not understand that we are a linguistic minority. We experience poor access to information because of the ignorance of others, not because of our deafness. We are compelled to spend time and money on speech and listening therapy, even though such therapy does not always work for many of us. Despite its futility, people around us continue to insist that we give importance to speech and listening therapy. This has caused us to lose a lot of valuable time, money and energy in fruitless efforts towards mastery of oral communication. If we could pursue self-empowerment via sign language, our natural language, we would acquire sufficient literacy skills to access information in the mass media and other sources to function better.

Our lives become complicated when we realize that we are not heterosexual. We become fearful and do not know what to do with this self-realization. We learn from the stories of others and from the movies that it is not safe to live with an LGBTIQ identity. The worst has happened to those who revealed their queer identity -- they have been forced to go through conversion therapy. We feel a little better when we find another Deaf person with LGBTIQ.