DDW's pioneer journey to Costa Rica - Discovering Deaf Worlds

Volume 4, Issue 3
March 2011
www.discoveringdeafworlds.org
DDW’s pioneer journey to Costa Rica
ANASCOR and Journeys participants after Randall, Carlos and Leo’s presentation. Pura Vida!
By Sara Romes
“English-ASL-Spanish-LESCO-English-Spanish-
ASL-Spanish-LESCO-English-International. Yow, my
brain hurts!” This was my Facebook status on the second
day of DDW’s recent Journey to Costa Rica, where
I was participating as both interpreter and tour guide.
In our group of 16, we had eight languages present:
Spanish, Costa Rican Sign Language (LESCO), English,
American Sign Language (ASL), Australian Sign
Language (AUSLAN), British Sign Language (BSL),
German and German Sign Language. Phew! Despite
the variety of communication styles and the gambit of
languages, everyone quickly adjusted and communication
became very smooth. There were times where
people used pagers to write back and forth, where a
British interpreter voiced from AUSLAN, and where a
German interpreter voiced in English for another participant!
All in all, “DDW provided barrier-free communication
to all Deaf and Hard of Hearing travelers,” said
Journeys participant and National Technical Institute
for the Deaf engineering professor Wendy Dannels. “A
rare gem!”
A trip highlight was attending a presentation by Randall
Herrera, Carlos Gutierrez, and Leo Lopez, members
of Costa Rica’s National Association of the Deaf,
ANASCOR. Participants learned about “Tico” Deaf culture,
the preservation of LESCO, and a unique project
that ANASCOR has developed with the guidance of
DDW. Currently, there are only 10-15 qualified interpreters
for the country’s 27,000-plus Deaf population.
Many Deaf children are receiving cochlear implants
and entering mainstream education systems. Teachers
at Deaf schools are not always fluent in LESCO, and
as a result, the schools are starting to close due to a
lack of enrollment.
The presenters told us how ANASCOR’s original
plan to combat these problems was to create a LE-
SCO DVD to educate rural Deaf people in Costa Rica.
In the past year, however, this project has blossomed
to highlight ANASCOR’s extensive network in Costa
Rica—a resourceful tool that can be utilized to lobby
the government for higher Deaf education standards.
ANASCOR members are now researching and identifying
concrete problems with current Deaf education
standards and will draft a report of their findings and
March 2011 1

proposed solutions to deliver to the government.
Their next goal is to collect over 5,000 signatures
from school directors, parents of Deaf children, and
the Deaf community at large for a petition demanding
that the government provides bilingual education
and requiring a higher level of LESCO fluency among
teachers of Deaf students throughout Costa Rica.
Workshops and a DVD in LESCO will be supplemental
tools for ANASCOR members to communicate their
plans to the general public. Lopez, who duals as an
ANASCOR member and DDW’s Costa Rican representative,
explained that DDW “challenges us with different
ideas and to think from different perspectives.
Their questions and feedback get us thinking about
things we never thought of before, and then we come
up with our own solutions and ideas. . .That gives us
confidence in the project and motivation to keep working,
because the ideas came from within ourselves.”
We also visited Don Juan’s Eco Farm near Arenal
Volcano. Juan, who is quite the witty character, runs a
sustainable organic farm that produces enough food to
feed 40 people daily. The group learned about organic
farming and sugar cane production, and picked different
vegetables that would be used in preparing lunch
for the group that day.
On our first day in San Jose, we visited Fernando
Centeno Guell, the largest Deaf school in Costa Rica.
Soaked but stoked, Journeys participants are
all smiles after a zip line adventure.
We joined the Deaf students in attending a black-light
performance, and then visited several classrooms to
talk with the principal, teachers and students about
Deaf education in Costa Rica. Our 10-day tour was
wrapped up with a presentation by the Titi Conservation
Alliance. We learned about responsible tourism, sustainable
development, and how we, as tourists, can be
more mindful of where and how we spend our money.
For example, the dollars we spend while traveling support
an industry that is either preserving or damaging
the local environment. By researching hotels and tour
companies that practice environmentally-sound methods,
we can put our money behind the right cause.
Relationships built during long bus rides and
Buffalo, NY
St. Mary’s School for the Deaf
East Lansing, MI
Michigan State University
Boulder, CO
University of Colorado at Boulder
Muncie, IN
Ball State University
San Jose, Costa Rica
ANASCOR
Brattleboro, VT
Brattleboro Union High School
Boston, MA
Boston Access Advocates for the Deaf
Ewing, NJ
The College of New Jersey
Rochester, NY
Boulder Coffee South Wedge
Monroe Community College
Monroe First BOCES
Roc Deaf Rotary Club
Roc Recreation Club for the Deaf
Roc School for the Deaf
SPoT Coffee
St. Lawrence School
The Little Theatre
Twelve Corners Middle School
London, England
Shuktara UK
Changchun, China
Changchun University
Kolkata, India
Shuktara
Melbourne, Australia
Deaf Children Australia
Osaka, Japan
Ikuno Rou Gakkou
Kochi, Japan
Rotary Club International
Kochi Rou Gakkou
Manila, Philippines
De La Salle College of Saint Benilde
Christchurch, New Zealand
Van Asch Deaf Education Centre
DDW has presented to many deaf advocacy organizations and schools across the globe
Be the next to host a DDW event!
Contact ddwteam@discoveringdeafworlds.org for more information
2 Discovering Deaf Worlds

through adventurous
activities like ziplining
through the cloud forest
in the middle of a
torrential rainstorm will
stick with us for a lifetime.
Former ANAS-
COR president Herrera
joined us for the entire
trip, adding insight to local
culture, Deaf issues,
and further understanding
of LESCO. While at
a local Deaf social event
at Plaza de Cultura, a local Deaf person asked Journey
participant Tyler Swob why he had returned to
Costa Rica. He responded, “I realized something was
missing from my last trip to Costa Rica—it was meeting
local Deaf people.”
DDW Journeys is a unique opportunity, offering participants
the chance to absorb local culture (from traditional
“gallo pinto” breakfasts to dancing salsa on the
streets), participate in outlandish adventurous activities
(like whitewater rafting the Savegre River), and engage
in the local Deaf community. By bringing outside
support to local Deaf advocacy associations, DDW
Journeys participant Katherine Putnam chats
with Deaf students at Fernando Centeno Guell.
Journeys is building the
associations’ confidence
to continue and improve
the work they do. As an
added bonus, in the end,
Journeys participants
donated over $1,000 to
the four nonprofits they
visited.
Several participants
mentioned they may
sign up for the upcoming
Journey to Thailand/
Cambodia in August
2011. Visits to the World Heritage Site ruins at Angkor
Wat, Thailand’s National Association of the Deaf,
an inspirational deaf vocational training center at Epic
Arts Café in Cambodia, and strolling through Bangkok’s
street markets scattered with deaf vendors are
but a few highlights for this next tour. If you’re thinking
of joining…what are you waiting for? Sign up today!
Sara Romes, CI/CT, is a RID-certified interpreter
and DDW Journeys guide. For more information on the
recent DDW Journey to Costa Rica, contact sromes@
discoveringdeafworlds.org or visit DDW’s page at
www.discoveringdeafworlds.org/programs/journeys.
Once in a while it really hits people that they don’t have to
experience the world in the way they have been told to.
– Alan Keightley
Travel Tidbits
BuMpY bUs RiDeS: If you find yourself taking an overnight bus ride between cities, request a seat in
the middle of the bus. Seats in this area have better shock absorption between the front and rear axles,
making for much smoother rides on unpaved roads.
Map your own way: Before you leave for your trip, make copies of city maps and tape them into
a journal. When you are trying to find your way on an unmarked street corner, you can subtly peer
into your journal instead of drawing unwanted attention with a full-size map or guidebook in hand.
Alternatively, if you’re a photo junkie and always have your camera out, snap photos of your maps and
save them to the clipboard for easy access whenever you need them!
Too many knickknacks!: Carry-on bags are often filled with tons of little things —batteries, snacks,
sunscreen, coins, a deck of cards, pills/vitamins, gum, power cords, iPods, etc., all of which easily get
lost or buried at the bottom. Organize your items in sturdy Ziploc freezer bags and save yourself the
hassle of digging through the infinite pile of knickknacks to find what you are looking for.
December 2010 3

Kolkata Kruise
manages with the help of Pappu, a Bihari
guy. The group home has about
a dozen young people abandoned by
their parents and later adopted by David.
Most of them are Deaf, while others
have various physical disabilities. They
were all very happy to see Davin and
each welcomed him with a hug.
We wanted to meet Deaf people and
identify a few leaders who would help us
orient to the Deaf community in Kolkata
and also educate us about the major
needs there. There are eight Deaf clubs
in Kolkata, but they do not work together.
Raja, a Shuktara Deaf resident, told us
about a Deaf club that met on Wednesdays
and Saturdays. We agreed to go
Madan Vasishta visits a preschool in the Kolkata slums.
there then.
The next morning, we met Brinda
By Madan Vasishta
Crishna, director of VAANI, which focuses on early
education of Deaf children and runs several small preschools
in the slums. Brinda briefed us on the Kolkata
DDW Executive Director Davin Searls and I arrived
at the historic Howrah Bridge railways station in Kolkata,
India, after a 17-hour train ride. The ride, though
Deaf scene and confirmed what we had been told: Kolkata
lives in the past. She arranged for us to visit two
long, was very comfortable. The Rajdhani trains are
preschool classes.
fast and efficient, and are clean by Indian standards.
It was an inspiring experience seeing a group of
There is also meal service, but when Davin had his
very dedicated teachers, aides and other volunteers
vegetarian meal and I my non-vegetarian meal, they
working with very young Deaf children and their mothers.
Davin and I encouraged the mothers to learn sign
mixed it up. All Americans eat meat, right?
Alison, the Uddami director, met us at the platform
language and read to their children. They listened to us
and led us out through the jostling crowd to a moving
cluster of yellow taxis sprinkled in a sea of trucks,
politely, but did comment about the need for speech.
They wanted their children to be “normal.”
buses, scooters, motorcycles, bicycles, pedestrians
Sreela Bose, a veteran teacher of Deaf students,
and even rickshaws pulled by barefooted men. She got
came to our hotel at 9:30 a.m. on Saturday. She had
us in a taxi, which slowly wormed its way through the
started as an oral teacher over 40 years earlier, but
early morning Kolkata traffic to meet Christy Smith and
learned to sign. We discussed bilingual education, total
communication, oral education, and the Deaf com-
David Earp. Christy was to leave for the U.S. after a
five-month teaching assignment.
munity in Kolkata, among other issues. Sreela is an
Christy, David and Alison told us repeatedly that
open and frank lady, and we learned a lot. Yet the basic
Kolkata was different from the rest of India. The people
premise remained: Kolkata does not want to change.
here refuse to accept or even desire change. Rather,
Davin had sent out an open invitation to Deaf people
to meet us in the food court in front of KFC. Yes,
they live in the past. While Deaf people in other parts of
India were making progress, Kolkata Deaf people busied
themselves with complaining about hearing people
Kolkata has several KFCs and each branch employs
a number of Deaf people. We established our “office”
and the government and bickering among themselves.
and I worked the cell phone sending texts back and
Christy had enjoyed her teaching experience very
forth to Deaf people who said they were coming or expressed
regrets. By two p.m., we had 12 Deaf people.
much and felt good about what she did, but was very
discouraged about the adult Deaf community.
Davin kept a dialogue going on about what Deaf people
We had a chance to visit Uddami, a computer training
program for young people, both deaf and hearing.
in Kolkata needed and what could be done. He made
it clear that we were not here to give any solution, but
Later, Alison took us to Shuktara, which David Earp
simply to help them network.
4 Discovering Deaf Worlds

We explained that Deaf people were running NGOs,
fighting for their rights, and getting jobs in Hyderabad
and Delhi, and encouraged them to do the same in Kolkata.
They were very bright young Deaf people who
had convinced themselves that nothing could be done.
However, after two hours of discussions, there seemed
to be an interest in starting an NGO. It was decided that
a formal meeting involving more Deaf people should
be called upon Davin’s return in two weeks. One young
lady volunteered to find a hall and make other arrangements.
Thus, our four hours in the food court were very
fruitful.
Five young people who had met us in the food court
volunteered to lead us to the Deaf club. We rode two
different buses. All Deaf people have passes that allows
them to ride city buses free. Davin and I did not
have the pass, but the conductor, seeing us sign, did
not ask us for a ticket. Actually, he did not ask any of
our new friends for a ticket. It appeared that the ticket
to a free bus ride in Kolkata was to sign. I wondered
about oral deaf people.
We walked a couple of kilometers and found a group
of Deaf people sitting in an open verandah. They did
not have any office or sign; rather, they had just a few
chairs to sit and a few photographs posted on the wall.
But what the club lacked in equipment and furniture was
made up in the spirit of it members. They did not have
a manifesto or written goals. They got together “to talk,
help each other, and meet new people,” as its founder
put it. He did not have any title, either. We enjoyed our
visit and talked about Kolkata and America while sipping
tea from thimble-sized plastic cups. We recruited
a few young people to help us organize a large open
meeting the following week. They were to work with the
young people we had met earlier that day.
What is DDW?
Discovering Deaf Worlds is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit
international deaf advocacy organization
dedicated to empowering deaf and
hard of hearing communities in developing
countries. DDW strives to advance the capacity
of local deaf communities around the
globe to meet their social, educational and
employment needs.
For more information, visit
www.discoveringdeafworlds.org.
Davin Searls with Krishna,
a leader in the Kolkata Deaf community.
As Davin and I rode the taxi to our hotel, we were,
for the first time, feeling elated. There were indeed
people in Kolkata who want to change things and who
want to cooperate with us to help us help them.
As a direct result of our efforts, DDW has identified
several Deaf leaders in Kolkata. Davin is currently developing
a leadership training program with this group
to identify and train Deaf people to provide English
training and professional development classes to the
Kolkata Deaf community.
In addition, DDW hosted a successful event,
Workshop to Promote Deaf Leadership, in Kolkata on
March 6 with 250 people in attendance. The CEO and
general secretary of Deaf EnAbled Foundation (Hyderabad)
presented, as did Davin. We look forward
to supporting continued cultivation of Deaf empowerment
in Kolkata!
Madan Vasishta is a DDW Board member and
chair of DDW’s Program Development Committee.
For more information on this story, contact Davin
Searls at dsearls@discoveringdeafworlds.org.
DDW in Africa
DDW will visit Uganda, Tanzania,
and Kenya in June
and July 2011, prior to attending
the WFD Congress
in South Africa.
Do you know of any deaf
schools, organizations, or
leaders in these areas? If
so, please help connect us by e-mailing:
ddwteam@discoveringdeafworlds.org
Photo: http://roadtravel1.wordpress.com/page/2/
December March 2011 2010 5

6 Discovering Deaf Worlds

“From our eyes”:
A personal reflection on Bahrain Deaf culture
By Ahlam Oun
For a very long time, I
had been on an agonizing
search for something
that I could marvel at,
something that inspired
me, something that made
me speechless. Finally, I
found it.
My experience with
Deaf culture began in
March 2008 on my birthday.
My good friend Mariam
asked me what I wanted for a birthday
gift and I asked for something that would
change my perspective on life, a gift of doing
something good for people and the community.
And that’s exactly what happened.
There was a U.S.-Bahrain Exchange Program
for people with disabilities, and volunteers
were needed.
I volunteered as an English-Arabic interpreter.
To my good fortune, I was needed
for a rather unique event, one with a Deaf youth
audience. Since many sign language interpreters in
Bahrain are not fluent in English, it is difficult for them
to interpret lectures conducted by American guests.
Therefore, an interpreter was needed to bridge the
hearing and Deaf worlds.
I stood there translating between English and Arabic
while another interpreter translated between Arabic
and Arabic Sign Language. That was when I fell in love
with sign language and Deaf culture.
Afterwards, I strived to know more and so I started
avidly reading about Deaf culture. One book that stood
out was Seeing Voices by Oliver Sacks. I was so fascinated
by his work that I have read it multiple times
and given copies to many friends as a gateway to the
amazing world of Deaf people.
Over a year later, I became involved with the Bahrain
Disability Challenging Youth Society as a volunteer.
As I shared my dream to learn not only Arabic
Sign Language but also American Sign Language, I
learned that a program for American Sign Language
was about to start for the very first time in Bahrain! I
could not have asked for a better opportunity.
Since then, I have found myself among amazing
people who are eager to learn, to do and embrace
Local deaf school students
put their hands together.
all who want to be part of
their Deaf world. Spending
time with them after
classes was the most interesting
part of the day.
With the little sign language
my friends and I
knew, we could talk about
dreams, thoughts, challenges
and even the silly
things that happened in
our daily lives. And since
then, volunteer projects
have popped up in my
head constantly!
One project that inspired
me came about
when our American Sign
Language instructor Patrick
Galasso saw an ad
for the Bahrain Short Film
Festival. We decided to
combine our efforts to create
a short movie about
the challenges that Deaf youth face in Bahrain. I happened
to know brilliant volunteers who were interested
in filmmaking, Mazen Al-Maskati and Salman Al Dosri.
We met with the group of Deaf volunteers almost daily
to create the story, choose the actors and start shooting.
The most interesting part for me was the story
brainstorming sessions, where we sat in a circle and
everyone shared stories, challenges and dreams.
At the beginning of every session, since no interpreter
was available, I started by apologizing to them
for not being fluent in Arabic Sign Language or American
Sign Language and asked for their patience and
help, and the response I got each and every time was
“From our eyes.” This is a beautiful and loving Arabic
proverb that means, “I am here to help you with everything
I can, even from my precious eyes,” an answer
that makes a person feel loved and warm inside.
The challenges that Deaf people face in Bahrain are
profound. In an advanced country with high education
standards and economical status, one might think that
the right of education is acted upon, yet I have come
to discover that for Deaf people, a high school is not
even available, let alone a university. That issue was
the main theme in the movie created with Deaf people
and by Deaf people, Born to Fly.
Ahlam Oun, Patrick Galasso and
Salman Al Dosri in Bahrain
March 2011 7

The government has no formal census or information
on the number of people who are Deaf or have
hearing loss. An informal survey of members in the
Bahrain Deaf Society (BDS) estimates the number
fluctuates around 1,000. BDS has 250 members and
provides training and workshops for its members; it is
volunteer-run. Bahrain also has no professional system
set up for interpreting and the few extremely skilled
in Bahrain do so voluntarily. Bahrain has one primary
school for Deaf and hard of hearing students. The
older kids hang out until they time out. There are no
secondary or university options for Deaf people. They
could go to a university, but the system is unprepared,
as are the students, with a lack of teachers trained in
Deaf education, no interpreters, and students lacking
the necessary foundation of knowledge to pursue university
education; the information is inaccessible.
The journey with Deaf people in Bahrain has just
started. There are countless things we can learn and
Hasan with Deaf youth Mohammed, Aziz, Taher,
Adnan, and Sayed during the filming of Born to Fly.
projects we can do together. It only requires a helping
hand and they are already fluent in it.
Contact Ahlam Oun at ahlam.oun@gmail.com or
Patrick Galasso at patrice.galasso@gmail.com for
more information.
Call for contributing writers!
If you have connected with the deaf community in a developing country
and want to share your story, e-mail a brief summary of your experience
to ddwteam@discoveringdeafworlds.org.
Deaf in DC
By Madan Vasishta
Now on sale!
Follow DDW
on Twitter!
To order a copy, visit
http://gupress. gallaudet.edu
Fifty percent of the royalties from
this memoir will be donated to
Discovering Deaf Worlds.
Our handle is
@DDW_Team, or go to
www.twitter.com/DDW_Team
Newsletter services provided by
T.S. Writing Services, LLC
www.tswriting.com
A Deaf-Owned Company
8 Discovering Deaf Worlds

Shout-Outs!
Eliabeth Bjerke and Nina Eagin: You have made our “Host a DDW Fundraiser” a true success! Thank
you for taking the initiative to promote our work and help raise funds.
Bernard Bragg: Thank you for shining a bit of the spotlight on DDW! We are grateful to you and your big
heart!
Dr. Maria Massone and the staff at INADI: Thank you for the warm welcome to Buenos Aires! We are
inspired by the level of impact you are making on your community and wish you great success with establishing
Argentina’s first bilingual/bicultural high school for deaf students.
The Kolkata crew, Sandeep, Hari, and the DEF staff: In your own ways, each of you has contributed to
the promotion of deaf leadership in India. Thank you for your dedication and generosity. Looking forward
to working with you for years to come!
View DDW’s weekly vlogs
Check out DDW’s weekly vlogs at
www.discoveringdeafworlds.org/videos/frontpage.html!
Did you know?
Bahrain
Discovering: Shuktara was editied and co-produced by
• Has been proposed as the site for the
biblical Garden of Eden.
• Is the fastest growing economy in the
Arab world.
• Is an Arabic word meaning Two Seas,
signifying freshwater springs found within
the surrounding salty seas.
• Is know for its oil and pearls.
• Citizens are currently protesting alongside
recent Arab democracy demonstrators.
Source: https://secure.wikimedia.org/
wikipedia/en/wiki/Bahrain
Special Features Include:
More stories from Shuktara, Meet Pappu
and DDW: Journeys slideshow
www.discoveringdeafworlds.org/support
March 2011 9

10 Discovering Deaf Worlds