Support Filipino Sign Language Act of 2012 - House Bill 6079

#73: mother of a deaf -

I understand where you are coming from.

My advocacy and work involves bridging our Deaf graduates to companies for on-the-job training and employment.

The school uses FSL in teaching.  We found out concepts are more understood clearly. We do have a number of English subjects because we believe that communicating with the Hearing who are not signers will involve reading and writing in English.  It is very important that the Deaf understands written instructions and able to communicate back to his supervisor.

We believe that a deaf person gets hired because of his Attitude, Skills and Knowledge plus his skill in communication. Currently we have more than half of our graduates employed in different industries.  We have graduates in the graphics, food, service, hospitality, education and even call center (BPO) industries.  The most that require English as a requirement is the BPO industry.

One BPO who hired 3 of our graduates assigned them to send and receive emails from customers and their technical team.  For the whole 2 months orientation as part of the company requirement we provided FSL interpreters.  Aside from the English requirement, the job was also very technical- being able to follow the internal systems of the company and making decisions. Six months into the contract, they sent us an email to ask if we can assist them in improving their writing skills.  We have to meet with the group, do tutorials, find solutions using templates and do technical English advising. They have been with the company for 2 years now.  One of the Deaf workers is multi-awarded in the company for being an excellent worker.  I view their success  on their attitude of openess and willing to learn.

The service industry (hotels, restaurants) prefers Deaf people who   displays professional attitude, have a happy disposition and able to interact with co-workers well.   And our graduates work in different areas of the hotel including the kitchen, front desk, human resources department, business centers and restaurants.They do not evaluate the Deaf for their English proficiency.   I attribute a lot of development of having a “winning” personality, discipline, learning capacity, empathy and socialization skills to high self esteem and confidence. These are built if they are able to express themselves, work out personal issues and work for personal and team achievements. These are not taught. But the school provides venues to be able to develop such.  Our students engage in sports, the arts, volunteer, etc.

In the graphics/design industry, skill is very important as well as knowing rules for  written English and sometimes Filipino and understanding instructions in both languages.  FSL does come to play in design subjects up until the thesis subjects. Design concepts, computer processes are explained using FSL. Technical words are spelled out, then defined; a few meetings on, the class comes out with a sign (if the concept has no sign yet) for the technical word.  We do this to make sure that in the interviews (or job instructions) they understand both the technical word and the concept of the word.

Yes, Ma'am, FSL can feed your child. Expressing themselves, understanding concepts is very well done in FSL.  Learning to read and write in English is equally important. Learning FSL does not equate not learning English.