Final Week: Thought, Feelings and Video

This past week has been one of the most emotionally rewarding weeks of service learning. On Tuesday night I got to show the leaders of HAD the video I have made for them. Watching their faces while they were watching the video was one of the most rewarding experiences ever. Thanh kept on saying “wow it’s so nicely edited”, and people’s faces would light up when they saw their interviews. The draft was not problem free of course. One of the biggest problems was that some of the interviews where in a hybrid of International Signs, ASL and VSL rather than pure VSL. Therefore the video was not an accurate reflection of deaf culture in Vietnam. I offered to redo some of the video clips, but the leaders of HAD declined saying that it would take too long. I also think that while there is a problem in using foreign signs, there is the benefit of making the video more accessible to deaf organizations in other countries.

After getting their feedback on the video and giving them my farewell present Le Van Anh did something I hadn’t expected: he invited me to his house warming party on Friday with all the members of the leaders of HAD. The party was amazing. At first all of the women and children were on the third floor while all the men were on the second. I particularly like the two-year-old hearing twins who sat next to me. They kept on signing to their mom and then looking curiously at me. When I asked one of them what his name was he was super surprised and hit his brother to show him that I could sign.

After dinner the women started to mingle with the men downstairs. I got to meet the husbands and wives of the leaders of HAD as well as their friends and families. It was really neat to learn more about the personal lives of these people I have come to care about so much. All throughout the night I kept on being introduced as “the American who was making a video to help them get funding”. As a result I had several people who I had never met before come up to me and shake my hand and thank me. The gratitude was almost overwhelming. People kept on asking if my parents were well and telling me to send them their regards. However what meant the most to me was when Le Van Anh gave me a gift and said “weather or not you are successful in finding any funding for us you have touched our hearts and you are always welcome back here.” I was so happy I almost cried.

In conclusion working with the Hanoi Association of the Deaf has been a dream come true. I have wanted to work with a foreign deaf community for a while and learn another sign language but I thought I wouldn’t have the chance until after I graduated from college. When Peggy (the head of the ASL department at UCSD) suggested that I learn Vietnamese Sign Language at the end of last year I laughed, after all how would that be possible? I’m so glad my doubts turned out to be wrong. Not only have I gotten to learn another sign language, I have also discovered that I have real valuable skills that can be an asset to a deaf community. I’m really going to miss working with HAD and spending time with all of the members of the deaf community who have become my friends. I hope to keep in contact via web cam and email but I am somewhat worried about the language barriers. However no matter what happens I will never forget the things I have learned working with HAD. I will continue to work with deaf communities in whatever way possible and hopefully return to work with HAD again someday.

Attached is a copy of the video I produced for HAD. It is very much a “heart work,” the literal translation of "volunteer work" in VSL. I hope it helps you understand a little bit more about the organization I have grown to love so much. If you are interested in supporting HAD or know any organizations that might be interested in working with HAD please let me know, I will be more than happy to pass on the message.

~Sharon

Organizational Structure of HAD: Sports club and Women’s Issues

             While making the promotional video for HAD I had the chance to learn a lot more about how HAD functions and what it does. I started off by Interviewing Le Van Anh, the head of the deaf association. I asked him what the main activities of the organization were and was shocked to realize that I had only understood about half of what the association does. It turns out there are five sub groups within HAD. There is a sports league, a youth group, a women’s group, a deaf education group and a middle aged group. I had the opportunity to interview the head of the sports league and the women’s issues today and I think these two groups really highlight what HAD cares about and the problems the deaf face.

Sports club:

The sports club is headed by Khanh and receives a small amount of funding from HAD. The rest of the money is supplied by individual members who want to participate in sports. Therefore the sports club kind of runs on an on-and-off basis. There are about 70-80 members in the HAD sports club. The main sport is soccer, but occasionally they get enough money for track and field, swimming, bowling etc. While the sports league may just seem like a fun thing historically deaf sports leagues have been crucial in forming bonds between deaf people in other regions and increasing the political clout of the deaf.

The sports league in HAD is no different. One of the major goals of the group is to set up competitions with other deaf sports teams so that they have the chance to meet and socialize. There are around 6-8 other deaf sports teams in northern Vietnam that they compete with when they have the money. The bonds with these sports teams have extended to the point where many of those deaf organizations came to visit for HAD’s 10 year anniversary. The sports club also wants to compete with deaf associations in southern Vietnam but doesn’t have the money to travel there. There was one competition in Hue in 2003 or 4 where the team won a metal but since then there haven’t been many major competitions with deaf people from throughout Vietnam. I think this sort of national deaf sports competition would be particularly beneficial because in general there are few opportunities for deaf people from southern and northern Vietnam to interact.

issues today and I think these two groups really highlight what HAD cares about and the problems the deaf face.

Sports club:

The sports club is headed by Khanh and receives a small amount of funding from HAD. The rest of the money is supplied by individual members who want to participate in sports. Therefore the sports club kind of runs on an on-and-off basis. There are about 70-80 members in the HAD sports club. The main sport is soccer, but occasionally they get enough money for track and field, swimming, bowling etc. While the sports league may just seem like a fun thing historically deaf sports leagues have been crucial in forming bonds between deaf people in other regions and increasing the political clout of the deaf.

The sports league in HAD is no different. One of the major goals of the group is to set up competitions with other deaf sports teams so that they have the chance to meet and socialize. There are around 6-8 other deaf sports teams in northern Vietnam that they compete with when they have the money. The bonds with these sports teams have extended to the point where many of those deaf organizations came to visit for HAD’s 10 year anniversary. The sports club also wants to compete with deaf associations in southern Vietnam but doesn’t have the money to travel there. There was one competition in Hue in 2003 or 4 where the team won a metal but since then there haven’t been many major competitions with deaf people from throughout Vietnam. I think this sort of national deaf sports competition would be particularly beneficial because in general there are few opportunities for deaf people from southern and northern Vietnam to interact.

Women’s Issues:

There are currently three women on the board of HAD who are all involved in advocating for woman's issues in some way. However the person who is officially in charge of women's issues is Linh. In her interview she talked about many of the problems deaf women in vietnam face. She talked about their comparatively low pay, lack of job opportunities and mental health issues. She also talked about about some problems that are particular to Vietnam like women being expected to stay at their inlaw's houses to work and therefore not being able to actively participate in the deaf association.  One thing that was particularly interesting is that she said there are many single deaf women because many parents of deaf boys choose a hearing girl for their son to mary. While she aims to set up a women's group and a parents group she has had significant difficulties because women's participation in HAD is not consistent. Whenever there is a problem at home women are expected to take care of it, forcing them to miss HAD meetings. 

Self and Identity: Are the deaf in Vietnam “disabled”?

One debate about the deaf community is weather the deaf should be considered “disabled” or not. This discussion is both an issue of personal identity and a political discussion that has real consequences. While I’ve studied this issue in class before, this week I got to see it debated by people it actually effects.

            According to Vietnamese law people with disabilities are supposed to receive discounts on transportations costs as well as subsidies and other forms of support. However as the deaf are considered able bodied they are not included in these special provisions. This week HAD decided to discuss the merits and costs of lobbying the government to include the deaf in the definition of disabled.

            On one side of the debate various leaders of HAD talked about how they were different from the disabled. In contrast to many disabled people in Vietnam the deaf have a full body, mobility and marketable skills. The deaf can drive motorbikes, find decent work, and are part of a larger community. This puts them in a distinctly different position than many people with disabilities. For example my VSL teacher Thai Anh (also a leader of HAD) has a younger sister who is disabled and house ridden so he has to support her by teaching sign language classes.

The leaders also focused on how labeling themselves as disabled could effect their chances at getting VSL recognized and gaining proper respect.

            On the other hand Thanh and some of the other board members discussed how the deaf were cut off from information and access to education. Thanh argued “until the government provides us with proper education and the deaf can enter universities they should give us the same discounts that they give people with disabilities.” This group pointed out that the deaf received discounts in other countries like Australia and the US while still getting their sign languages recognized and respected.

            They also debated who they would send to advocate for the law to be changed if they decided to identify as “disabled”. Tuan was considered because he is considered the most well educated board member in written Vietnamese and Vietnamese law, so he would be able to argue their case well. However several of the bard members were worried that he would be perceived as too skilled and therefore would not be successful in getting discounts for the deaf. Therefore they suggested that one of the older deaf people who hadn’t gone to school should go so the government could understand some of the real problems facing the deaf. However the problem with this plan was that older deaf individuals who aren't educated would have a very hard time understanding Vietnamese law and therefore would not be able to advocate well for the deaf community.

This whole discussion really reminded me of how issues of self and identity can be manipulated to achieve political goals. The government was excluding the deaf from the category of disabled to save money on benefits and services. Likewise the board members were discussing manipulating their own group identity to try to win discounts that they saw as rightfully theirs. By identifying (or not identifying) as “disabled” and choosing which members of the community to send they were redefining themselves in a way that would fit their political goals.

Deaf Society: It’s a small world.

Today I was sitting at a DP Hanoi meeting filming the Vietnamese lesson for my video when all of a sudden a group of German deaf tourist burst through a door in the blind school and joined the meeting to huge applause. For a second I thought this might have been a planed meeting that I simply didn’t know about. However after a few seconds it was clear that this was a surprise visit.

Introductions were quickly made and Le Van Anh explained the structure of the organization in international signs (IS), which were translated to the rest of the Germans by one deaf German who knew both languages. AQ and A session spontaneously started with both sides asking questions about deaf society in the two countries. The Germans asked about laws, weather the deaf could drive in Vietnam, deaf schools etc. The Vietnamese asked about sports organizations weather Swedish and German sign language were the same as well as questions about the number of deaf organizations in Germany.

While the two groups came from completely different societies and spoke two different languages it was surprising how much they shared. Communication was far easier than it would have been between a group of hearing Germans and Hearing Vietnamese because IS and linguistic similarities facilitated communication. There was also a sense of a common bond between the two groups. I have never seen such a spontaneous welcoming of a group of complete strangers. The deaf association immediately burst into a round of applause when the Germans entered the room and another round of applause when the question “you deaf” was answered with an affirmation.

I guess this event makes the point that deaf society is not necessarily constrained by borders. While these two groups came from two different cultures they were able to bond over their deafness and quickly start asking meaningful questions about the quality of deaf life in the two countries. The Germans knew to ask about the state of deaf education, the amount of interpreters, weather or not sign language was recognized by the government, weather deaf people could drive etc. They the proceeded to suggest various resources HAD could connect with for support in changing some of these things. Obviously there were many nuances of life in Hanoi that the Germans missed in their hour-long visit. However because they shared some common background they knew where to start asking questions and therefore were able to gain information quickly. I guess it really is a small (deaf) world after all.

VSL Lessons: Interest

This last week of service learning was my first week of Vietnamese Sign Language lessons. My class is run by the Sign Language Training Center http://ngonngukyhieu.org/ and is taught by Thai Anh.

What’s interesting is that there are roughly four different classes going on at the same time with many different types of learning in the same classroom: intermediate and advanced VSL classes and intermediate and advanced interpreting classes. Within these classes there are a huge variety of students who are interested in taking the classes for different reasons.

• Beginning hearing students-interested in improving their memory (one girl told me this), becoming interpreters, possibly other reasons…
• Intermediate hearing students-interested in becoming interpreters, polishing language skills
• Deaf students-interested in improving their Vietnamese
• Hoa’s(the interpreter who teaches some classes) boyfriend-interested in communicating with his girlfriend more/ learning more about the deaf community
• Me-interested in learning a different sign language, analyzing the differences between ASL and VSL and learning what deaf culture looks like in Vietnam

I’ve now been told by several people that my reasons for being interested in VSL are unusual. Hien, one of the girls in my class told me that I was “weird in a good way” for being interested in pursuing a career related to sign language. Likewise Hoa seemed somewhat confused that I didn’t want to become an interpreter. I think a lot of this comes from the differences between education systems in the two countries. In Vietnam VSL isn’t taught in universities, so the concept of being a sign language researcher is relatively foreign. Furthermore there is such a pressing need for interpreters that any hearing person who starts to learn VSL is automatically encouraged to take up that role. I have faced some of this attitude in the US “why are you learning ASL if you don’t want to be an interpreter?” (UCSD is somewhat unique in offering ASL classes not aimed at interpreting), but not to the same degree. The only people who really seem to understand what I want to do with sign language here are leaders of HAD. This is probably because they have learned a lot about the power of linguistic research to help sign languages gain acceptance and therefore understand what I mean by “sign language researcher”.

Furthermore there are a huge variety of learning needs in the same classroom. The majority of the students are hearing and are fluent in Vietnamese and therefore are having to adjust to the vocabulary and the grammar that is unique to sign languages. They also have to learn how to perceive language visually; how to look not just at a person’s hands but their face as well to see facial grammar and how to distinguish meaningful differences from acceptable variations of a sign.  The class is mainly catered towards this learning group. Lessons are written on the board in Vietnamese and then Thai Anh translates it into VSL and explains the grammatical differences. For deaf students he basically reverses the process signing and explaining how the signs are related to the written words.

I on the other hand already have the tools in place to learn a signed language, but don’t know Vietnamese. Therefore I get the lessons printed in advance and translate them into English so that I can understand the topic of the lesson. However this didn’t happen the first few days so Thai Anh spent most of the time explaining things to me in International Signs, classifiers or ASL. The problem is that I get confused when a sign has a different meaning in ASL and VSL… way too many false cognates! (DONT and FIANCE being a hilarious example). Overall though I’ve been able to learn a lot pretty fast, certainly faster than I’ve been learning Vietnamese, and am really enjoying the class. Despite the huge number of learning needs in one classroom it seems to be an effective learning environment and a great way to get more people interested in VSL.

HAD 10 Year Anniversary: Toleration and Acceptance

Today was the much planed for 10 year anniversary of HAD. After seeing weeks of planning, arguments, mistakes etc. I was super nervous and excited to see it actually pulled off. Yet what ensued showed me just how strong HAD actually is and how passionate/hardworking the board members are.

             The event was an all day affair. I got there at 7:15 for setup and left at about 4:45. There were speeches, performances, games, dances, presentations and a lot of time to just chill and socialize. The morning was a more formal event with over 500 people and representatives from different Deaf and disabled organizations. The national anthem was preformed in VSL, Ánh (HAD President) gave a speech about the various accomplishments of HAD and numerous gifts were given to HAD. Then there were performances and a break for lunch. After lunch there were various competitions in tug-of-war, chess, dancing etc.

            One of the things that really stuck during the day was just how strong this organization is. There are around 350 members, many of whom could talk to me passionately about what their dreams for the deaf community are. The organization has managed to get interpreting for channel 02 news, produce and publish a sign language book and DVD (coming out very soon!), provide written Vietnamese classes to it’s members, help establish VSL classes for hearing Vietnamese, coordinate with other deaf organizations and get training from international experts.

            The other thing that struck me was the significant change in the level of acceptance I felt from the general HAD members (I’ve already felt a huge amount of acceptance from certain board members, but I’ve known them longer). Last week when I went to the Sunday meeting most people simply asked me if I was American and if I was hearing or deaf and then either felt shy or got frustrated trying to communicate with me and gave up. I’m not sure what it was about today but instead of merely feeling tolerated I felt a huge degree of acceptance. I had several long 30 minute plus conversations with people. I learned about their jobs, their views on development, got taught a ton of new signs and discussed the differences between the deaf worlds in the US and Vietnam.

            There could have been several factors for why I felt more accepted. Maybe it was the relaxed happy atmosphere and the huge amount of time to kill while the competitions were going on that made people more open and willing to talk. Maybe it was the fact that I was wearing a HAD t-shirt and was clearly involved in helping out and therefore wasn’t viewed as such an outsider. Maybe it was the fact that more people recognized me from the week before and started talking to me. Or maybe it was the huge influx of new faces from other deaf organizations that made people more comfortable around outsiders.

Whatever the cause there was a distinctive change in the way I was treated. There were several conversations where the person didn’t ask until about 15 minutes in weather I was deaf or hearing, and then it seemed more out of surprise that one of their friends had suggested that I was hearing, rather then trying to establish what I was doing there. People also seemed much more willing to teach me new signs. I learned the sign for EDUCATION, SEMASTRESS, HARICUTTER, NAIL-POLISHER, HOW-OLD? vs. AGE, OLDER, YOUNGER etc. It was a really great feeling. And I’m sure that if it keeps up I will be able to learn way more about the Vietnamese Deaf community and VSL.

Another interesting note is how such a strong vibrant community still faces significant barriers to acceptance in Vietnam. VSL is not recognized as an official language, HAD receives no government funding, there is no national interpreters union, and as far as I know there aren't any laws protecting Deaf workers. Most Vietnamese that I meet don’t seem to really understand what a sign language is or why I would be interested in working with the Deaf. This isn’t from lack of trying on the part of the organization either. HAD makes significant nods to patriotism, which I suspect are at least somewhat aimed at gaining governmental support/acceptance. The sign name of the organization is related to the communist hammer and sickle. The meeting was opened with a beautiful signed version of the national anthem. The club t-shirts all have numerous symbols related to Vietnam and Hanoi. The board members also latched onto the Australian lecture’s idea of using research to prove that VSL is an inherently Vietnamese language with strong roots in Vietnamese culture and then bringing that information to the government.

In conclusion the organization has made huge progress but it still has a long ways to go before it reaches anything that could be called acceptance. I wish that the organization that has moved so quickly towards accepting me could be in turn accepted by the society that it is so inherently part of.

Week 7, Tuesday: The Problems and Ethics of Interpreting

Tuesday. Day two of all day training for the deaf association. Topic: Interpreting.

Seems pretty simple right? When I first walked in I thought “how could they spend an entire day on interpreting?”. I mean I know interpreting is hard work, and something I probably wouldn’t want to do because I don’t like switching between languages quickly, but  even as an ASL minor I didn’t think there was that much to discuss about interpreting. I quickly learned how wrong I was.

Take this one real life example we discussed at length:

Two Deaf Vietnamese want to get a divorce, but they need an interpreter to do so. To get permission to have an interpreter at court the need to get the head of the deaf association to write a letter requesting an interpreter, which then has to be approved both by the government and the judge. Then both parties are represented by one interpreter, who they didn’t necessarily pick. Granted she’s considered the best interpreter in Hanoi, but when there are only 6 interpreters your pickings are slim. Furthermore she’s the younger sister of one of the board members, and is heavily involved in the deaf community. She’s heard all the gossip: the rumors that he cheated, the accusations that she wasn’t a good enough wife. She probably has some pretty strong opinions about the situation herself. And to top it all off she has never received any professional training in interpreting or legal language and is less the 30 years old.

There are a huge number of problems here. First the two deaf individuals should have the right to pick their own interpreters. It’s extremely important that they have a high degree of trust in their interpreter because having a good  working relationship with their interpreter could make or break their case… which means they should be able to pick the interpreter who they trust most. However if there are only 6 interpreters to chose from, and three other people have to approve your choice, then this right is heavily violated.

Second there should be two interpreters involved in the case. Having one interpreter for both defendants is like having one lawyer working on both sides of the case. There is bound to be some sort of conflict of interests. Furthermore the interpreters shouldn’t have a relationships with the other party. If they are pre disposed to the other parties interest then their interpreting might be effected.

Third the interpreters should be professionally trained; both in Vietnamese sign language and in legal Vietnamese so that they understand the rules of the court and can accurately explain the process to their client. They should be certified by a national board that has a common code of ethics, including the requirement that they maintain the confidentiality of their clients.

Finally the interpreters should have some kind of professional training to deal with difficult situations. Because interpreters are required to maintain confidentiality they need to learn ways of dealing with the stress of work without venting to another person.

While the problems seem huge, there are many examples of countries that have managed to overcome them. The Register of Interpreters for the Deaf (RID) in the US was only set up in 1964 and as of 2009 had 2,484 members. However, perhaps more pertinent to the case of Vietnam, the lecturer discussed in detail how Kosovo was able to go from no interpreters to enough interpreters for deaf individuals to enter universities in only 5 years. I think the board members learned a lot form that presentation (I certainly did), and I was very happy when “O” asked me if I could help explain it to the rest of the club at a later date.