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.
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