Author Archive SADeaf

Singapore Votes 2020 – The Political Debate. Sign Language Interpretation and Notetaking provided by The Singapore Association for the Deaf. Four political parties – People’s Action Party (PAP), Progress Singapore Party (PSP), Workers’ Party (WP) and Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) will participate in a live General Elections debate.

In the first segment, a moderator will ask the four candidates a series of questions on topics including unemployment, helping businesses and social mobility.

In the second segment, candidates will get to ask questions of other candidates in a structured sequence as well as answer questions posed to them by other candidates.

Notetaking-only feed (ie. text-only feed for deafblind, blind-deaf and others): https://tinyurl.com/1Jun8pm

25 June 2020 – The Dumpling Festival (also known as Dragon Boat Festival or 端午节 “Duan Wu Jie”) is traditionally celebrated on the fifth day of the fifth month of the Chinese lunar calendar.

Image Source

The best-known legend of the celebration, is the commemoration of 屈原 “Qu Yuan”, a third-century poet and patriotic statesman during China’s Warring States period (475-221 BC). Qu Yuan committed suicide in Miluo River when the war was lost. Loved and respected by the people, the locals paddled their boats up and down the river, hitting the water with their paddles and beating drums to scare evil spirits away. They also threw lumps of rice into the river to feed the fish so that they would not eat Qu Yuan’s body.

In Singapore, the Dumpling Festival is of course, all about the food. Do a quick search on the internet about the Dumpling Festival in Singapore and you will find listicles of the best Rice Dumplings to savour in Singapore.

In order to bring the food and this festive cheer to the Deaf community, Social Group of the Deaf (SGD) came up with a simple Facebook game to engage with the community.

Spot 5 differences! Answers revealed below.

Participants were asked to submit the answers via Facebook Messenger and the top three winners were awarded Rice Dumplings from the famous Kim Choo (Joo Chiat) stall.

Here are the winners!

1st Prize is Carol Tan | 2nd Prize is Ee Wun | 3rd prize is Hui Keng.

The prizes were presented by Ms Tay Lay Hong, SGD committee member, on behalf of Ms Amy Ho, Chairperson of SGD.

To all participants, the SGD Committee would like to say a big thank you! Although we are unable to celebrate this festive occasion together due to the COVID-19 situation, we hope this mini-game brought you joy while staying at home. Stay tuned to our Facebook page for more games and activities!

M1 has announced the launch of two new mobile service plans exclusively for clients of SADeaf.

The Biz SIM and mySIM25 plans are priced respectively at S$21.00 and S$25.20 per month. The plans will come with free exclusive benefits such as all day free incoming call, free sim card and registration, free caller number ID and free auto-roaming subscription.  

Note that the $0 phone deals under the mySIM25 plan valid from 29 June 2020 till 31 July 2020.

Subscriptions may be made at any M1 Shops or M1 Exclusive Distributors with the presentation of the SADeaf Hearing Help Card.

For enquiries, please contact: cs_enquiry@sadeaf.org.sg.

In view of the Covid-19 situation, it is important to ensure that Deaf people who are sign language users receive information in a timely and accurate manner. Because of the coronavirus crisis, many words and phrases which are new to the general public, including the Deaf community, have now become familiar to all of us. However, some of these words and phrases do not have formal or widely used signs yet, so SADeaf is pleased to present some suggestions on how these can be signed. 

This initiative was headed by SADeaf’s Sign Language Instructors sub-committee and Deaf Access Service department.

https://www.zaobao.com.sg/NEWS/FUKAN/OTHERS/STORY20200621-1062778

Mask wearing and safe distancing is the new norm against COVID-19. Deaf Individuals who depend on lip-reading are presented with an additional challenge in their daily lives. Our current media and information channels are also unable to effectively provide first-hand information to the Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing community. Tan Wei Ling, born deaf, has the support of her family and colleagues. She appreciates the warm smile not hidden by the masks.

I asked on an online chat, “Hello! Do you prefer typing or speaking?”

Tan Wei Ling smiled and waved from the screen. She replied in Sign Language, “Either is fine!”

Tan Wei Ling, 30 years old, is born deaf. She wears hearing aids to enable her to hear sounds. Wei Ling cheerfully narrated, “In the beginning, my parents thought that I was stubborn and disobedient. But even after my mother found that I had hearing loss, when I was two, she still thought I was a stubborn daughter.”

Hearing loss did not prevent Wei Ling from leading an active life. She enjoys interacting with people from all walks of life and is determined to constantly challenge herself. Once during an overseas community involvement programme in Sri Lanka, she performed song-signing on stage. She said, “Being born deaf is not a label that I am ‘unable to do anything’. Just like the waves of an ocean, there are ups and downs in our lives that help us to grow. I may be Deaf but I am not disabled; as long as I am willing, I can still contribute to society.”

Tan Wei Ling works as a Lifeskills Coach. During the Circuit Breaker, she continued teaching her trainees with intellectual disability using online video conferencing software. However, online learning is different from classroom learning. It was difficult to supervise the trainees’ work or progress and she could only do so when they return to the centre. “During this period, work meetings have transited online. When the network is unstable, speech becomes unclear. But if o­ther party could speak slower, I can lip-read to better figure what they are saying.

𝐔𝐧𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐥𝐢𝐩-𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐦𝐚𝐬𝐤𝐬

Though the hearing aid helps to pick up sounds, Wei Ling communicates with others through observing their mouth movement and facial expression, a practice she adopted from young. As masks are now mandatory, she is unable to read lips which have led to communication breakdowns. Nowadays, she would type down her food order and show it to the stall owner when ordering food. As she is not well-versed in Chinese, she would point on the menu or pictures when ordering from a Chinese-speaking stall owner. She lamented, “Sometimes stall owners don’t understand my order. But not waste the time of stall owner’s time, I would just agree to whatever they say. Once, I ordered Beehoon only to find out that it was Meepok when I reached home.”

Wei Ling believes that most stall owners are patient towards the deaf. However, there are exceptions. She recalls a negative experience where her friend was refused a coffee order when the order was placed using sign language. Her friend insisted on the order until the stall owner relented. If not for his or her persistence, he or she would not have been able to get the coffee. “Individuals with visual impairment and hearing loss do receive differential treatments.”

When asked if she had been mocked by a passer-by, Tan Wei Ling replied, “I don’t know, because I can’t hear them. Even when my friends inform me of the ugly comments made, I wouldn’t take them to heart. After all, I won’t meet the person again, why bother?”

There were times where Wei Ling felt lost while growing up. During her secondary school days, she felt inferior and disgruntled. When she advanced from Canossian School to St Anthony’s Canossian Secondary School, her class size increased from 10 to 40 students. There were more students and the pace of learning increased. The pressure to adapt to the new environment caused Wei Ling to compare herself with her hearing peers. She felt unfair that she was deaf.

She recalled, “I once blamed my mother for giving birth to me. Back then, I only knew English there while my mother only knew Chinese. The language barrier was a cause of frequent conflict and friction. Sometimes, we would end up ignoring each other for a few weeks”.

Wei Ling later picked up Chinese, while her mother started learning English. They started to understand each other better and embarked on a journey of lifelong learning.

Family is an important support pillar for Wei Ling. A memorable incident was when her brother spoke at his wedding last year. “When I was a kid, I prayed to God to let me take my sister’s place. That I would be deaf instead of her. Now, I realise that God is fair. My sister lost her hearing but she has a heart bigger than others. Wei Ling, your brother will forever love you and protect you.”

Tan Wei Ling said, “My brother backs me up and constantly encourages me. Now remembering his words I still feel touched.” Wei Ling’s brother had his own place after his marriage and would visit her family every Sunday. During the circuit breaker, family members from different households were restricted from visiting each other. Something was missing without the brother’s presence. On the other hand, working from home had allowed her to spend more time with her parents, “Before, I rarely have the opportunity to spend time with my parents like this.”

𝐃𝐞𝐚𝐟 𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐝𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐬 𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐚𝐜𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐂𝐎𝐕𝐈𝐃-𝟏𝟗 𝐮𝐩𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐬

Wei Ling is an avid traveller who enjoys savouring local delicacies and sights. Her plans to travel to Dubai and Japan this year was cancelled due to the pandemic. She said, “Initially I was disappointed, but come to think of it, I see this as an opportunity to save for future travels when the pandemic has passed!” Since the COVID-19 situation, Tan Wei Ling gets first-hand updates from reading news articles and watching sign language videos posted on “Equal Dreams” Facebook page. Like many other deaf individuals, they agree that live broadcast of the government budget and updates by the Multi-Ministry Taskforce on COVID-19 are good, but this information remains inaccessible to the deaf.

She said, “Relevant agencies can consider including sign language interpretation or notetaking in order to increase the accessibility of these broadcasts. This will allow Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing individuals to be timely informed of the latest updates.

When the circuit breaker measures are lifted, Wei Ling will to her workplace. Mask wearing is necessary and her thoughtful colleagues are exploring to wear transparent masks to enable her to lip-read.

Wei Ling said, “What is miss most, is the uncovered smiles. I hope everyone can unite to overcome the challenge, and the world needs no longer be consumed by this pandemic.”

Translated by SADeaf Staff Joan Peh & Teo Zhi Xiong

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong is scheduled to address the country at 4pm on June 23.

Live Sign Language interpretation & notetaking will be provided by SADeaf on: https://www.facebook.com/SADeafSG/

Notetaking-only feed (ie. text-only feed for deafblind, blind-deaf and others): https://tinyurl.com/pmlee23jun

Live Broadcast – PM Lee's Live Address

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong is scheduled to address the country at 4pm on June 23.Live Sign Language interpretation & notetaking will be provided by SADeaf on: https://www.facebook.com/SADeafSG/Notetaking-only feed (ie. text-only feed for deafblind, blind-deaf and others): https://tinyurl.com/pmlee23jun

Posted by The Singapore Association for the Deaf on Tuesday, 23 June 2020

Sign Up: https://tinyurl.com/NLB-Focus-Group

In order to improve the accessibility and experience of library services for persons with disabilities (PwD), National Library Board (NLB) is developing a new library membership for PwD.

The NLB value input from PwD and caregivers in designing this membership, and we would like to hear from you. NLB will be working with a research consultant to conduct online focus group discussions from July to August. Participants will receive a monetary token in appreciation of their time.

If you are interested, please provide your contact details to SADeaf so we can nominate you for the focus group. The research consultant will reach out to selected participants with more information thereafter.

Thank you for helping us make libraries more accessible, we look forward to hearing from you 

For enquires: cs_enquiry@sadeaf.org.sg

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With the Fortitude Budget on 26 May 2020, the Singapore Government has committed almost $100 billion to support workers and businesses to fight against COVID-19. But the longer-term economic challenges remain formidable. COVID-19 has severely disrupted the global economy. Singapore must respond quickly to these global shifts and prepare for the difficult times ahead. 

From 7 to 20 June 2020, PM Lee Hsien Loong, DPM Heng Swee Keat, SM Teo Chee Hean, SM Tharman Shanmugaratnam, Minister Chan Chun Sing and Minister Lawrence Wong will deliver a series of national broadcasts. They will explain what a post-COVID-19 future looks like for Singapore, and lay out plans to see us through the storm and emerge stronger.

If you have missed the broadcasts – Watch it here!

Overcoming the Crisis of a Generation
Speaker: Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong
Date of broadcast: 7 June 2020
Interpreted by: Zach

Living with COVID-19
Speaker: Minister for National Development and Second Minister for Finance Lawrence Wong
Interpreted by: Shimei
Date of broadcast: 9 June 2020

Resilience in a Changing External Environment
Speaker: Senior Minister and Coordinating Minister for National Security Teo Chee Hean
Interpreted by: Zach
Date of broadcast: 11 June 2020

Making a Living in a COVID-19 World
Speaker: Minister for Trade and Industry Chan Chun Sing
Interpreted by: Zach
Date of broadcast: 14 June 2020

A Stronger and More Cohesive Society
Speaker: Senior Minister and Coordinating Minister for Social Policies Tharman Shanmugaratnam
Interpreted by: Amirah
Date of broadcast: 17 June 2020

Emerging Stronger Together
Speaker: Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance Heng Swee Keat
Interpreted by: Amirah
Date of broadcast: 20 June 2020