SADeaf celebrates Deafblind Awareness Month
This year marks the 5th year of the Deafblind Programme! We are excited to highlight our community and support a new book launch: “My Name is Siew Ling, I am Deafblind.”
Written by Lee Seow Ser and illustrated by Deaf artist Isaac Liang, the story follows Siew Ling’s journey of living life to the fullest after losing her sight as a child and her hearing as a young adult.
Get involved
Learn more about our community members through these stories and events:
- Meet the team: Visit these community outreach events to meet the author, Seow Ser, and Siew Ling.
- 6 June Sat, 10am-1pm: The Anchor @ Marine Parade, a new social space partnering with SADeaf for this event. Sign up here.
- 12 July Sun, 10am-12.30pm: Punggol Regional Library, an inclusive library with a rich collection and services that are designed to be accessible to all. (Please check back for the sign up link.)
- Read the book: Get your physical copy in bookstores. (Please check back for more details.)
- Watch: See Fairus’ journey as a youth advocate who hopes her experience inspires others to believe in themselves.
- Discover: Read about Benson, who dreams of being a sports therapist, in our latest Annual Report.
- Connect and share: See Shana’s reflections as a Deafblind mother on our Facebook and Instagram pages.
SADeaf’s Deafblind Programme offers services such as counselling, case management, workshops and training support to individuals with Deafblindness.
“Deafblindness is the condition of combined vision and hearing loss that affects an individual’s capacity to access the world around them. Deafblindness is a spectrum that includes total blindness and total deafness, total blindness and residual hearing, total deafness and residual vision or residual hearing and vision, whether it is from birth or with age.”
Services in the Deafblind Programme
The programme, which has been growing steadily since 2021, provides tailored support in empowered living and travelling, education and employment, and communication and intervenor services, encouraging Deafblind persons to live full and independent lives.
Empowered Living and Travelling: Through a partnership with Guide Dogs Singapore (GDS), Deafblind individuals can develop skills to achieve greater independence with daily tasks and responsibilities at home, plus navigating necessary spaces such as for work.
Education and Employment: The Deafblind Programme advocates opportunities for the local Deafblind community to be equipped with the necessary skills to find employment and supporting clients to find employment that equips them with skills.
Communication: The Deafblind Programme aims to share and expose individuals and their family members to a variety of communication methods and expand their communication toolkit. Such methods include tactile signing, braille, haptics and speech.
As a whole, these pillars focus on building a client’s resourcefulness and encouraging their confidence to achieve beyond challenges.
Learn more
SADeaf offers engaging awareness programmes to companies, schools, fellow social-service agencies, societies, places of worship – anyone really – so more people can learn about Deafblind, Deaf or Hard-of-hearing persons, culture and all sorts of interesting fun facts. Suitable for all ages and developed to be engaging and fun.
Join us as an intervenor
SADeaf’s Deafblind Programme trains volunteers, caregivers and allies to become intervenors. These are dedicated communicator-guides who support the Deafblind community as a bridge to the hearing and sighted world.
Intervenors work alongside Deafblind clients during social outings, workshops and daily activities – a partnership that supports independence.
What the training involves
Through our regular training sessions, you will learn specialised skills, including:
- Human Guiding Techniques (how to safely guide someone physically)
- ProTactile Sign Language (communication through touch)
After the training, you will be matched with a Deafblind client by our team. We do ask for a commitment of 1 year, to participate in 5-6 activities and assignments within the year. This time helps you build trust, rapport and friendship with the client.
Who can apply?
- Must be 21 years old and above.
- Able to commit to the training sessions.
- Willing to have a short chat with our staff before training begins.
- Ready to follow our Intervenor Code of Conduct.
Interested in joining us, partnering with us, or have questions? Email us at deafblind@sadeaf.org.sg.
Frequently asked questions
Q: Are there volunteering commitments after the training?
A: Yes. We invite you to help out as a peer mentor for the next batch of trainees. You will also be invited to support clients at monthly group sessions, annual awareness events and ad-hoc outings over a 1-year period.
Q: Do I get a certificate upon completion?
A: Yes, a certificate will be issued once you complete all training sessions or fulfill the 1-year commitment period, whichever comes first.
Q: Can family members sign up?
A: Absolutely. Family members and close friends are highly encouraged to sign up. Your close relationship and personal insights add value to the community.