IDD 2009

Lost, confused, puzzled, perplexed, left out...That's how I felt as I sat in the theatre at the National Museum with many others last Monday. I felt like I was the minority. Don't misunderstand, I would not say it was really a negative or bad feeling. To a certain extent, I kinda enjoyed the different 'conversations' that were going on all around me, allowed me to understand from their perspectives I guess. Do they feel what I have felt when they were amongst the hearing?...On Monday, I was invited by one of my colleagues, Kelvin, to attend International Day of the Deaf (IDD) 2009 at the National Museum. Well, I really do not know what I would expect from this event, thought I would just go and check it out and maybe gain better awareness of things and people. I was waiting in the theatre for the event to begin and all around me were people who were hearing impaired. Most of them seemed to know each other, they gave me the impression that they were pretty close-knitted. There was hardly any noise in the theatre as they were all using sign language. I don't understand at all what they were trying to communicate to one another. Communication is indeed powerful as it just reaffirmed the fact that it could come in so many forms. They were so expressive, be it facial expression or body language. I must say I am thankful for the experience and awareness that day, I walked away from this event with these words in my mind and maybe something for us to think about...Action speaks louder that words...It is not actual deafness but deafness of the mind.