The Deaf community and the hearing world must work together for greater understanding and appreciation of the uniqueness of the Deaf and be one in promoting equality and dignity for all. Anaditha M. Angcay is passionate and frank about her identity as a Deaf person.
In October last year, Anaditha M. Angcay finished her Bachelor in Applied Deaf Studies specializing in Business Entrepreneurship, honorable mention, from De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde School and Deaf Education and Applied Studies (DLS-CSB SDEAS). She now works as data collector and masterfile analyst in a company in Manila. "I am very happy that I have a good job," she says, "so I can support my family."
She possesses a ready and radiant smile and a robust view of life. She is no stranger to hard work, having had to take care for herself, along with her other siblings, at an early age. And although she would rather choose to talk about what could be than what had been, Health & Home believes that her being open and frank about her personal life has given her a clearer perspective of both the Deaf community and the hearing world.
In a speech she gave sometime ago, she says, 'Let me start by telling you that my mother was a GRO. I am her fifth child but her only child to my Japanese father. I was born pure Deaf in Manila, Philippines." Her father, she adds, provided well for them and although they had a house, a car and had access to material things, "I was very quiet because nobody in my family knew how to communicate in sign language."
During our interview, Anaditha, speaking through an interpreter, Maria Veronica Templo-Perez, dean of DLS-CSB SDEAS, recounts that in grade school she wasn't aware of the presence of the Deaf community. "I hated myself for being Deaf. It was a very lonely experience for me. In high school, I met a Deaf person who tole me, 'You're Deaf, you should be able to identify yourself with the Deaf community.' I began to see myself as equal with other Deaf children, especially that our school gave equal opportunities to its students."
The same equal opportunities, she says, had been granted her by DLS-CSB SDEAS which gave her a scholarship' after she graduated with honors in high school. "In DLS-CSB, I learned about my identity as a Deaf person. Deaf with a big "D" means I am proud of my language and culture as a person. I am not ashamed of who I am and the language which we use-the Filipino Sign Language or FSL."
Anaditha's life of ease and comfort took a bad turn after her father was diagnosed with cancer and had to go back to Japan for treatment, and a few years few, she had to bear the sadness of being abandoned by her mother. She and her siblings had to fend for themselves, even taking care of her grandmother who had bone cancer. Looking back on this experience, Anaditha says, "We have to take on the responsibility of looking after each other and have survived because we embrace our situation with humility and simplicity."
Doing encoding jobs for her teachers, cleaning houses, or fixing files just to have extra money for allowance, Anaditha is grateful to her teachers at DLS-CSB for giving her the opportunity to be of help to other Deaf people by providing Deaf leadership, different activities, seminars and workshops. And she is thankful to God "that He has given me faith to become a strong Deaf woman." Otherwise, she confesses, "I would never have learned to be self-confident."
Her self-confidence has enabled her to show to other Deaf people and those in the hearing world the need to "unite ourselves in promoting equality and dignity for all people."
At the DLS-CSB SDEAS, Anaditha had taken an active part in helping the Deaf association win "the most outstanding student organization" in March 2010.2 With the school helping promote the natural Filipino Sign Language (FSL), she and her fellow alumni and the students at SDEAS want the Department of Education to recognize the said sign language, citing the Bangla Sign Language for having been recognized by the Bangladesh government as early as 2000.
Also, she holds fond memories of her experience in the Summer of Service Program3 in Iligan and Ozamis cities. That experience, she notes, was "a sacrifice and an offering. It was giving and practicing patience and a way for me to show love to other Deaf children." And in propagating the gospel of identify, especially to the hearing world, she says the initial feeling "is awe, then there's some curiosity. But for the past 10 years many things have happened, and there's now a feeling of acceptance of the Deaf. But there's much to be desired. They still forget the services of an interpreter."
And how does she make of this? "The Deaf are very visual. They learn how to adapt fast, and they manage to train themselves to be observant. They can see the emotion of the hearing person. They're very frank, especially if they're comfortable with the person."
Hence, she says, the profession of interpreting should be given due recognition because it "requires years of training and sets of skills. The stereotype thinking is that all Deaf persons are alike. They're unique, each has his or her own personality."
Opportunities, she observes, come very rarely, that's why she takes to heart the words of her father, "Don't wait for opportunity," and the advice of her grandmother, "You become successful in life by always trying." And she passes them on to her friends. "I was sharing something similar to my friend one time," she confides, "and she told me she always failed in job interviews, so I told her not to wait for opportunity. 'Go find that opportunity and keep trying.' She's very successful now because she followed that advice."
Also, she holds fond memories of her experience in the Summer of Service Program3 in Iligan and Ozamis cities. That experience, she notes, was "a sacrifice and an offering. It was giving and practicing patience and a way for me to show love to other Deaf children." And in propagating the gospel of identify, especially to the hearing world, she says the initial feeling "is awe, then there's some curiosity. But for the past 10 years many things have happened, and there's now a feeling of acceptance of the Deaf. But there's much to be desired. They still forget the services of an interpreter."
And how does she make of this? "The Deaf are very visual. They learn how to adapt fast, and they manage to train themselves to be observant. They can see the emotion of the hearing person. They're very frank, especially if they're comfortable with the person."
Hence, she says, the profession of interpreting should be given due recognition because it "requires years of training and sets of skills. The stereotype thinking is that all Deaf persons are alike. They're unique, each has his or her own personality."
Opportunities, she observes, come very rarely, that's why she takes to heart the words of her father, "Don't wait for opportunity," and the advice of her grandmother, "You become successful in life by always trying." And she passes them on to her friends. "I was sharing something similar to my friend one time," she confides, "and she told me she always failed in job interviews, so I told her not to wait for opportunity. 'Go find that opportunity and keep trying.' She's very successful now because she followed that advice."
As a graduate, she says, she's very inspired because she's a better Deaf person now. And she adds, "I am grateful to God for sending Saint Benidle who opened accessibility for the Deaf to study at CSB, and for SDEAS for providing advocacy for other people to become strong in their relationship. I wish our hearing and Deaf communities will become one world for the dignity of humankind in the near future."
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1 Besides her scholarship, she also received a sponsorship from members of the Rotary Club of Pasay Silangan.
2 Anaditha, Benildean Deaf Association (BDA) 2009-2010 president, headed several projects including a scholarship training workshop for other Deaf students. BDA aims to empower the Deaf to be leader advocates.
3 Summer of Service, a two-week volunteering program under the College's Center for Action Office, offers DLS-CSB student an opportunity to do community service outside of Metro Manila, especially for the Deaf community.
JF Sarasoza Jr is editor of Health & Home.
