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On top of the heap
By INA HERNANDO-MALIPOT
Many people had been awed upon hearing that a deaf girl graduated magna
cum laude. But that sense of awe quickly turned to inspiration when that
same girl delivered a memorable commencement speech in behalf of her
class using merely her hands – and her heart.
Last week, 23-year-old Ana Kristina Arce was all over the news for being
the first deaf student to graduate magna cum laude from the De La Salle-
College of Saint Benilde School. Ana also received the Community Service
award for volunteering to serve in various school programs, as well as
for being the the president of the Benildean Deaf Association, the DLS-
CSB student council, the Lasallian Ministry Program for the Deaf, and
the Summer of Service Program. Ana was also one of the four student
ambassadors in the Summer Leadership Institute in PEN-International,
participated in the 12th Deaf Festival, Immaculate Conception Parish for
outreach program, relief operations for typhoon Ondoy victims and For-
the-Kids mini olympics.
GROWING UP
Ana was born deaf after her mother Vilma was infected by the rubella
virus during her pregnancy. But losing baby Ana was not an option. Vilma
pushed through with the pregnancy and gave birth to Ana on
1986
Seemingly a normal baby at first because she could react to noises, Ana
soon showed signs of deafness when she turned 11 months old.
At the age of two, Ana was enrolled at the Maria Lena Buhay Foundation,
an oral school, where she learned to speak and read lips.
“I learned sign language at age seven and it was easy for me to adjust
to communicate in sign language,” she says.
Being active in the deaf community, her sense of belonging made coping a
lot easier. It also helps that a lot of modern forms of communication
have become available “I can communicate with hearing people using
written communication, e-mail communication, SMS or text,” she says.
Also making things a lot easy for her is a sign language interpreter who
is helpful during interviews, seminars, classes, conferences and
All these make Ana feel no different at all!
MAKING THE BEST OUT OF SCHOOLING
For most people who are differently-abled, studying poses a major
problem and a lot of adjustments in many aspects have to be made. But
for Ana, schooling was bliss. “My parents were always supportive of me
especially with my going to school,” she says.
Looking for a school that would suit Ana’s needs was also something
that needed careful consideration. Her parents enrolled her both in
special and regular schools such as the Philippine Institute for the
Deaf, Philippine Normal University, and UP South to check if any of
these would be ideal for her. Unfortunately, adjustment at these said
schools did not come easy. Her parents then enlisted her at the
Philippine School for the Deaf where sign language is used as the medium
of communication through high school. In her senior year, Ana was
transferred to a private school for the deaf where she finished with
academic honors.
Still, Ana believed there were so much to be accomplished. “Even if I
am deaf, I did not consider deafness as an obstacle to pursuing my dream
of going to college and maybe a master’s degree,” she says.
As a child, Ana always wanted to be a painter. Her inclination towards
the arts pushed her to take up Bachelor in Applied Deaf Studies course
with specialization in Multimedia Arts in DLS-CSB. “I wanted to know
how I could do my best as a deaf person while pursuing my special skills
in multimedia arts,” she says.
She went to the right school indeed as DLS-CSB has a diverse group of
people who made her feel welcome. The School of Deaf Education and
Applied Studies or SDEAS, a department exclusively for deaf students
where the Filipino sign language (FSL) is used as a medium of
communication, also helped Ana in her adjustment,
It also helped that at CSB, the hearing student population is encouraged
to learn sign language through the Filipino Sign Language program. The
program urges hearing students get a deaf buddy especially in extra-
curricular activities to get to know deaf students better.
BEING AN ADVOCATE FOR THE DEAF
Ana says that despite the increasing awareness on people with special
needs, misconceptions about the deaf remains.
For instance the use of the terms “hearing impairment” and “deaf mute
” when referring to them is offensive, she says, because that term
means deaf people’s ears are impaired but they are actually not. “Most
people call us deaf mute but we are not mute. We are simply deaf and can
’t talk because we do not hear what other people say. We are not mute
because our tongues are normal.’’
Ana dreams of writing a book about the aspirations of the deaf. She
implores parents who have deaf kids not to force them to undergo
cochlear implants. “Most of the hearing parents want their deaf
children to learn how to speak so some of them make them wear a cochlear
implant although it’s not always successful. But if kids wear this,
they can’t just participate in physical activities like basketball,
swimming in deep level, and others,’’ she explains.
The best medium of communication, she believes, is still sign language.
Ana also hopes that in the future, hearing teachers of the deaf would
become aware of natural sign language especially in public and private
primary and secondary schools. “Filipino Sign Language should be
promoted as the primary means of communication for the deaf community. I
’m sure deaf children will learn their lessons fast if they use this as
the medium of communication just like me,” she ends.
http://www.mb.com.ph/articles/228513/on-top-heap
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Institute of Developing Economies, JETRO
Inter-disciplinary Studies Center
Poverty Alleviation and Social Development Studies Group
Deputy Director & Professor (IDEAS)
Senior Research Fellow
MORI, Soya
3-2-2, Wakaba, Mihama-ku, Chiba-shi,261-8545
Chiba, Japan
E-mail: soya_mori@ide.go.jp
Homepage: http://www.ide.go.jp/
Fax: 0+81-43-299-9548
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