Deaf Student Maltreated, Seriously Injured Over Fare Discount

JOHN EZRA CABALO, DEAF STUDENT OF DLS-CSB SDEAS, DIDN'T GO TO SCHOOL FOR DAYS AND FAILED TO FILE AN EXCUSE SLIP FOR HIS ABSENCE. Ezra was about to be declared AWOL when the school received a long letter from his distraught mother detailing the circumstance behind his prolonged leave. He broke a leg in an accident and the attending physician advised him to refrain from walking and lifting heavy objects for the next four weeks.

On the evening of January 28, Ezra fell down from the air-conditioned Green Star bus he was riding to the streets when the bus suddenly sped off just as he was alighting at a designated stop in Susana Heights, Muntinlupa City. Nobody helped him. Prior to the accident, the bus conductor refused to give Ezra the fare discount accorded to him by law (Republic Act 9442 Privileges and Incentives for Disabled Persons). He was instead charged the full fare and after realizing that Ezra could not hear, the conductor and the driver loudly made fun of him for the rest of the journey.

Despite the pain from his injured leg, Ezra managed to get to the market stall where his parents earn their keep as vendors. His family brought him to the Ospital ng Muntinlupa where he was diagnosed with a strained ligament on his right knee. From the hospital, they proceeded to file a formal complaint with the police that same evening. Ezra and his family went back to the hospital for X-ray and the attending physician told them that the X-ray results showed that Ezra sustained a fractured leg bone. Ezra was told not to carry heavy objects so the injured bone would heal faster. Ezra and his relatives proceeded to the National Orthopedic Center in Quezon City for a second opinion. The attending doctor at the Center found a crack instead on Ezra’s leg and expressed dismay that the physician at the previous hospital did not bother to put the injured leg in a cast, as is usually done with broken bones.

Ezra is on his way to recovery. Initially, he was advised that he can only move around on a wheelchair. Though tough on the family’s finances, they hired a van at Php 250/one-way trip to bring Ezra to school. Ezra is very eager not to miss classes since excess absences could affect his standing as a 100% scholar at DLS-CSB SDEAS. Strong-willed and determined to keep his scholarship, Ezra now limps his way from class to class.

The management of the offending bus company has yet to respond to the complaint lodged by Ezra’s family with the police. Ezra was able to write down the bus plate number (DLK-726) but the bus company allegedly denies that the plate number belongs to their bus. Two teachers who befriended Ezra after witnessing the incident with the bus conductor refused to serve as eyewitness to the case.

UPDATE: Upon checking with the Land Transportation Office (LTO) vehicle registration verification facility via text messaging (TXT 2600 for all networks), plate number DLK-726 is not a registered vehicle.

Young Star Girls of Summer

JACKIE O’ FLASH

By Bea J. Ledesma

Friday, April 11, 2008
Section H-4

The Philippine Star

YStyle is big on female empowerment, which is why we’re so eager to bring you Sunsilk’s four ambassadors. These four women found success on their own terms, earning their place in the world by taking charge of their lives and climbing the corporate ladder one progressive step at a time. Sunsilk’s latest campaign, which features icons like Madonna, Beyoncé and Shakira, encourages women to assume responsibility for their own lives — to take the lead, take chances, take life by the horns. Meet the women who aren’t afraid to call out carpe diem on their own existence.

Diana Banas
Job: Chef’s aid

Few people overcome the hurdles they are born with. Diana is not one of them. Currently a success in her field (she’s slowly climbing the ladder of the culinary department of Manila Pen), she’s an example to people everywhere that anything is possible. Having been born Deaf, Diana grew up worrying over things that most take for granted. “Simple things like riding a jeep,” she says, become issues. “How will I pay? How will I get down the jeep?”

Challenges came her way every day. She experienced ridicule from her peers who made fun of her disability. Despite her dream of going to a certified cooking institution for college, she could only attend the School of Deaf Education and Applied Studies (SDEAS). “Even if (the other school) wanted to accept me, they couldn’t because there is a lack of interpreters and teachers who know how to sign.”

But Diana took it all in stride, earning a place in student council in college, visiting the National Technical Institute of the Deaf at the Rochester Institute of Technology in New York as a student ambassador, and, later on, pursuing her dream of becoming a famous chef. Based on experience, she’s not afraid of aiming high — and setting a standard for people with the same disability.

“I hope that Deaf people who can’t find work will venture into business instead of just waiting for help from others and doing nothing at home. If we want equal rights with the rest of the people in society, we must also learn how to be responsible for ourselves instead of depending on charity,” she says. “And I hope that other Deaf people will have access to education so they can become productive members of society. I hope schools will open their doors to Deaf people because education will open opportunities for them, the same way it opened opportunities for me.”

Her take on the progressive Pinay: “Filipinas can make their life happen today because there are many doors of opportunities open to them. I know that they can succeed in any endeavor they venture into.”

STUDY SIGN LANGUAGE

This Summer,
LET YOUR HANDS SPEAK!

Enroll in
FILIPINO SIGN LANGUAGE

Summer Classes
for
KIDS and ADULTS
at
De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde
School of Deaf Education and Applied Studies

Take on a new challenge,
have FUN and make NEW FRIENDS!

Sign language is considered one of the most fascinating languages to learn.

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Reasons for Studying Sign Language:

1. Learning a new language helps build confidence
2. Being a bilingual or trilingual expands your cognitive processes
3. You can sign with your mouth full or talk through windows of restaurants or offices
4. Efficient gestural communication for professionals like scuba divers, firefighters, police officers, stock traders
5. Sign language might help public speakers become more at ease with their hand gestures
6. Pilots and astronauts in earphones and/or helmets can say their final words a bit more than a "thumbs-up" sign and smile
7. A patient with acute hearing/vocal loss in an accident can convey in signs to communicate what s/he feels, needs or wants.
8. Enriches culture and art when used in its naturally simultaneous, cinematic nature
9. Adds a dynamic spice to school-day and bedtime storytelling. Kids love it and are hooked!
10. Enhances performing arts in theatre and dance. It produces a live, richly imaginative cinematic-like narrative in 4-dimensional language.
11. You can be sure that nobody can overhear through doors, "whisper" in signs in a library or church, or lively talk in noisy bars and discos.
12. You can have an edge over the other contestants when you join The Amazing Race!

Reference: http://www.handspeak.com/

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REGISTRATION PERIOD
April 8-18, 2008
10 a.m. – 5 p.m.

SCHEDULE OF CLASSES
April 16 – May 28

Kids (7-12 years old)
Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays
10:00 a.m.-12:00 nn

Filipino Sign Language Level 1 (for Adults)
Wednesdays & Fridays
2:00-5:00 p.m.

REGISTRATION FEE
Php 2,400

FOR INQUIRIES, CONTACT:
526-7441 to 47 local 131
balizaj@dls-csb.edu.ph

ENROLL NOW!!!

Confident Deaf Bowler makes it to the RP National Team


Lovella Catalan is confident she will eventually make it to the national women's bowling team of the Philippines this year. It's a feeling that stayed with Lovella after she qualified for the training pool.

Playing last March 1 and 2 against Elaine Florencio at the Green Valley Lanes in Pasig, Lovella garnered an average of 230 pinfalls. At one point her highest score was 280, almost a perfect score. Lovella became one of the very first to qualify in the training pool. She is the only Deaf bowler there.

When not bowling, Lovella is busy at the De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde School of Deaf Education and Applied Studies (DLS-CSB SDEAS) as a Trainor and Formator at the Deaf Sports Program. She is an SDEAS alumnae.

Qualifying games were also held in Visayas and Mindanao. The new qualifiers like Lovella will join other former national bowlers who automatically qualified in the training pool. From the training pool, 3 women and 3 men will be chosen by coach Josephine Canare to represent the country in the Philippine International Bowling Cup. This tournament will be held in Manila middle of this year.

Though Lovella is confident she will make it to the RP national team, she is not confident about winning in the coming tournament. This is partly because she is not comfortable with the bowling lanes in Mall of Asia, where the tournament will be held.

Another reason, she points out, is the presence of strong Korean women bowlers. And lastly, she has not 100% recovered from the shoulder injury she sustained in 2005.

But with the way she played in the qualifiers, it's hard to think she is injured. Her scores speak for themselves and they say Lovella's chances of winning are as good as anyone else's.

SDEAS Counselors attend International Conference in Hong Kong

The Deaf Counselors of the School of Deaf Education and Applied Studies (SDEAS) of the De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde (DLS-CSB) attended the Regional Conference on Women with Disabilities organized by the Association of Women with Disabilities Hong Kong (AWDHK). This event took place at the City University of Hong Kong from January 7-9, 2008, and centered around the theme "Innovations and Solution Focused".

Ms. Jeniffer C. Mendoza and Ms. Florisa L. Punsalan presented papers on research participated in by female students of DLS-CSB SDEAS as well as their own research that they undertook as leaders of the Filipino Deaf Women's Health and Crisis Center (FWDHCC). Ms. Nicky Templo-Perez and Mr. John Xandre Baliza served as interpreters for this event.

The issues that were discussed during the various paper presentations for this conference centered on violence, poverty, health concerns, family concerns, and arts as it affects women with disabilities.


















From L-R: Jeniffer Mendoza, Florisa Punsalan, John Baliza & Nicky Templo-Perez)

SDEAS hosts symposium on NBN-ZTE Controversy

11 February 2008 – De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde School of Deaf Education and Applied Studies (DLS-CSB SDEAS) organized a symposium on the NBN-ZTE Controversy with Rep. Teddy Casiño as the resource speaker and presenter. With a full-house crowd at the Augusto Rosario Gonzalez Theater, Rep. Casiño gave an overview of how the NBN-ZTE contract started as a good idea and ended as one of the most talked about corruption issues in the Philippines under the Arroyo administration.

The audience of 120 students, faculty and staff eagerly asked questions during the open forum, proof that Benildeans are very much interested in understanding vital issues in public governance and what can be done to address these issues.

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Q&A With SDEAS Student Ana Kristina Arce on the NBN-ZTE Controversy

Deaf E-News (DEN): What can you say about the talk of Rep. Teddy Casiño?

Ana: I was totally not aware about the ZTE-NBN issue. Today I learned about what is happening in our country when I read the newspapers and listened to Congressman Teddy Casino during the forum.

I felt frustrated that some politicians lose their moral values in their quest to become millionaires while most people work hard to pay their tax to the government. Many of us got angry because of these corrupt government officials.

We are shocked because we don't really know what the government is doing.


DEN: What do you think about our government and what should we do?

Ana: Government system and policy are not strong. It's a mess.

We should study the background of people who would be candidates for mayor, governor, congressman and senator in the
Philippines. If they have good ethics and morals and can serve our country without being corrupt, we should vote for them during elections.

DEN: What is our role as students to the country?

Ana: As students, we should learn how to strengthen our morality, ethics and values so we can become good examples to our country.


DEN: Any suggestions for next topic of discussion?

Ana: I want to know about Charter-Change (CHA-CHA) and the problem in our government system. Thank you for your encouraging us to get to know about issues.

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January 25 General Assembly

Faculty and staff of DLS-CSB SDEAS held their first General Assembly also in January 25, (yes it was a busy day) and went straight into the seminar "Learner Centered Parameters." It sets the tone for what SDEAS will aim for in this Year of the Rat (2008): A new & trailblazing direction for a New Year.

And right after the assembly food was served to celebrate the birthdays of staff and faculty born in January. Everybody concentrated on the food and talk of the celebrants' ages did not come up. It was a busy happy day.

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