Sign language clubs were established in grade school and high school of Miriam College and Ateneo De Manila. Tinig Kamay brought together children and youth, hearing and deaf, in activities that foster friendship,awareness of self and others, and understanding a person’s dignity and uniqueness. Meaningful encounters took place through holding of overnight camps, sports competitions, peer tutorials, outreach, and other deaf awareness activities. In 2007, the Usap Kamay Club of Ateneo was awarded Best Reach-Out organization for its active involvement in activities that provide service and uplift the welfare of children and youth who are deaf.

Through the years, members and alumni of Tinig Kamay clubs in Ateneo De Manila and Miriam College bring with them the desire to reach out to deaf people and make them part of the mainstream. Tinig Kamay has fostered the values of respect, equality, and self-giving.

The art component of Kapit Tinig has produced an exhibit and a theater production. The exhibit featured the products from the successive summer workshops in painting, mug and bowl designing, and pottery. One major achievement of the art program is an original production of a drama in movement featuring an all deaf cast entitled The Quiet Box. The exhibit and the theater production were held at the Meralco Theater in 2004. Today, some of the cast in that production have become members of dance groups, mentors, and leaders bringing with them the discipline of their arts training.

A group of psychologists was formed to provide guidance and counseling activities to deaf students in public schools. Varied activities such as self-discovery camps, team building, and other workshops were held as venue for both hearing and deaf to speak out and express their feelings and thoughts. Partnership with International Deaf Education Association (IDEA) in Bohol was formed and a team of deaf and hearing staff of LINK Center for the Deaf facilitated camps participated in by students of IDEA in Bohol. This is part of IDEA’s psychological and emotional development program for students.

Through a partnership with Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C., the Personal Discovery Program of the University reached Philippines. This program, consisting of structured activities that facilitate self-awareness, relating with others, and love for nature, has been given to young adults who are deaf in Metro Manila.

The problem of where to enroll graduating deaf students of Bagong Silang Elementary School had been a constant concern. There was no available high school with program for students who are deaf near the area and providing for transportation allowance was an additional burden to indigent families. The only solution was to open a high

school SPED Program in a nearby school. Through LINK Center for the Deaf’s scholarship program for teachers, in collaboration with DepEd, selected teachers from Caloocan and other School Divisions

were trained in sign language and awarded a three-summer scholarship grant in graduate studies teaching students who are deaf.

Not long after the first batch of teacher-scholars finished their basic sign language training in June 2003, Bagong Silang High School (BSHS) in Caloocan officially opened its first SPED class in 2004 with 7 students. For the families of these 7 children who cannot afford to provide money for transportation, the opening of a high school SPED Program near their homes was a relief.

In the early years of BSHS program, students who are deaf were mainstreamed in regular classes wherein most classes were without interpreters. Teachers in SPED provide remedial classes after the students’ regular daily classes. The teachers later on decided to put the students together in one class which is the class set up until today.

BSHS had its share of challenges, from its near closure when a fire broke in 2007 and destroyed everything to teachers slowly moving on to other endeavors leaving only two teachers, Mr. Al Rea and his wife, Marites Rea, in-charge of the program. The efforts of these two teachers sustained the program throughout the years.

Today, after ten years, Bagong Silang High School, continues to provide access to secondary education to deaf students in Caloocan. The first school in Caloocan which opened its SPED Program for deaf high school students has come a long way from 7 students in 2004 to 46 high school students in the school year 2012-2013. Mr. Al Rea and Marites Rea, former scholars of LINK Center for the Deaf, continue to persevere and provide opportunities for the children and their families in the hope of giving them a brighter future. Some of the graduates are now in tertiary level. Some are in vocational courses, while others have found jobs to help augment the family’s income.

Shannen was born a healthy baby, the elder of two children. At one year old, she can already pronounce words and phrases like “mommy” and “where is moon?”. At 1.3 years, she had a high fever that persisted. We brought her to the doctor. The fever went away and so was her sense of hearing. No matter how loud we call her name, she would not respond, not so much as a turn of the head.

I was shocked. I cried. My husband and I were at a lost. We were blaming each other. There was a lot of anger until we learned that she had an overdose of medicine, the reason for her loss of hearing.

We found ourselves at a lost. We did not know what steps to take. We wanted to buy Shannen a hearing aid and bring her to speech therapy sessions but we cannot afford it. With no money to avail of special services, she eventually, lost her speech and communication became difficult. That was when I decided to learn sign language. Eventhough, I’ve picked up words in sign language, the opportunity to talk to Shannen in a serious manner is so few. There was always something to do, something that needed my attention. So we ‘talk’ to each other when needed. Then LINK Center announced its workshops in visual arts and I found myself accompanying Shannen to the workshops.

Since she joined the workshops, I found time to talk to my daughter. Being always present in the workshop and assigned as an interpreter, I knew the lessons so we review the instructions at home. This provided us with bonding time and understanding of each other.

Sign language training is a must for all parents and other immediate families of the deaf child. I am helping achieve this by teaching sign language in our church in my free time. I hope that other people will understand Shannen and also other children who are deaf.Shannen Timbal is a student at Bagong Silang High School in Caloocan and is also a scholar of LINK Center under the Educational Support Program

The Self Awareness and Psycho-Spiritual Development Program was initially funded by Assisi Development Foundation and Misereor. The program consists of structured activities designed to discover, reflect, and enrich participants’ relationship with self, others, and God.

Two aspects of the program are the group counseling sessions and spiritual formation. The former is handled by volunteer-psychologists from Miriam College Graduate Studies while the latter is facilitated by members of the Christian Life Community –Formation Institute.

Regular sessions were held every month with an average of 50 participants from 5 public schools in Quezon City and Caloocan.

The program, formerly known as Educational Support Fund, was created to provide services to indigent students who are deaf in public schools. Services include interpreting in mainstream classes, remedial and enrichment, transportation allowance, uniform, and school supplies. Fund raising activities such as selling of Christmas cards and solicitations from individual donors were the first efforts to jumpstart the program.

With support from Assisi Development Foundation, 30 students from different schools enrolled in basic education. They were the first group given scholarship in School Year 2003-2004. Succeeding years saw the Program with an average of 50 scholars in a school year with support from other organizations like Kasangga Mo Ang Langit Foundation, Rough Rider Jeans, and individuals here and abroad.

The School Year 2012-2013 saw the Educational Support Program extending to higher education and vocational course with 51 scholars. Another milestone of the Program is the graduation of 5 students who are deaf, the first batch of Technical Vocational graduates who are deaf in Miriam College Adult Education Program, in March 2012. The graduates received their Certificate in Bread and Pastry Making from the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA).

Aside from the financial assistance in the form of transportation allowance, the Program also offers non-academic activities like field trips and outdoor activities to scholars and their parents. To ensure that scholars get maximum benefit from the program, parent-involvement is a requirement. Sign language lessons and regular parents’ meetings are held.

Isang mainit at malugod na pagbati ang aking ipinaaabot sa LINK Center for the

Deaf sa inyong pagdiriwang ng ika-12 anibersaryo.

Sa loob ng mga nakalipas na taon ay isang pribilehiyo na naging ‘kasangga’ ninyo kami sa pagtugon sa ilang pangangailangan ng mga batang pinagkaitan ng pandinig at kakayahang

makapagsalita.

Isang kagalakang maging kabahagi ng inyong institusyon, na sa aming munting

kaparaanan ay magsilbing tinig at pandinig para sa mga batang ito.

Hangad ko at panalangin na nawa sa biyaya ng Poong Maykapal ay patuloy tayong maging ‘magkasangga’ sa pagtulong sa kanila sa pag-abot ng isang magandang bukas.

Patuloy na pagpalain ng Panginoon ang inyong mabuting layunin.

What are your expectations from the teachers you’ve trained?

After the training, we want them to present the three-year implementation plan to the principal and find ways to sustain the program. Part of the plan is to strengthen advocacy and conduct information campaign. Our teachers have gone to schools and churches to inform the community about the program and have guested in radio programs to advertise schools for CWHI. We also train teachers to involve the community and the parents in the program. We encourage them to train parents on sign language. In effect, parents who were reluctant to send these children to school because they did not know where to enrol them will realize that the community has a special program to address the special needs of their kids. This is very encouraging for them. In the implementation plans, we teach teachers how to tap LGUs and private organizations for, let’s say, feeding programs. Like what happened in Pangasinan. Teachers asked help from an international organization which was able to provide classrooms for the program. Now they have LINK Center and the international organization as partners. We also have community-based rehabilitations (CBRs) which involve the community, particularly the school and the home, to make the program sustainable.

Can you share some inspiring and successful action plans teachers came up with?

I remember Teacher Valerie from Iloilo. When she started implementing the program, she announced it via radio and involved the entire classroom in her advocacy. In a town in Cebu, a teacher of Alcantara

Central Elementary School observed that there are a lot of CWHI in the communities uphill, so she built a school there. With the support of her principal, she made arrangements on

her teaching schedule. She rode the habal-habal (a motorcycle with an extended seat for more than 2 passengers) and travelled 17 kilometers up every day to teach

CWHI. The kids were very happy. In Region 7 in Bayawan, a teacher would wake up very early and drive her motorcycle to go up the mountains. The community gave full support to her. It is also fulfilling to observe children who became more behaved a few months into the program.

The Art Program has two components—visual and performing arts. Art workshops are provided to scholars from public schools. From the staging of The Quiet Box and art exhibit at the Meralco Theater in 2004, the Art Program took a big turn in 2007 when Breaking Barriers, Building Bridges Project received support from Deaf Child Worldwide, a UK-based international development agency. Since then, inclusive art has become the focus of the Program. Workshops in both visual and dance were continuously held with non-deaf youth dancers mentor and perform together with dancers who are deaf. In partnership with the Quezon City Performing Arts Development Foundation, a dance concert entitled Apaw DAW sa Sayaw! was shown in 2008 at the Amoranto Theater. The following year, the scholars performed in two major shows—Beat of Silence and The Rhythm Within held at the Yuchengco Auditorium of De La Salle University in Manila and Teatro Aguinaldo in Quezon City. Taking it a step further, the LINK Center Performing Arts Group was invited to perform in two shows in Naga City.

Several projects have also been successfully implemented, with support from the National Commission for Culture and the Arts, individual and company sponsors, and from the Asian Development Bank-Staff Community Fund.

Like the other programs of LINK Center, the Art Program aims to deal with the multi-faceted issue of deafness. Not only is it a strong tool for advocating support and showing the potentials of children who are deaf but it cuts across several themes: 1) family support and involvement - Parents are involved by coordinating activities, as interpreters, and chaperones; 2) poverty— some children are from poor families with little opportunity to develop their talents. The program allows children to develop themselves and have that motivation and discipline to reach their dreams and do better in life; 3) helping communities include children who are deaf—the program provides a venue for interaction, mentoring, and forging of friendships between children who are hearing and deaf.

In 2010, the project Voters Education Campaign for Persons who are Deaf was implemented with support from The Asia Foundation. Activities included survey of the number of registered voters who are dear, conduct of voters education seminar, and campaign for PWD participation in elections through a variety show entitled PWeDe Ako: Halalan 2010. The project confirmed the general observation that not too many adults who are deaf were registered voters.

As continuation of the 2010 project on voters education campaign for persons with disability or PWD, The Asia Foundation initiated the Fully Abled Nation (FAN) project which is supported by the Australian Agency for International Development. FAN aims to increase the participation of PWDs in the midterm 2013 elections. LINK Center has to two projects with FAN:1) Voters Registration Campaign and; 2) Production of deaf-friendly information materials to increase participation of voters who are deaf in elections. Major components of LINK Center’s projects include campaign for registration, conduct of voters education seminars, mobilization of voters who are deaf on election day, deaf sensitivity and sign language orientation, and production of deaf friendly audio-visual materials. In partnership with Miriam College Institutional Network for Social Action, voter’s education roadshows were conducted in different areas in Metro Manila to provide information on the importance of voting, making informed choices, and information on the automated election system. An audio-visual material entitled “Deaf and Able” was also produced in collaboration with Miriam

College-Communication Arts Department. Two advocacy events were also held to campaign for greater awareness of people who are deaf and their participation in all aspects of society, one is an advocacy run called Run for FAN and an inclusive dance concert which features performers who are hearing and deaf from the Quezon City Performing Arts Development Foundation and LINK Center Performing Arts scholars both held in November 2012 in celebration of Deaf Awareness Week.

In 2010, the project Voters Education Campaign for Persons who are Deaf was implemented with support from The Asia Foundation. Activities included survey of the number of registered voters who are dear, conduct of voters education seminar, and campaign for PWD participation in elections through a variety show entitled PWeDe Ako: Halalan 2010. The project confirmed the general observation that not too many adults who are deaf were registered voters.