[accessbangla] Open Letter to the Hearing Community- 2

From: zahidul kabir <zahid.nfowd@xxxxxxxxx>
To: zktitu@xxxxxxxxx
Date: Sun, 1 Mar 2009 00:23:36 +0600
Dear Hearing Community,

Greetings of the month of Falgun!

In the last Falgun I posted an open letter to the Hearing Community by
e-mail on 22 February 2008. The head of that letter was- *Bangla Sign
Language, the Language of the minority ‘Deaf Community’ in **Bangladesh**...As
the Majority (!) what we, the Hearing Community are thinking???* I wrote
that letter to minimize my shame as a member of the hearing community. I was
watching a live Talk-Show in a private TV Channel on 21st February last
year. The discussant was a former secretary of Bangladesh Government and the
anchor was popular media journalist JW E Mamun. They were talking about the
Language Movement in 1952 and the implications & context of International
Mother Language Day. The discussant was in charge of the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs during the declaration of International Mother Language Day by the
UNESCO in 1999. The depth and diversity of his knowledge on Language
movement and mother language day was really encouraging.

Responding to the subtitle on the screen I sent an sms to express my
opinion. The sms was *"Shall we forget the issue of Bangla Sign Language,
the Language of a minor community (Deaf Community)? This language yet not
recognized by the State."* Very fortunately (!) my sms got the attention of
the anchor. He read and summarized that and was looking at the expert
discussant for his comments. That was an exciting moment for me to feel that
at least few people are going to know about Sign Language! The comment from
the former secretary was as follows:

*"...yes this is becoming popular in some countries.....in Bangladesh now a
day some Sign Boards are written in Bangla Language.....this is good
practice.....in Pakistan...."  *

I found nothing beside me to hide my shame. That was really a shame for our
hearing community as one of our learned members knows that *Sign Language is
the language used in* *Sign Board*. !!!

In that mail I solicited the hearing community to recognize that, sign
language is a language of a community that has own culture & a different way
of communication.

*Dear Hearing Community,* can you imagine that the Language month February
this year has been started with the recognition of Bangla Sign Language.
Newly elected Prime Minister declared to promote Bangla Sign Language.
Bangla Sign Language is going to be introduced in BTV & possibly in other
electronic media (Channel i, ATN Bangla, Desh TV...). A number of people are
showing interest to know about sign language now. You all are aware about
these recent progresses of Bangla Sign Language, which is unbelievable
indeed. This is really a great feeling. A sensational victory!

Congratulations dear Deaf community. Congratulations to the hearing people
who worked hard. Special thanks to those hearing people who like to stay
behind the scene.

In this moment of joy I have a disparaging observation, so that I addressed
the ‘Hearing Community’ in this Open Letter... This was natural that the
victory would be celebrated by a unite voice. But in such a moment we, the
hearing people engaged ourselves in an unfortunate competition to make the
success of our own. Very miserable indeed! We forgot to acknowledge other’s
contributions who really deserve that.

Another interesting thing! Few of us suddenly become high-level expert of
Bangla Sign Language to certify the correctness of documented vocabulary.
These people may have ‘ABC’ of sign language but they were never watched to
communicate with Deaf people by using sign language. So how they certify the
correctness of sign vocabulary? Really funny!!! We need to realize that a
senior position with ‘ABC’ knowledge never implies an expert positioning.

However, none of us took a single initiative in 2005 when International
Mother Language Day was devoted to Sign languages (and Braille) by UNESCO.
Most probably we were not aware of that at that time. May be, we used to
consider sign language as a matter relating to disability only, not a matter
of language rights.

Whatever, its time to celebrate! Let’s recognize that *“Achievements are by
the Deaf people, of the Deaf people and for the Deaf people. Whoever he or
she, the hearing people only facilitated the process.” *We can demonstrate
our respect for the Deaf community and Deaf culture by recognizing it.

Hope to see a lot of changes in the next Falgun.

Say ‘Yes’ to *Bangla Sign Language* and to the *Deaf culture*.



Regards

Zahid


**This is my personal opinion. So, my organization should have no liability
for this opinion.

-- 
*Md. Zahidul Kabir*
Coordinator & Team Leader, Programs
NFOWD
8/9, Block-A, Lalmatia
Dhaka-1207, Bangladesh

Phone: 88-02-8120415, 9124487 (Ext-103)
Cell:  01711667197
Fax:  88-02-9124487 (Ext-107)
E-mail:  nfowd@xxxxxxxxxx, zahid.nfowd@xxxxxxxxx
[accessbangla] Open Letter to the Hearing Community- 2

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