This Sat Dec 29, we’ll be at EDEN cafe again, this time from 10.00am - 9.00pm. Tell friends and family that they can get their copies at AMCORP. Get your photo taken with some of the Deaf Artists who will be there at the time of the calendar sales.

It’s Christmas Day. We wish readers who celebrate Christmas, religiously, a very Blessed Christmas and New Year.  May God bless you. The year is closing soon, and we are going to enter 2008 in a few days. I wish you lots of exciting adventures, happiness, prosperity, and a fulfilling year ahead.

 Agnes

NST Online » Focus

2007/07/22

Science: Hi-tech gadgets a boon for the deaf

A deaf man using a telephone and a computer to communicate. — AFP picture

MULTI-FUNCTION phones, webcams and other new technological innovations have transformed the lives of the hard of hearing, delegates at an international congress of the deaf said.

“Technology is important for the deaf community. There’s the Internet, webcams, email, SMS and chat systems,” said Amparo Minguet, director of training at the institute for the deaf in the eastern city of Valencia in Spain.

Minguet finds her little multi-function phone a godsend and like other participants at the congress of the World Federation of the Deaf under way in Madrid, finds new technology a boon bolstering face-to-face communication at an event such as this.

Communicating via sign language, she points to her small flatscreen phone which she has placed on her knees after first activating the vibration mode.

“Thanks to that I can easily stay in touch through receiving texts and checking my voice mail,” Minguet reveals.

Minguet is in charge of the scientific side of events at the week-long congress, which has drawn some 2,500 people to the Spanish capital.

Her diary is crammed for the week and she manages to juggle her appointments thanks to the telephone’s in-built calendar as she prepares to meet people from all walks of life from across the world.

Using the phone cuts down her fear of possible misinterpretations arising from differing sign language usage from one country to the next when it comes to face-to-face appointment-making.

The main aim of the congress, which is held every four years — the last one was in Montreal, Canada — is “to advance recognition of sign language in national legislations,” says co-organiser Ana Maria Vazquez, a university sign language specialist.

But at the same time, the meeting is also an opportunity for deaf people to share their experiences and knowledge in the fields of education, culture, science and application of new technologies.

Telecommunication companies are, meanwhile, showing increasing interest in the deaf persons’ market.

British operator Vodafone is one of some 30 companies and associations who have stands at the congress and are offering a range of special deals for the hard of hearing.

“Vodafone wants to be a company embracing everyone, including the handicapped,” explains Rosa Maria Martin on behalf of the firm which is Spain’s number two mobile operator.

The company is offering special deals for Blackberry wireless handheld devices made by the Canadian firm RIM (Research in Motion) whose “chat applications are perfectly adapted to deaf people’s communications needs”, a brochure explains.

David Hoareau has travelled 12,00 kilometres from the Indian Ocean island of Reunion to attend along with 20 students from a specialist centre for the deaf.

“Deaf people have a reputation for being isolated. This congress shows that, on the contrary, we are capable of coming out and sharing our experiences and communicating,” Hoareau said.

The raft of different versions of sign language across the world can make face-to-face communication difficult at such an international event, Hoareau admits, though the burgeoning technological aid helps in that direction.

“It’s difficult. But with a little perseverance, following facial expressions carefully and only expressing simple things, you end up being able to communicate with everyone, as anyone addressing a congress would do by using basic English as a catch-all language,” he said. — AFP

                  
Left : Santa Claus giving us some Christmas cheer.�
Right : The publicity Eden did on the Deaf Art project.

Dear reader, what a fun filled 2 day of calendar promotion and sales. We share with you some photos taken over the Dec 15/16 weekend at AMCORP Mall.

  
Left : With Tan Sri Abd Rahim Mohamed, Exec Chairman, EDEN Inc.
Middle : With P S Dhillon, Asst Manager of Eden Cafe @ AMCORP Mall.
Right : With the staff of Eden Cafe

Soon to be uploaded, photos showing the preparations, the sale, the busyness of the weekend and some of the hundreds of customers who had their pictures taken with the Deaf Artists, and other Deaf helpers for the weekend.

We even had Santa Claus visit to bring us some Christmas cheer.

Eden Inc (AMCORP PJ), has given us tremendous support in promoting the Deaf Art calendar to its customers, and notifying the management of AMCORP to have the news about the Deaf Art project reach all of its tenants. Eden is one of the many corporate bodies that are reaching out to support our cause.

Come and meet us :

Date : Sat Dec 15 and Sun Dec 16
Time : 10.00am - 5.00pm
Eden Cafe, Ground Floor, AMCORP

The calendars will be sold to the public this weekend, and you will be in for a special promotion price for this signature product. Buy 1 copy for RM30.00, or buy 2 copies for RM50.00. Meet Deaf people and be inspired. Get your copy of this signature Calendar autographed by Deaf Artists. See you there.

 Agnes

 We are delighted to learn that ASTRO All Asia Broadcast Centre, Malaysia, will be supporting the Deaf Art Calendar 2008 project via ASTRO’s radio announcement on Infozone. For those of you in Malaysia who listen to this radio station daily, please lend us your support by purchasing a copy of the calendar.  THANK YOU ASTRO.

We have a balance of about 700 calendars to be sold, and we would love to see the year end with all of these calendars being sold out, and all for a very good cause.

An extract from ASTRO’s website
ASTRO ALL ASIA NETWORKS plc (ASTRO) is Malaysia’s leading cross-media group with a significant presence in DTH (Direct-To-Home) TV services and commercial radio. Astro, the subscription TV service commenced operations in 1996 with 22 channels and currently broadcasts over 100 pay-TV channels across Malaysia and Brunei, to over 2 million subscribers in four major languages.

Its state-of the-art digital broadcast facilities at the All Asia Broadcast Centre and at Cyberjaya multiplex has capability for digital TV, radio and data services on satellite and terrestrial broadcast networks, wireless telephony and the Internet.

(http://www.astroplc.com/05/astro/company background)

Dear Readers,

The Mission has engaged 3 Deaf Artists to come up with original designs for Chinese New Year cards. As we are also considering the environment at stake, we are printing only limited copies of these designs for distribution. The cards will be ready for distribution later this month. So stay tuned for further details.

Agnes