Wave hands for culture

Títol:          Wave hands for culture
Autor/a:     Alícia Gual Miró
Tutor/a:      Miquel Arcas Gómez
Modalitat:  Humanitats i Ciències Socials
Àrea:          Llengua
Centre:       Ins Baix Camp
Localitat:   Reus

Objectius:

1. Increasing my knowledge, with curiosities, new datum and other information that I could benefit from in the future, in which I want to keep studying and discovering this interesting and unknown community, the Deaf Community
2. Finding out cultural events, such as theatres, cinemas, museums and music, near my town Reus that have been aware of the communication barriers that most Deaf people have nowadays and have adapted their events with facilities to help them, especially the hire of sign language interpreters.
3. Learning Catalan Sign Language to gain in language learning, to be able to have a conversation in Sign Language one day and be myself an example of how society should interact with Deaf people.
4. Bringing music to the Deaf by translating a song in Sign Language and learning how can I represent music with my body in order to show Deaf people what is like this universal language that everybody is supposed to enjoy is like.
5. Writing this project in English because I would like to study English philology and it will be a training and a way of developing the language, which I find amazing and makes me feel so free, without any barrier.

Hipòtesi:

As Sign Languages use is declining more and more, I wanted to know if most cultural events in my region realised that Deaf people, even though most of them use medical devices, have the right of having accessibility to Sign Language, as their natural language and guarantee it for them.

El procés:

After learning about sign languages, but specially Catalan Sign Language, I looked for cultural events around my city which have a Sign Language interpretation service and I go to some of them, like El silenci d’Hamelí or el Monestir de Santes Creus. Also, I attended introductory classes of Catalan Sign Language in Universitat Pompeu Fabra to know the basics of the language my project is focused on. Moreover, I realised and investigated the fact that oralist people stands up for an education where Sign Language is not included whereas bilingual people defend the use of either oral and sign languages. Finally, as a practical part, I tried to interpreter a song (Amazed by Lonestar) in Catalan Sign Language to experience the fact of bringing music to the Deaf.

Conclusions:

After working on this project for a long time, I have learned a lot of things and I
have even surprised myself. I have realised that the Deaf Community is a universe that always has something new to offer and is as peculiar as Deaf people are. Culture is a big part of every human being and Deaf people are not an exception. They want to take part in hearing culture and some organizations make it possible. However, Tarragona’s region is no longer having a big representation of the Deaf Community since there is only one Deaf association, located in Reus. Keeping in mind that most Deaf people who use sign language are old and teenagers do not learn sign language, I estimate that within a decade, LSC could disappeared in Tarragona’s region if we do not do anything to save it.
I have proved myself that bringing music to the Deaf is not as easy as we think but it is a good way of understanding how music is and realise that is the only universal language that includes everyone. I started this project with the idea that I would only learn the signs of the song but I end up being able to hold a conversation with a Deaf person. Finally, I am so happy to have helped in the journey of transforming deafness to a visible condition for society in a language that I love, English.

Bibliografia:

• MARTÍN, Ignasi/ ALVARADO, Marisa.. Diccionari temàtic de llenguatge de signes català.. Els autors

Llocs Web:

• Signem: Basic Guide for Communication in Catalan Sign Language
• TEDTalk: The enchanting music of sign language: Christine Sun Kim
• Web-sèrie en LSC: Peixos
• How sign language innovators are bringing music to the deaf: Amber Galloway Gallego
• Diccionari Multimèdia de Signes de Catalunya: Mira què dic
• Sense embuts: Sords

Presentació:

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