JOHOR BARU: THE special-needs community had a ball of a time at the recent Johor Baru Arts Festival.
The event with the theme Hearing from the Heart comprised an exhibition and a heritage bazaar held at Dataran Bandaraya.
There were also classes to learn sign language during the weekends.
There was a two-day celebration of International Week of the Deaf involving members of the Society of the Deaf Johor (SDJO) and Society of Parents & Guardians of Deaf Children (Pesiba)
“Our theme this year is Strengthening Human Diversity.
“This is the first time the SDJ0 is celebrating the International Week of the Deaf as an event within festival,” said event organising chairman Chan Kok Sheng.
Chan, who is also SDJO secretary was speaking in sign language interpreted by Mohd Fadhrul Zharef Mohd Fuzi.
About 100 SDJO members aged between 6 and 65 were at Dataran Bandaraya to take part in games, contests and other family activities.
Souvenirs and handmade art and crafts by My Deaf Products and Arty Party were also available for sale.
“SDJO was established as a non-governmental organisation in 1976 to take care of the welfare of the deaf community and to protect their rights,” said SDJO president Mohd Yazid Bain.
He said SDJO has some 1,025 members registered with various districts in Johor.
“In the past the hearing-impaired only had jobs as farmers and labourers, and did not have the opportunity to further their studies. But this is changing now.
“We have advocated the use of the Malaysian Sign Language since 2000 and when it was passed as an Act in 2008, it paved the way for more positive changes in the community.
“If the deaf are properly trained, they can work anywhere. As long as they can adapt to the environment and if their colleagues can graciously accommodate their needs they can assimilate,” he said.
Yazid said SDJO members were also given motivational talks to encourage them to move away from their comfort zone to work among the able-bodied.
“It is very encouraging that many public and private corporations in Johor are receptive to employing people with hearing disabilities. Some SDJO members have found jobs in public libraries, the city landscape department, hypermarkets and hotels,” he said.
Pesiba president Mohd Shafie Daud agreed that it was good to encourage interaction between the deaf and the able-bodied as this would help them to overcome communication barriers.
He said the International Week of the Deaf celebration with JBAF was a healthy opportunity for members to join in fun activities, bond with others and enjoy being a part of the community.
“By interacting with others, the deaf will be encouraged,” he said.
In recent years, the JBAF has collaborated with Arty Party to hold arts and craft fairs.
This year, Arty Party invited a guest from the UK, Simon Murray, to join in the fun.
Murray, a costumier on a project with Pinewood Iskandar Malaysia Studios in Nusajaya, has one of the biggest private collections of spectacles made for film and television.
His handmade glasses have been used for blockbuster movies like Batman, Indiana Jones and Harry Potter.
Murray, fondly known as Mr Specs, is also big on fund-raising and has a charity project to get every celebrity he has worked with to design a pair of spectacle frames.
The charities that benefit from his efforts are Breast Cancer Research and Fight for Sight in the UK.
For the JBAF Hearing from the Heart event, Murray encouraged young SDJO members to take part in a colouring contest and challenged them to design spectacle frames. Students who took part in the contest were rewarded with prizes sponsored by Murray.
Visitors were impressed by the collection of original movie props and collectibles at the Aud Toys stall that complemented his Eyewear stall with a display of handcrafted spectacles used in Pinewood Studios blockbuster movies.
These included glasses Murray designed for Sean Connery in his role as father of Indiana Jones and for Daniel Radcliff in his role as Harry Potter.
Among visitors who tried on Murray’s spectacles for photos and made a donation to charity was guest-of-honour Johor Baru MP Tan Sri Shahrir Abdul Samad. Shahrir, who is also the patron of JB Arts Festival.
To learn the Malaysian Sign Language and for details on the Society of the Deaf Johor, email sdjohor@yahoo.com or visit the Persatuan Orang Pekak Johor Facebook page.