Opening Ceremony Of Deaf-Initely Boleh! Carnival

09 Dec 2006

By Mr Heng Chee How, Minister of State for Health

Venue: The Plaza, National Library Building

Mr Frankie Chan, PBM, President of the Singapore Association for the Deaf

Ms Jenny Ho, Executive Director of Singapore Association for the Deaf

Distinguished Guests,

Ladies and Gentlemen

Good morning

INTRODUCTION

It gives me great pleasure to join you this morning at the opening of the the Deaf-initely Boleh! Carnival. 

This public awareness campaign is a collaborative effort between the Singapore Association for the Deaf (or SADeaf) and major service providers of the deaf community including our public hospitals, the special schools and the Society for Audiology Professionals (Singapore). The launch of this campaign not only serves to provide more information and options for people with hearing loss, it also raises awareness among the public on the efforts put in by various parties to develop a more supportive environment so that the deaf community can be better integrated into society.

Deaf-nitely Boleh! The organisers have definitely chosen a fun and interesting theme for this carnival! Apart from the intended pun, Deaf-nitely Boleh! has far greater significance in our message to the public. It underscores what people with hearing loss can achieve or be capable of, if they are given the necessary support from various sectors of the community. Many people are not familiar with deaf people, and believe that they are unfortunate, lonely and sad. But nothing could be further from the truth. They are a vibrant and active group of people who aspire to share and achieve. They are active in the society and also have rich and extensive network of friends. Deaf people have skills and abilities, and are able to achieve much. A deaf person is fully capable of leading a meaningful and productive life like anyone else.

COMMUNITY ACHIEVEMENT

Since it was founded in 1955, SADeaf has achieved several milestones in providing support and assistance to nearly 6,000 registered clients. This has helped them achieve a better quality of life and enabled them to integrate with and contribute to society. Indeed SADeaf and its partners have been working hard towards this cause.  I would like to mention a few of their achievements here.

Firstly, I would like to highlight their achievements in the academic field as well as the sports arena. SADeaf has two affiliate schools; they are The Singapore School for the Deaf and the Mountbatten Vocational School. The Singapore School for the Deaf is a primary school which conducts a normal education curriculum.  It also provides training on basic life skills in their special classes. The Mountbatten Vocational School, formerly known as Vocational School for the Handicapped is the sole ITE-approved training centre for conducting ITE Skills Certificate (ISC) training for persons with disabilities. Trainees at the Mountbatten Vocational school have won medals from several local and international sports competitions such as the Asean ParaGames and Special Olympics.

Secondly, SADeaf has demonstrated entrepreneur capabilities by the establishment of Cafe Bon Appetit. It is a training restaurant launched as an extension of the Basic Service Skills module at SADeaf's Vocational School. In Cafe Bon Appetit, trainees are able to apply their knowledge and skills in the food and beverages industry; and it has progressed from simulated service training to actual service in which the trainees are exposed to the real demands of dine-in customers.

Thirdly, I was impressed by the unique talents in the deaf that has been revealed by the performing group, Xtomic, which comprises deaf and hearing volunteers. They performed brilliantly at various public platforms and received encouraging feedback from the audience. Their performance certainly helps to highlight the fact that they too can have remarkable achievements with their unique talents and that the deaf are equally capable of making significant contribution in the arts and other cultural activities.  These are just some highlights of their achievements; I know that there are much more.

I am heartened to know that private corporations have also been actively supporting some of the community activities for the deaf.  Companies such as Kentucky Fried Chicken Management Pte Ltd, Siemens Medical Instruments Pte Ltd, Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation and F & N Foods Pte Ltd have readily served and provided community services as Ambassadors for the Deaf.

HEARING LOSS PREVENTION AND EARLY MANAGEMENT PROGRAMME

Genetic hearing loss is the major cause of hearing loss currently, more so than infections or injury. It can be detected and diagnosed early. With modern and holistic management, majority of children born with significant deafness can potentially integrate into mainstream society successfully. There is also legislated protection in the workplace for the active prevention of noise-induced hearing loss.  As a result, there has been a sharp decline in the number of advanced cases of noise-induced hearing loss.  We should keep up the good work in prevention and early management of noise-induced hearing loss in the community. Public education is also very much needed in this aspect.

My Ministry has also developed projects to assist those with profound hearing loss. In 2001, Ministry of Health launched a pilot cochlear implant service under the Health Service Development Programme. The 4-year pilot project recruited over 50 children with profound hearing loss. The results from this trial were promising with most children having progressive improvement in speech perception post-implant and at least two-thirds of the implanted children were deemed to have the potential for future mainstream learning. After the initial success of the project, an adult equivalent of the programme was also started in 2002. Today, the cochlear implant programme is subsidised as a standard treatment in our hospitals.                                                                                                                     

CONCLUSION

Certainly, I hope that with all our efforts, more and more people with hearing loss would be encouraged to explore and realize their full potential. I applaud all who have helped to contribute in one way or another to support SADeaf's efforts. Together, we can achieve the mission that SADeaf has set out to achieve; that is for the deaf to achieve a better quality of life, to be better integrated into society and to be able to contribute to society.

In conclusion, I would like to encourage all of us to work together to support DEAF-INITELY BOLEH! and make our society a better place to live in. I declare the public awareness campaign "boleh".