Inclusion project kick-off event, phase II – Inclusive design & daily life solutions for Deaf & Hearing impaired 2017
Hanoi 16/04/2017 – Inclusion Project 2017 sponsored by Schmitz Stiftungen from Germany officially kick off phase II on inclusive design & daily life solutions for Deaf & Hearing impaired. The event held by Vietnam Sustainability Social Enterprise (VSSE) together with Hanoi Association of Deaf has attracted over 100 participants.
On April 16th, Inclusion Project 2017 officially kicked off its new phase specially on inclusive design & daily life solutions for Deaf & Hearing impaired. The event had the presence of leaders and members of Hanoi Deaf Association, Mrs. Mac Chung Thuy – Vice Headmaster of Nhan Chinh Deaf School, Mr. Le Tuan Anh – Representative of Thinks Playground project as well as teachers and students from Special Education Department of National College for Education.
Launch event has opened up the opportunity to listen to disability community’s feedback, particularly the Deaf and Hearing impaired about barriers in accessing space and building constructs in daily life to members of the Project Board. Besides, representatives from Deaf & Hearing impaired school and architectural project had the chance to meet and share opinion with members from Hanoi Association of Deaf to gain a better understanding of inclusive architecture. Through the “See the word, guess the meaning ” game together with illustrative images and support from the consulting board, members of Hanoi Association of Deaf attained rough understanding about new terms: What is Architecture? Who is Architect? Is there the case when construction does not follow the design? What is an access building? – A lot of questions that may seem easy are actually difficult to explain, especially when sign vocabulary for this field is extremely poor.. Through the following survey and discussion, the “hear by eyes, speak by hands” community had the chance to voice their wish in improving residential and public building to suit their special needs.
Mr. Le Tuan Anh, member of Thinks Playground project, claimed that in developed countries like Pháp, it is commonplace that the disabled can travel normally in public areas. Meanwhile, this is rare in Vietnam due to unsuitable and inaccessible infrastructure. “Access for disadvantaged people in Vietnam is difficult. There is walking line for pedestrians in China but in Vietnam, even ordinary people are deprived of pavements ”, Mr. Tuan shared.
“Most deaf people now only finish lower secondary school and cannot learn higher education due to unsuitable education methodology ”, Mrs Nguyen Trong Khanh, Vice President of Hanoi Deaf Association said. The deaf communities in the world develop fast with multiple occupations from casual laboring, officers to highly skilled ones like architects and doctors whereas in Vietnam, deaf & hearing impaired are often refused learning & working opportunities because of communication barrier.
As regarding success opportunity of deaf & hearing impaired students, Mrs. Mạc Thu Thủy, Vice Headmaster of Nhan Chinh Deaf School hoped that if they are confident in their potentials, they can definitely pursue higher education. Besides, projects like Inclusion will continue to support and connect individuals and organizations with the same goal which is to encourage the disabled to contribute to general development of the society.
Inclusion is a project sponsored by Schmitz Stiftungen organization from Germany and its implementer is Vietnam Sustainable Social Enterprise (VSSE). In 2016, Inclusion successfully established the “Barrier Free” database with the focus on architecture solutions for physically disabled people in general and wheelchair users in particular.
In phase II 2017, the project focuses on architect community and the deaf &hearing impaired. Its goal is to build a information platform providing access architecturue for the deaf & hearing impaired as well as daily life solutions for them. Currently, individuals and organizations interested in activities relating to the disabled and access architecture can already access and get connected on the online platform of the project www.inclusion.vn.
This June, the project will kick off the minigame “School design solutions for the Deaf & Hearing impaired ” for students majoring in architecture, construction, urban developmetn, etc. This is the chance for young people to better understand about access architecture and is a call-for-action for future architects to create a more suitable living & developing environment for disadvantaged groups. Find more information of the minigame on website www.inclusion.vn and project fanpage.
