Breaking down communication barriers: Hong Kong charity teaches sign language to people with hearing and speech problems, parents and teachers
- SLCO Community Resources’ project aims to create community that can communicate with hand gestures and signs
- Charity is among beneficiaries of Operation Santa Claus, an annual fundraising drive organised by South China Morning Post and RTHK
Promoting sign language has been an uphill battle in Hong Kong, where it is not commonly learned by people with a hearing impairment and those around them, according to a charity devoted to teaching the skill.
The lack of sign language fluency in the city prompted SLCO Community Resources to launch a three-year-project in 2022 to create a community that can communicate with hand gestures and signs, focusing on both special needs students and also their parents and teachers.
Effective Signed Intervention for SEN Children encourages carers and teachers to use sign language to complement spoken instructions in daily interactions and learning activities with pupils.
“It’s to open a door for them to communicate,” said Chan Fung-mei, senior project coordinator at SLCO. “We want kids who can’t even say they want to eat an apple or go to the bathroom in sign language to learn the basics.”
Next year, the project is expected to benefit 1,600 special needs children under the age of 18, 3,200 family members and 650 professionals and teachers in 32 special schools and service units.
The charity said it was grateful to once again receive funding from banking giant Morgan Stanley, through Operation Santa Claus (OSC), an annual fundraising drive held by the South China Morning Post and public broadcaster RTHK since 1988.
“We’ve had parent-child classes that use stories and playing to teach them sign language … Some parents really use what they learned at home. Some asked for more classes for parents,” Chan said.
