Interviews with Deaf People
July, 2003
| The Maryknoll Deaf Development Program teaches sign language and literacy to deaf people in Phnom Penh and four provinces. As part of creating a national database of information about the deaf community in Cambodia, Kampong Speu was the last of the provinces DDP visited to interview deaf people about their lives and their needs. |
 Locating as many deaf people in Cambodia as possible to create a database of information is a long and difficult process. The DDP team who is working on the project has started interviewing the students already in our programs, hoping that they will be able to offer information about other deaf people they might know. The reality is, though, that few deaf people in Cambodia have ever met another deaf person. |
 This young deaf woman is a member of the literacy class in Kampong Speu, and during the interview she slowly and painstakingly tries out her newly learned writing skills to answer a question on one of the forms. The DDP staff interpreter, Sinoun, watches and waits to offer any help that might be needed. |
 After the interviews, the group of students and their teachers sat and talked with Colin Allen, an advisor (deaf himself) with the DDP program. It is really important for deaf people, especially youth, to meet skilled and successful deaf adults who can serve as inspiration and role models. |