Silence aims to provide counselling, mental health talks, museum visits and forest outings for its beneficiaries next year
A charity which has served more than 10,000 deaf and hard-of-hearing Hongkongers for nearly two decades will expand to meet the mental health needs of clients and carers.
Silence aims to launch a project to provide counselling, mental health talks, museum visits and forest outings for its beneficiaries next year, with funding from annual fundraising drive Operation Santa Claus (OSC).
The goal is to raise mental health awareness among people with hearing problems and their carers, help them relieve stress and encourage them to seek medical care if needed.
“Deaf people have the biggest problem in communication among people with disabilities. People cannot tell by looking at them that they have a disability, so they think they are stupid,” Silence CEO Tsan Siu Yat-chan said. “Their problem impacts the entire family.”
Operations director Ken Ng Ka-ki said there was a misconception that deaf people could communicate through reading and writing, but many were unable to do so because hearing was the root of learning.
Many deaf people isolate themselves, Ng said, because they were unable to communicate, especially since few members of the public could use sign language.
“We’ve noticed that people with hearing problems do not want to see others. They have various mental barriers because of what they face. Even riding [mini] buses presents challenges,” Ng said, referring to the passengers’ need to loudly tell drivers where they wanted to get off.
Photo: SCMP
Silence will also use the funding to pay for art and horticultural therapy for its clients, and sign language training for family members, employers and shop owners.
The goal is to break down the barriers and create an inclusive society.
“We want to encourage beneficiaries to not just stay at home,” Ng said. “The people who care for them need to participate because they are also stressed.”
Siu, a former civil servant, founded the charity in 2008 to help deaf and hard-of-hearing people integrate into society and gain opportunities that will help them reach their full potential.
Over the years, he and the charity’s staff have interpreted for beneficiaries at job interviews, meetings to settle legal matters and doctor’s appointments.
Hong Kong’s public hospitals are supposed to provide interpretation, but there are not enough interpreters.
Patients often have to decide whether to wait for an interpreter or lose their hard-to-get appointments, according to Ng.
Many resort to seeing a doctor without an interpreter, which can have devastating consequences.
In May 2020, a deaf man suffering from depression committed suicide 16 hours after being discharged from a hospital. An investigation found that he did not have a sign language interpreter.
“Not being able to communicate is very unbeneficial to treatment,” Ng said.
OSC funding will enable the charity to continue providing interpretation services for people like Kitty Chui Yuk-yin.
A Silence interpreter uses sign language to interpret for a deaf person at a dental appointment. Photo: Silence
Chui became deaf at the age of three after a serious illness. She has worked as a cleaning lady and a dishwasher, among other service positions, but finds it hard to communicate with her colleagues.
“I’m the only deaf person at work. Sometimes they would speak to me, instead of writing, as if I could understand them. I don’t know how to read lips so I don’t understand what they try to tell me,” Chui said in sign language.
She was especially grateful for Silence’s interpretation services at doctor’s visits and arts activities, showing a flower and butterfly painting she made.
“In my life, I encounter unhappy situations,” Chui said, explaining that her husband, who is also deaf, sometimes took out his frustration on her after a bad day at work.
“Through this NGO’s activities, I can relieve stress and regain the emotional strength to go to work again the next day.
“I’m really looking forward to taking part in the activities.”
The OSC-funded project will benefit 1,020 people with hearing problems and carers, as well as 430 members of the public.
But more help is needed as the number of deaf and hard-of-hearing people in Hong Kong has reached 240,000. It is rising due to long-term exposure to occupational noise, such as from working in ferries’ machine rooms, on construction sites, or even in mahjong parlours, according to Silence.
OSC is an annual fundraising initiative held by the South China Morning Post and public broadcaster RTHK since 1988.
It has raised HK$383 million (US$49 million) to support the Hong Kong community through 353 charitable projects since then. There are 11 projects of worthy causes being funded this year.
For more information on this year’s beneficiaries, please click here.
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