Sri Lanka Deaf Rally on July 29th

Sri Lanka
Central Federation of the Deaf
Peace March
July 29, 2011
Reporter: Fazlul Haq

Fazlul:
We are here at Colombo, Sri Lanka, to be specific, the Colombo Fort Railway station. Here we have people from all over Sri Lanka, including Jaffna, Anuradhapura, Kandy, Colombo, Kurunegala, Matara, Galle. They do not have to be a member, the rally is free, all men, women, children, all of them come here. We estimate the numbers to be between 1,000 and 1,500.

Fazlul:
So we are here on the 29th, what is this rally for?

Woman:
We don't have rights! We have problems. The government refuses to give us driving licenses. We have difficulties finding jobs, we don't have good teachers, N. I. E (National Institute of Education)'s sign language research is minimal. It's been difficult! So now we have many questions, so we can find a way to be successful. It's been difficult with no jobs, no government support, no good sign language teachers, no admission to universities, the deaf are uneducated, too many problems.

Fazlul:
Hello, here is another deaf person, I'm going to ask him too. So, why are you here on the 29th rally?

Man:
Yes, I'm a deaf person, it's been a struggle because of weak education thus I cannot get a job. I've tried applying but I get rejected. How can I succeed? You see, with weak education and poor teachers, my writing skills is low, how?

Photo: meeting with the Assistant Secretary to the President

CFD President:
Because the President is not there, we are here, and we are angry, the secretary has given us a promise that within 7 days, one week, we meet with the President. It's a promise, I'm not just telling stories, we have a letter (shows the letter). Again, with this letter, we have a plan to meet with the President.

Fazlul:
Here we are, all lined up and fired up for rights, sign language, teachers, the list goes on. It's a new thing, since 1984, the deaf community has not really made a stand. Since then until now 2011, we've always had problems. Now we are making a rally and standing up for our rights. We have signs in Sinhala, Tamil and English. A small group of chosen deaf people went to meet with the President but he is out of the office. So they met with the Secretary instead, the CFD president, secretary, treasurer, a committee member, an association president, deaf women president and secretary, and the photographer (me), and the interpreter, we went to his office by a police car. Questions and discussions about issues such as driving license, language, rights, and so on. We wrote a petition and gave it to the secretary, he read it and then wrote a letter with a promise and his signature that he will submit it to the President. Maybe within two weeks, the President must send CFD a response. We came back here to the rally to tell everyone and now we are happy. Thank you!