So, the other day I was having a coffee at Friend’s, and an old man approached me. He was gesturing at my table, strewn with notes and napkins and several empty packets of azucar morena. He waved his hand in the air silently, with his thumb pinched to his pointing finger. By some wondrous force of human nature and corporal language, I understood his request, and handed him a pen and some paper. The man smiled toothlessly, nodding his head and mumbling gratuities, before he scribbled something on the paper and hobbled off to the café.
It’s a silent struggle to be deaf, of which the realities are generally invisible to the public eye. For this reason, Professor Eduardo Lugo’s Human Diversity class has organized an informative panel to discuss the existing hardships within the deaf community. “El Sonido del Silencio” will be presenting April 7, 2016 from 10:30am to 12:00pm (HORA UNIVERSAL), in coordination with Sandra Zapata, the mentor for the Sign Language Association (la Asociacion de Lenguaje de Señas en el RUM, aka AULS); Lilymar Collazo Mojica, a graduate student researching the deaf community in Puerto Rico; and Dr. Damgizel Velez, a clinical psychologist dedicated to helping the deaf. The themes discussed will be in relation to the deaf community’s needs, available services in Puerto Rico, current research, and the discrimination this community faces. Following AULS’s motto, “Siendo el puente entre el ruido y el silencio“, we aim to build a bridge between the noise and the silence, to create coherent communication outside of verbal language. Please join us!