Illustration by Katie Doyle
The last full week of September marks the annual celebration of the International Week of Deaf People (IWD). To participate in the celebration at George Brown College (GBC), Peerconnect has been hosting free daily Zoom events from 7 pm from Monday to Friday. Attendees have the chance to view two award-winning movies featuring deaf actors and 3 inspiring speakers, 2 of whom are Deaf, and one of which uses a cochlear implant.
There is a growing population of Deaf and hard-of-hearing students and faculty at GBC. Many members of the deaf community are hoping to encourage awareness of IWD among the student body and educate members on the importance of American Sign Language (ASL).
As a deaf person herself, Vanita Dama, Peerconnect’s administrative coordinator of inclusion and equity, expressed that “as September is deaf awareness month, we feel it’s important for the IWD to gain exposure.”
Through this week’s events, Peerconnect plans to do just that.
“We want to show the amazing talents of deaf presenters that have worked extremely hard to overcome struggles to be successful,” said Dama.
“They don’t give up no matter what hardship they are struggling with”, Dama says of the 3 speakers presenting this week. “One of the great ideas I learned from [them] is that there will always be struggles, but that struggle is only temporary.”
At GBC’s School of Deaf and Deafblind Studies, multiple programs are offered that develop the specialized skills needed to facilitate communication for members of the deaf and deafblind community. Having access to these skills ultimately leads to enabling a more fulfilling life among those who are deaf and deafblind.
Dama, who also provides student-led ASL Basics sessions for students to learn basic ASL vocabulary and signing, believes that exposure to deaf culture at GBC is one of the main goals for IWD.
“GBC students can learn more about accessibility for Deaf students, such as requesting interpreters for group projects…[and] can encourage the other GBC organizations that they are involved with to include accommodating requests so that if GBC deaf and hard of hearing students are interested in attending, they can.”
To learn more about the deaf community and resources at GBC, we encourage all students to participate this week’s events run by Peerconnect in support of the International Week of Deaf People. For more information on IWD at GBC, check out Peerconnect’s Instagram page.
