Case Studies from Filadelfia School for the Deaf, Bogota, Colombia
- Country:
- Colombia
- Organisations involved:
Filadelfia School for the Deaf
- Synopsis:
Marlen - receiving the gift of communication
My name is Marlen and I’m the mother of Jessenia, a beautiful deaf girl. In the past we were always moving from one school to the other, living from day to day, until we found the Filadelfia School for the Deaf. Of course at first it was quite hard and strange for both of us as we saw children who communicated fluently with each other in sign language. The truth is it is something wonderful and now my daughter is part of it all. Perhaps in the beginning it was a bit difficult for her but she is very clever and now
she can talk to everybody, but me, her mother, I couldn’t do it. Then we, the parents, were given the opportunity to learn sign language, in really enjoyable classes where we shared our experiences and we came together a lot. I thank God for the people who supported us and for the School for giving me the gift of being able to communicate with my daughter and give her a better quality of life.
Marlen, mother of Jessenia, a 13 year old deafblind girlÁngel - improving life with signs
The relationship between the father and his deaf son depended on the mother, because she was the connection between the two. When she went to work abroad for an extended period, he was left with the responsibility of caring for their two children. He says “I had problems with my deaf son because I didn’t know sign language, but thanks to God I learnt some of the signs and now life my life has got a bit better because we understand each other better”.
Ángel, father of Jaime, 11th GradePatricia - the most important thing is communication
When I found out my son was deaf, for me it was a huge shock as he was hospitalised from birth until he was nine months old. I didn’t want to recognise his disability and as I was separated from his father facing it alone was worse, but I give thanks to God that I have a very close family and my family’s support was a great help to me. Afterwards I wanted to communicate with my son and I studied 3 levels of Colombian sign language in the Deaf Society and now we communicate very well. We love each other a lot, we get on very well. My son is very affectionate and he tells me everything; and he likes it a lot when I share things with him. The most important thing is learning to communicate with deaf children in their language so that they feel that their family is with them and loves them, if not they will feel rejected.
Patricia, mother of Daniel Nicolás, 13 year old deaf boy
Idealides - the only deaf child?
I thought my son was the only deaf child and this hurt a lot; especially when people told me he was deaf and I was filled with anger and I said Why me? Why my son? Now I realise there are many people with many difficulties, worse than those of my son. I am happy because my son is happy at school.
Idalides, mother of Carlos, an 11 year old deaf boyRead more about the project - link through to the SGP Project report...
