Angel's story
Angel
ZagrebCroatia
About me
This is Angel’s story. Angel actively participated as a consultant and supervisor in the Deaf Child Worldwide SGP funded project with Prolingva in Croatia. Angel is from Zagreb and is now 38. He was born deaf in a hearing family. He attended regular schools and is following postgraduate studies on deaf identity at the Faculty of Education and Rehabilitation in the University of Zagreb. Angel is a gym teacher at the primary and secondary School for the Deaf in Zagreb. He plays for the Croatian deaf handball team which won gold medal on Deaflympic games in Melbourne 2005 and in Rome 2001.
He founded DLAN “Theatre, Visual Arts and Deaf Culture”, the first NGO in Croatia focusing on performing arts for deaf children. He is a successful scriptwriter and his latest play, Crying Hands, about deaf homeless people, won the first place at the Festival of amateur theatre in Zagreb.
Read more about the SGP funded project SGP funded project with Prolingva.
My Story
Many deaf children in Croatia don't have a very happy childhood; education is not adapted to their needs. The work and commitment required by audiology sessions, often means they don't have time to play after school. They also have to do a lot of home work to catch up on their hearing peers and what they didn’t understand during the day at school. Deaf children also miss out on a lot of information that seems so normal to other children, they don't understand cartoons, fairy tales... I have often been distressed because I didn't understand what characters on TV were saying. That's why I started to think about the importance of making stories and fairy tales in sign language that are accessible to and appropriate for deaf children.
The main problem for deaf children here in Croatia is accessible education; adjusting methods to their needs and making information accessible. From my perspective, the needs of almost all deaf children are the same: education in their own language, sign language. When I attended regular school, there was no sign language. I didn't understand much. I just sat there, pretending to follow what the teacher and other pupils were saying, and dreaming.
It's not fair that deaf children and their parents have so many worries and obstacles from so early on. This affects the quality of their childhood and their life. The future is often not bright too. That's why I wish to help deaf children learn a written language using sign language as a first language. My goal is to introduce deaf children to the wonders of the world!
I feel inspired to change this situation and to dedicate my life to this. I am very happy that I have had the opportunity to contribute to the development of bilingual software for deaf children. This software, developed by organization called Prolingva with Deaf Child Worldwide's support, aims to provide accessible information for deaf children to develop their emotional and functional literacy skills.
I’m proud that my creative abilities are recognised – and also the creativity of the young members of our Deaf association "DLAN". Our involvement in this project is having such a great impact on our self-esteem and sense of community and identity. This project will give us motivation to start similar projects and to use this software to teach deaf children and adolescents reading, writing, vocabulary and emotional literacy.
