MC Ngoc Lan opened the memory box and took out a picture of hands, which symbolizes the first sign language of the deaf. Ms. Nguyen Tran Thuy Tien was born deaf. Since childhood, she has used gestures and sign language in her family to communicate with everyone.
When I started school, the school only taught speaking for the deaf, not sign language, so I still had to wear a hearing aid to practice listening and speaking.
She shared: “I didn’t feel anything about myself.” When she met deaf people using signs to communicate with each other, she learned to do the same because she didn’t like to practice speaking. When she was able to use signs to communicate, she felt very happy because it was her first language.
According to Ms. Nguyen Tran Thuy Tien, deaf people have very good intuition and absorb information through their eyes very quickly, but cannot distinguish sounds even with hearing aids, and practicing speaking also causes certain obstacles.
When exposed to sign language, she was very interested and learned very quickly, not only Vietnamese sign language but also American and international sign language.
After finishing high school, Ms. Thuy Tien chose to study primary education for special students like herself and had the opportunity to receive a full scholarship from a university in the US. She was very happy and proud of that because scholarships for the deaf were very limited and the school only selected 2 out of 100 people to award this special scholarship.
She said that the major was very suitable for her wishes, and she committed to returning to Vietnam after completing two years of study to serve and contribute to the deaf community in Vietnam.
She worked as a teacher at a school for deaf children in Dong Nai and then moved to Da Lat to accompany these special students. Nguyen Tran Thuy Tien is working hard to improve the capacity of deaf people, especially through sign language and important services in daily life. She hopes to establish a national association of deaf people in Vietnam in the future.
Coming to the second item in the memory box, MC Ngoc Lan took out a hand “flower” with the word “PARD”, which is the abbreviation of the Center for Research and Application of Education for the Deaf, founded by Ms. Nguyen Tran Thuy Tien. This is the first organization for the deaf to be legalized in Vietnam with the goal of wanting the deaf to have an equal life, integrating into society like everyone else.
Because the deaf community still faces many difficulties, she put aside her dream of becoming a teacher to support and help people in the deaf community. Her Center focuses on many topics in life so that members of the "common home" can easily access information.
At the end of the program, Ms. Nguyen Tran Thuy Tien sent a message to everyone: "Although we face many barriers and difficulties, we must be proactive in overcoming them, so that we can better integrate into society."
