September 8, 2022
September is Deaf Awareness Month, and All Children Reading: A Grand Challenge for Development is highlighting innovators who are developing solutions and tools to help ensure that children who are deaf and hard of hearing have access to books in the languages they use and understand.
Imagine growing up without books. Yet around the world, millions of children have little to no books in languages they use and understand, thereby limiting their access to education. Children have the right to literacy and quality education according to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals 4. For the more than 93 million children with disabilities, the shortage of books is even more severe, as resources, if available at all, often lack accessible formats especially for children who are deaf and hard-of-hearing. Literacy is a key skill needed to succeed in education, placing children on a path for healthy employment, lives and society.
Research shows that children experience greater reading success when learning in their local spoken or signed language. Providing engaging and accessible books in these underserved languages is essential to empowering and supporting these children on their path to literacy. And that is what a team of innovators in Indonesia are doing through ACR GCD’s Begin with Books prize.
Behind the scenes of World Around You project team members in Indonesia recording a level 1 story after the pandemic.
The team is part of the World Around You project, which is led by Rochester Institute of Technology/National Technical Institute for the Deaf (RIT/NTID) in collaboration with local disabled persons organizations in Indonesia as well as Fiji, the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, Samoa and Somalia. The project aims to create hundreds signed books in local sign languages using World Around You (WAY) software, which was funded during ACR GCD’s Sign on for Literacy Prize.
In Indonesia, most of the storybooks the team are producing were created in English, so the team must first translate the stories to Indonesian, and then the local Bisindo language so that the signers would understand the stories. Some of the stories feature local characters who are also deaf. Having characters that reflect the deaf experience helps to raise understanding and nurture a more inclusive environment. In addition, the digital storybooks often feature signers who are deaf, making the storybooks even more engaging for young learners.
Behind the scenes of World Around You project team members in Indonesia recording stories during the pandemic.
Once the stories are translated, the team films the signers delivering the story in sign language in front of a green screen. Since the project was launched during the pandemic, initial filming as a team was not possible due to COVID restrictions, so teams adapted. They connected online and recorded the video of each story from their homes.
The Indonesia team is not only creating sign language storybooks but also collaborating with the Indonesia Sign Language Center (PUSBISINDO) and other organizations to spread awareness of sign language literacy. As part of that effort, the team gave a presentation about the World Around You tool and how to teach Indonesian languages using pictures to special education teachers at a training Ministry of Education, Culture, Research and Technology.
Learn more about the project and the WAY platform. Access sign language storybooks in a variety of national and local sign languages on WAY.
Thank you to the Indonesian team for providing content for this article. All Children Reading: A Grand Challenge for Development is a partnership between USAID, World Vision and the Australian Government.
