Hearing-impaired kids talk about sex

05/10/2009
Sexual and reproductive health materials for the deaf contain nothing more than male and female physiologies and hygiene and puberty. More is needed as Ta Thu Giang reports.

Nguyen Ha My had no idea what menstrution was, and when she had her first period at the age of 13, she thought she was suffering from a dangerous disease. My, who hearing impaired, has very few resources to learn about what was happening with her body.

My’s story is very similar to that of nine-year-old Meggie Cleary, a character in The Thorn Birds – a 1977 best-selling novel by Australian author Colleen McCullough.

But in the novel, Meggie was a normal girl and she was told by her Father, Ralph de Bricassart, about puberty. Meanwhile, My’s knowledge is limited. Her mother simply says, "You’ve grown up; it doesn’t matter!"

This all happened two years ago. My remained curious and unsure of what was happening until she joined a programme called, "Using hands to talk about sex" at the Xa Dan School, with support from the World Population Foundation, WPF Netherlands experts and the Ministry of Education and Training.

Since April 2007, the WPF has conducted a pilot programme aimed at teaching sexual and reproductive health (SRH) at the Xa Dan School for hearing-impaired students.

The programme is comprised of three parts: developing an SRH curriculum (including HIV/AIDS awareness) for deaf students, creating the first SRH sign language glossary in Viet Nam and providing SRH knowledge and teaching skills for teachers.

Using sign language, My says that she was not taught about sexual and reproductive health in the past, even from her parents.

"I realise that my body is changing. It’s something I’ve been coming to terms with for a long time. I wanted to learn more from my mother, but her sign language skills are very limited," says My.

My says that her teachers and friends rarely talk about these issues, and they all have trouble communicating because their sign languages use different gestures.

My is o­ne of nearly 300 deaf and dumb children and 40 teachers from seven schools for the deaf around Viet Nam who have been interviewed as part of a comprehensive study carried out to assess Vietnamese hearing-impaired students’ knowledge of SRH. The study also gauged the effectiveness of current SRH education models for hearing-impaired students throughout the country.

Viet Nam has about four million hearing-impaired people who are some of the most disadvantaged individuals in the country, and their sexual and reproductive health needs have long been neglected.

Teacher Do Minh Tien, who has taught at the Xa Dan school for 22 years, says that the sign language used among teachers and students to speak about sex is unpolished, and there is still a lot of misunderstanding.

"When I talk to my students about sex, it has to be from my own experiences because there are no standard books to follow," says Tien.

The study, with the participation of nearly 300 hearing- and speaking-impaired students, shows that o­nly 18.8 to 46.3 per cent of students can give correct answers to questions about puberty, male and female reproductive organs and menstruation.

And 64 to 80 per cent of students gave wrong answers to questions related to pregnancy, the proper use of condoms, sexual abuse, SRH rights, STDs, HIV awareness and homosexuality.

Head master of Xa Dan Secondary School, Nguyen Manh Hung, says that his teachers previously taught SRH by recounting their own experiences to the students.

Hung says that the teachers were not well-versed o­n SRH and related topics, and proper manuals and visual aides were not available to them.

"However, students’ awareness of SRH has certainly improved, and they are beginning to take initiative in dealing with their own problems and questions concerning sexual and reproductive health.

‘’The project’s development strategy is to turn the SRH education model for hearing impaired persons all over Viet Nam into a comprehensive sex education system for disabled people," says Hung.

According to Nguyen Hai Thuong, the WPF programme manager, hearing-impaired children and adolescents face many challenges due to their lack of SRH knowledge, and the situation is compounded by the lack of access to adequate or correct information o­n SRH or special SRH and HIV/AIDS education programmes.

Thuong says that most parents cannot provide the necessary information to their children at home, as their sign language skills are not good enough.

Tran Tien Manh, father of Xa Dan student Tran Tien Hieu, says that it is very difficult for him and his wife to talk about sexual and reproductive health to their son because of the language barrier. "I’m afraid that I will tell him the wrong thing, as I do not always know the right words."

Manh remembers two years ago, when Hieu was 15 and he took a liking to a younger girl.

"We were very worried because they were both underage, and if things went too far, my son could be accused of rape," says Manh.

"I tried to tell Hieu that he was still a young boy, that he could fall in love o­nly when he was 18. He asked me why, but I couldn’t explain it to him. My sign language skills were not good enough," says Manh.

Manh says that he is very happy for the project’s dictionary and glossary, which illustrates 500 words and concepts. "It is a tool that will help me better communicate with my son."

Viet Nam’s hearing-impaired students are faced with two major problems in acquiring SRH-related information: there is no standardised sign language and teachers are not equipped with a proper curriculum for disabled students.

"Sexual and reproductive health materials targeting secondary school students   the highest learning level for a hearing-impaired student   contain nothing more than male and female physiologies and passages about personal hygiene and puberty," says Thuong.

Other essential SRH issues such as sexuality and pregnancy are not included."

Thuong also says that educators have not been sufficiently trained in SRH teaching methodologies, and sign language cannot effectively convey reproductive health knowledge from textbooks to students.

"This is all compounded by an acute shortage of teaching aids for subjects related to SRH," says Thuong.

In Viet Nam, hearing-impaired adolescents, as well as other disabled people, have the right to go to school. However, a proper education requires that teachers have the special skills and knowledge needed.

According to programme manager Thuong, students with hearing disabilities who graduate from primary schools in rural areas soon discover that o­nly secondary schools in urban areas have the necessary facilities for them.

Rural students rarely have the necessary resources to relocate to urban areas, and so they must remain in the countryside where secondary schools are not equipped to meet their needs.

WPF Country Represen-tative Jerry Clewett says that every young person has the right to information, services and counselling o­n sexual and reproductive health issues.

He says that world leaders agreed in Cairo in 1994 that all governments should recognise the needs of the disabled concerning reproductive health, including family planning, sexual health and HIV/AIDS awareness, and eliminate specific forms of discrimination that persons with disabilities may face with regards to reproductive rights.

Delighted

He says that Viet Nam was a signatory to the Programme of Action that contained the issue. "The WPF is delighted to assist the Government here in meeting its obligations to help the disabled youths of the country, and in particular the hearing-impaired, realise their sexual and reproductive rights."

Deputy Director of Ha Noi Disabled Children Aid Association Tran Thi Minh Phuong says that this is Viet Nam’s first scientifically educational material o­n SRH education, and is very valuable for schools with hearing-impaired students, in Ha Noi and across Viet Nam.

Phuong says that although the project has successfully achieved its main goals, there are still some shortcomings. The pilot programme o­nly took place at the Xa Dan School, and the experiences exchanged between teachers were not as numerous as there could have been.

"I would like to propose that the complete curriculum be implemented widely in Ha Noi and throughout Viet Nam in order to improve its effectiveness," says Phuong.

"Phase 2 of the project should now be planned. We are also looking forward to co-operating with individuals, organisations, sponsors and especially the World Bank for handicapped youths in general and hearing-impaired youths in particular," she says.

The project's benificiaries, including students My and Hieu, are very lucky to have an opportunity to take part in the project that has helped them become eduated about SRH. However, there are four million hearing-impaired people in Viet Nam who still lack information about SRH.

Currently, there is no official data o­n their SRH problems. The combination of discrimination against these people and the lack of social and health services for them has helped make the group more vulnerable to SRH problems such as, unplanned pregnancies, sexually-transmitted infections and sexual abuse.

SRH education is therefore an important means to addressing these problems.

The project's benificiaries, including students My and Tien, are very lucky to have an opportunity to take part in the project that has helped them become educated about SRH. However, there are four million hearing-impaired people in Viet Nam who still lack information about SRH.

Currently, there is no official data o­n their SRH problems. The combination of discrimination against these people and the lack of social and health services for them has helped make the group more vulnerable to SRH problems such as, unplanned pregnancies, sexually-transmitted infections and sexual abuse.

SRH education is therefore an important means to address these problems.

— VNS

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