Advocates seek inclusive climate response using FSL glossary

An environment organization is partnering with deaf communities for a more inclusive response against climate change.

Under the Climate Resilience of the Deaf: Signs for Inclusive Governance and Development or Project SIGND, the Oscar M. Lopez Center (OMLC) is developing a glossary of Filipino Sign Languages (FSL) that would help communicate climate change, its risks, and impact with the persons with disabilities (PWD) sector, specifically deaf communities.

“Through Project SIGND, we started developing vocabularies together with FSL researchers. They’re really skilled linguists and went to different areas, different provinces to gather data through videos,” Carolyn Dagani, Project SIGND co-lead for inclusion, told reporters in a media briefing.

“They selected and prepared the videos and in the process, we will get a deaf expert who will evaluate what kind of signs we will establish… In different provinces, there are variations of signs so we will agree on what kind of signs will be used. We will match them all together and later on, these will be used for training and making policies and we will disseminate the information,” Dagani added.

Project SIGND started in August 2022 and is scheduled to launch by early 2025. It is the first deaf-led project related to climate change in the country.

Asked about the importance of an inclusive climate change response, Project SIGND Program 2 Manager Niner Guiao said: “Involving the deaf in decision-making is about recognizing them for their expertise in their own lives and allowing them to take leadership and ensuring their engagement is meaningful and that they can be integrated on the policies we have.”

 “This is learning how to work together. It’s ensuring that inclusion is not just a tokenistic approach,” Guiao added.

For Dagani, tapping the deaf communities means empowering them so they can be “included in climate discourse, decision-making, and also making policy to help the deaf community at large”.

“Together with the hearing, it’s essential that we communicate together. Not only the hearing people can make decisions but they will be making decisions with the Deaf so there will be an understanding between the two parties,” she said.

Citing the UN Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights, the OMLC said PWDS are affected by climate impacts “differently and more severely than others“ as disaster management interventions are usually designed for people without disabilities who can rely on walking, running, seeing, hearing or quickly responding to instructions”.

Data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) showed there are at least 1.44 million PWDs in the country as of 2010, 500,000 of whom are deaf. — DVM, GMA Integrated News