“Saint Benilde is distinguished for his devotion to educating students from all walks of life and was known to have deliberately learned sign language to teach a deaf boy catechism."
The Story of Deaf Education in DLS-CSB began with a leap of faith from a visionary who listened intently to the call of the times. Through the mandate of then President Br. Andrew Gonzales, College of Saint Benilde took one of its many bolds steps in 1991 to educate the Filipino Deaf Youth. Through partial or full subsidy, many of our Deaf youth from poverty stricken families have received the gift of Lasallian Education. From fifteen (15) Deaf students in 1991, the number grew to 30 in 2000.
Through the support of Br. President Victor Franco, the number expanded to 60 slots in 2007. To date, DLS-CSB’s School of Deaf Education and Applied Studies (SDEAS) have a population of 185 students with subsidy and an alumni population of more than190 degree and certificate graduates, almost all of whom were subsidy recipients. Of this number, an estimate of 109 or 57% has employment in multimedia arts, business and service industry while a number are beginning entrepreneurs.But the task of DLS-CSB SDEAS is not just provide the Filipino Deaf Youth access to a very expensive education, but making Lasallian Education equitable. Equity in education is not just about equal treatment of Deaf people, though that is part of it. Equity in education is “fostering a barrier-free environment where individuals benefit equally. It recognizes that some people require additional and specialized support to achieve equal benefit.” (Our Children, Our Communities, and Our Future, 1997).
Designing and fostering a barrier-free environment for access and learning require an understanding of the diverse needs and uniqueness of Deaf people. Administrators, Educators and service providers and to a certain extent, the greater community that the Deaf students belong to, need to gain knowledge and an understanding of Deaf people’s culture, language and community and personal history and the impact these have to their life experiences, aspirations, personality, character and learning. Without the knowledge, understanding and recognition of their diversity, efforts to understand become barriers and how to overcome them will be difficult to do; consequently, resistance will be met for efforts to innovate and apply need-based interventions that are different and diverse from how things are regularly and automatically being done in the general population.
Barriers in the environment make education inaccessible and inequitable; and this may be a result of physical, informational, system, or attitude. Barriers that result from attitudes are the worst of these situations.
SDEAS (and prior 2000, the School of Special Studies) have experienced various forms of barriers that created a lot of misunderstanding and judgment that sometimes led to the creation of more barriers for the Deaf and those who seek to make education more accessible and equitable. A reality that we also struggled with and tried to address in our department.
But being a Learner-Centered Institution, our key leaders and various community partners have worked with us in understanding the diversity of the Deaf as a reason to celebrate and value, and not to penalize our students, and SDEAS, because of the unique ways we come up with just so we can understand further and respond appropriately to the Filipino Deaf Youth’s unique differences. Through the years, the CSB community has helped a great deal in recognizing that diversity and providing support for programs and services to evolve and improve so that the education of the Filipino Deaf Youth becomes more equitable and accessible. A small school with a population of 185 students boast of programs and services uniquely housed and staffed in SDEAS. Aside from the Center for Academics, we have the Center for Deaf Esteem and Formation and the Center for Partnership and Development.
We also have more than 40 faculty members more than 60% are Deaf teachers with honing their expertise in the field of mma, business, formation, and advocacy. And, we all strive to communicate in Filipino Sign Language, and ensure Deaf people who are in CSB have access to other learning opportunities and experiences through the support of sign language interpreters. Sign language training has evolved from conversational level target outcomes towards an outcome that aim to produce educational interpreters. The view of interpreting has evolved and CSB has now recognized interpreting as a profession and given appropriate renumeration equivalent to other professions.
Through the years, Deaf students’ have also gained access to various student activities opportunities, at various point in history the Deaf youth leaders had opportunity to assert their right for their own organization. Most recently, one such has been set up by the Deaf students themselves with the help of their trusted formators and mentors.
The CSB Deaf program has evolved to what it is today because of the generosity of our partners that we closely worked with – those who were ahead of us or those who, like us, discovered our way celebrating unity in diversity with a sense of community. With great fervor and commitment, we all became our guide to each other, so we may know and do better. And we give thanks to many of them. The community of Deaf and hearing students, staff, faculty and administrators, past and present, each one contributing their own gift, help build a better vision of our future, a future that we witness unfolding today.
Our CSB community members and partners who have found all possible means to understand and be One with us, in our effort to remain steadfast as we maintain, protect and nurture unity in diversity.
Our employers and partner advocates who worked with us, guiding us through the requirements of the industry, and accepting our guidance to make employment opportunities more accessible.
Our Deaf and hearing mentors from the bigger community, from people’s organizations for and of the Deaf, other post-secondary education institutions in the country, and international organizations, such as AUSAID PACAP who provided the grant for start up funds of young Deaf entrepreneurs under the Youth Entrep-Employment for the Deaf (YESDEAF project).
One particular partner important to highlight is the Post-Secondary Education Network-International, from whom we have received an abundance of support. Their continued guidance and assistance has helped strengthen SDEAS as an organization envisioned to be a Center of Excellence for Deaf Education.Many of our partners have shared their skills, learning, insights from their experiences working with and for the Deaf; their accomplishments and areas for improvement all helped us in our own learning journey on how to do better for the benefit of our Deaf students. To them, we are forever grateful, and they remain alive in our history and in the work that we continue to do.
As we move forward, we hope to further strengthen our community and the enthusiasm we have to lead ourselves and others further towards making Lasallian Education more accessible and equitable to the Deaf youth, and hopefully to Deaf children someday. In the mean time, we do hope that through the gift of the Lasallian education, and the gift of partnerships with everyone, the Deaf students have received something that have transformed their lives. Hopefully, it will inspire them to also help improve the lives of other Deaf people – those ahead of them and most especially those younger Deaf people who come after them.
- by Ms. Theresa Christine Benitez-dela Torre. She is the immediate past Dean of the School of Deaf Education and Applied Studies for the last 9 years. Ms. Dela Torre will continue to be of service to the College of Saint Benilde as Director of the Center for Education Access and Development (CEAD). Beginning SY2009-2010 Ms. Maria Veronica Templo-Perez assumes Deanship of SDEAS.
