EVOLVING LANGUAGE

A community-led project is developing sign language for deaf LGBTI to improve healthcare access and reduce isolation

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During a medical check-up, Pin consulted a doctor about receiving gender-affirming care. In an ideal setting, a new sign language interpreter would communicate with her by painstakingly finger-spelling the concept “hormone”. But when such assistance was not available, she and the doctor resorted to writing on paper.

“The conversation ended up in vain. It was too short to understand how hormone treatment works,” she said.

Pin is a Deaf LGBTI person who recently attended a sign language glossary workshop as part of the 2nd Thailand Transgender Wellbeing Conference. While the total population of this group remains unknown, at least 5,000 individuals have registered with the Deaf Thai Rainbow Club, founded in 2013 to empower deaf LGBTI individuals.

While terms such as LGBTI and trans rights have now slipped into everyday use in Thai, converting them into sign language has been daunting. However, a community-led project is ensuring they are included in public conversation.

The Deaf Thai Rainbow Club has collaborated with the Rainbow Sky Association of Thailand to create 100 signs for deaf LGBTI people. Starting last year, the project has received funding from the Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities. In March, representatives of from four regions brainstormed and reached a consensus on 86 signs. Approved by the National Association of the Deaf in Thailand, they are being published on social media this week.

“They have been left in the dark. Despite Thailand’s leading position as a transgender hub, those who are deaf are denied access to health knowledge,” said Caesar Ananwanich, co-director of the Office of Legal Rights and Sustainability at the Rainbow Sky Association of Thailand, who is serving as an advisor to the Deaf Thai Rainbow Club.