Many people had been awed upon hearing that a deaf girl graduated magna cum laude. But that sense of awe quickly turned to inspiration when that same girl delivered a memorable commencement speech in behalf of her class using merely her hands – and her heart.

Last week, 23-year-old Ana Kristina Arce was all over the news for being the first deaf student to graduate magna cum laude from the De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde School. Ana also received the Community Service award for volunteering to serve in various school programs, as well as for being the the president of the Benildean Deaf Association, the DLS-CSB student council, the Lasallian Ministry Program for the Deaf, and the Summer of Service Program. Ana was also one of the four student ambassadors in the Summer Leadership Institute in PENEN-International, participated in the 12th Deaf Festival, Immaculate Conception Parish for outreach program, relief operations for typhoon Ondoy victims and For-the-Kids mini olympics.

GROWING UP

Ana was born deaf after her mother Vilma was infected by the rubella virus during her pregnancy. But losing baby Ana was not an option. Vilma pushed through with the pregnancy and gave birth to Ana on October 27, 1986.

Seemingly a normal baby at first because she could react to noises, Ana soon showed signs of deafness when she turned 11 months old.

At the age of two, Ana was enrolled at the Maria Lena Buhay Foundation, an oral school, where she learned to speak and read lips.

“I learned sign language at age seven and it was easy for me to adjust to communicate in sign language,” she says.

Being active in the deaf community, her sense of belonging made coping a lot easier. It also helps that a lot of modern forms of communication have become available “I can communicate with hearing people using written communication, e-mail communication, SMS or text,” she says.

Also making things a lot easy for her is a sign language interpreter who is helpful during interviews, seminars, classes, conferences and Mass. All these make Ana feel no different at all!

MAKING THE BEST OUT OF SCHOOLING

For most people who are differently-abled, studying poses a major problem and a lot of adjustments in many aspects have to be made. But for Ana, schooling was bliss. “My parents were always supportive of me especially with my going to school,” she says.

Looking for a school that would suit Ana’s needs was also something that needed careful consideration. Her parents enrolled her both in special and regular schools such as the Philippine Institute for the Deaf, Philippine Normal University, and UP South to check if any of these would be ideal for her. Unfortunately, adjustment at these said schools did not come easy. Her parents then enlisted her at the Philippine School for the Deaf where sign language is used as the medium of communication through high school. In her senior year, Ana was transferred to a private school for the deaf where she finished with academic honors.

Still, Ana believed there were so much to be accomplished. “Even if I am deaf, I did not consider deafness as an obstacle to pursuing my dream of going to college and maybe a master’s degree,” she says.

As a child, Ana always wanted to be a painter. Her inclination towards the arts pushed her to take up Bachelor in Applied Deaf Studies course with specialization in Multimedia Arts in DLS-CSB. “I wanted to know how I could do my best as a deaf person while pursuing my special skills in multimedia arts,” she says.

She went to the right school indeed as DLS-CSB has a diverse group of people who made her feel welcome. The School of Deaf Education and Applied Studies or SDEAEAS, a department exclusively for deaf students where the Filipino sign language (FSL) is used as a medium of communication, also helped Ana in her adjustment,

It also helped that at CSB, the hearing student population is encouraged to learn sign language through the Filipino Sign Language program. The program urges hearing students get a deaf buddy especially in extra-curricular activities to get to know deaf students better.

BEING AN ADVOCATE FOR THE DEAF

Ana says that despite the increasing awareness on people with special needs, misconceptions about the deaf remains.

For instance the use of the terms “hearing impairment” and “deaf mute” when referring to them is offensive, she says, because that term means deaf people’s ears are impaired but they are actually not. “Most people call us deaf mute but we are not mute. We are simply deaf and can’t talk because we do not hear what other people say. We are not mute because our tongues are normal.’’

Ana dreams of writing a book about the aspirations of the deaf. She implores parents who have deaf kids not to force them to undergo cochlear implants. “Most of the hearing parents want their deaf children to learn how to speak so some of them make them wear a cochlear implant although it’s not always successful. But if kids wear this, they can’t just participate in physical activities like basketball, swimming in deep level, and others,’’ she explains.

The best medium of communication, she believes, is still sign language.

Ana also hopes that in the future, hearing teachers of the deaf would become aware of natural sign language especially in public and private primary and secondary schools. “Filipino Sign Language should be promoted as the primary means of communication for the deaf community. I’m sure deaf children will learn their lessons fast if they use this as the medium of communication just like me,” she ends.