The Deaf and hearing work together in Project SIGNDAt Project SIGND, where OML Center has been collaborating with Deaf-led organizations to increase the Deaf ’s ability to prepare for and adapt to climate-related risks and disasters, people have learned a lot about navigating a workplace where the Deaf and hearing work together.

All activities, for example, are attended by interpreters so that the Deaf can understand what the hearing are saying, and the hearing can understand what the Deaf are signing. The hearing managers and staff are regularly given training on Filipino Sign Language (FSL), with special attention to signs that convey climate change concepts.

Angelika Pizarro, a policy specialist, took FSL lessons early in the project. Two years on, she can have simple conversations with her Deaf colleagues.

“There are many things and work practices that I had to unlearn and learn to more effectively work with the Deaf,” Pizarro says. “I’ve become much more sensitive and self-aware about my words, actions, expressions and even my feelings and thoughts toward the Deaf. I’ve realized how small changes in communication can significantly impact how the Deaf understand, perceive things and even feel toward you.”

OML Center knowledge production manager Ayn Torres and assistant manager Alfi Lorenz Cura correct the misconception that the Deaf are able to understand and use the written word at the same level as the hearing because they can read.

“Their main mode of communication is sign. They just fall back on written English if there’s no other option. We assume that if you’re not able to sign, you can just text the words and show it to them. Pero compromise na nila ‘yun (But that’s already a compromise for them),” Torres explains.

Cura adds that the Deaf use a different syntax. For example, one might say “What is your name?” while the transcribed English of the FSL version would be “Name you what?” or “Name you?”

Mita Santiago, the manager of the team working on the vocabulary component that has collected and developed more than 1,000 FSL signs that convey climate change concepts, is one of two people on her team who is hearing. Having gone through the FSL learning program of De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde, she is able to have simple conversations with her Deaf colleagues.

Like Pizarro, one of the adjustments she made was to change the words she uses so that they’re easier for the interpreters to sign. She has also modified the way she delivers messages to her team, sending these through multiple platforms.

If organizations wish to be Deaf-inclusive, where do they start? For Santiago, it begins with human resources having conversations with Deaf organizations to find out what the Deaf need in the workplace. Indeed, OML Center has partnered with Deaf organizations to implement Project SIGND: the Philippine Federation of the Deaf, Filipino Sign Language National Network, Deaf Disaster Assistance Team-Disaster Risk Reduction, Dumaguete Effata Association of the Deaf, and Deaf Accessibility Network of the Philippines.

Parabukas, a consultancy focused on laws and policies related to climate change, the environment and sustainable development, is OML Center’s only partner that is made up of hearing personnel.

Pizarro, who is from Parabukas, says: “Working closely with the Filipino Deaf community has inspired and motivated me to do more for the sector.”