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Hello I am currently in Dubai on holiday living with my mother and stepfather who live here. I am considering moving here to Dubai, I am looking for any information on the Deaf culture/Awareness and if there is any Deaf person out there that is willing to help me. I am a hearing person myself but my oldest brother is Deaf and is a user of British Sign Language (BSL) and i would like to help and better the facilities here for Deaf people.

What is deaf awareness? I'm more than willing to learn.

Pardon

This is the kind of thing i am getting at... when you mention deaf.. people like Viking-warrior think it is funny to say pardon... this my friend is called arrogance and that just somes up you in one word!

Could you please elaborate on what you mean by "facilities"?

Deaf awareness is about improving the communication between deaf and hearing people... breaking the barriers within everyday life. Imporving, making an effort and having a good attitude towards deaf and hard of hearing people.. if you want to find out more.. type into google ' Deaf Awareness' 'Deaf Culture' 'Sign Language'.. there will be plenty of information there for you to learn about... the more people that learn about it the better it will be for deaf people in the world.. and less aragant people *cough cough*

You stated that you would like to help and better the facilities, assuming there are any in Dubai. I have been here for a total of 12 years and cannot recall ever seeing a "centre" for the deaf.

I think you may have hit on something which would be very, very useful to the people in the region. You may want to get in touch with other centers (such as the Centre for Autism) and speak with them and ask them if they are aware of any facilities that you are looking for, and if not, how could you go about starting a centre for the deaf in the event there isn't one.

Good luck to you.

Well Sarah, if you take offence at that then I would give serious consideration to staying out of the UAE. There are few places that have even taken wheelchair access to heart in their design.

Sometimes the obvious quip or joke can be heartless, and on behalf of myself I apologise if I caused you offence but having an aunt with one leg and having played rugby with a number of deaf people I always found them to have had a sense of humour about themselves, but the I guess coming from an environment of political correctness you feel that you have the moral upperhand, when can I expect the lawsuit?

The fact that you are in Dubai and have had to come onto a forum to ask a question like this - would i have thought indicated to you that there is precious little support for any disabilities in Dubai.

I am not fully aware of all the things here for deaf people?.. I put this post on here to see if there is anyone that can help me? by Facilities i mean.. youth club? fund raisers to help families to pay for the education... etc..

If I were you I would contact the schools, try

Dubai College
Dubai American Academy
JPS
Jumeriah College
English College

Do not speak to the receptionist - get to the person in charge of educational support, IF there is anything then they would know, they form the basis of that network and also have facilities that you may be able to use for an informal get together in the evenings - along with the communications technology to assist and educate. As Bora stated earlier I am not aware of a single support group of this nature and as with all things in Dubai the onus will be on you to get it going.

Get hold of the head and founder of Jebel Ali Nursery, if memory serves her name is Sheyla - if she can't help directly she will know who to go to.

Never seen a handicapped person in public in Dubai...do they hide them out of shame or don´t they exist?

Hello Sarah. I hate to say it but you will find very little assistance for people with any kind of disability here in Dubai. I hate to use that as a general term, but it's a fact. Autism has been brought up and yes there are centres for that, but very limited. With regards to people with hearing impairments, I certainly have never seen any.

Are you looking for educational assistance for your brother? Or are you just talking in general terms?

Contact the following to try to find out what is available, if anything, for those who are deaf. Definitely try to contact someone high up. If there is nothing available, you may be instrumental in influencing one of the centers (in particular the first one) to add facilities for the deaf. If there is nothing, and you are ambitious, you may want to contact Princess Haya's office in writing, outlining the lack of facilities and discuss possibilities with her.

Dubai Centre for Special Needs: http://www.dcsneeds.ae/
Al Noor Centre for Special Needs: alnooruae.org
Emirates Special Needs: http://www.emiratesspecialneeds.com/dub ... -needs.asp
Dubai Autism Center: http://www.dubaiautismcenter.ae/

Flying Dutchman wrote:Never seen a handicapped person in public in Dubai...do they hide them out of shame or don´t they exist?

Clearly you don't get out much!!

thank you all for your information.. i am very grateful... i am looking into this field as i have been brought up with British Sign Language as my older brother is profoundly deaf.. and all my family have been very proud of him, and i have a number of Deaf friends back in glasgow,scotland. I am looking to set up things such as a youth club, fundraisers anything that will help better the lives of deaf people here. I am a hearing person myself, i have the opportunity to go back to the Uk and study to be an interpreter for the Deaf which was my Goal since i was 7. Now i feel the need to set up camp here and instead of earning £2000/3000 a month i would rather have little money and get a better life for Deaf people out here... i know its not going to happen over night but im going to give it one hell of a go, and i am not going to give up! Viking worrior.. sorry i was a rude to you earlier.. i have put up with so much discrimionation to last me a life time and i am only 18 years old.. i am quick to bit the bullet and defend Deaf people and before i know it ive shot myself in the foot!.. Sorry once again...

Chocoholic... it doesnt matter how many assistance i will get.. i will try my hardest.. all i need is myself at the moment and that my brother and all my friends back home are proud of me even trying to do something about it...

Good luck to you Sarah. Hope you succeed in making your dream become a reality.

Thank you...

Well until the mid 90's I'd never reacted with the deaf but then had to go pakistan for around 4 months, to deal with some issue with my fathers property in Karachi. To cut a long story very short I made good friends with the deaf there. Since I dont have any family or friends there they were my only friends there. And very nice and welcoming bunch. And truly if god took away one of their senses it empowered the others. They were all sharp like knives. One of my good friends even "listened" to music and was a fan of Michale Jackson. He had a big thumping sound system in his car with speaker next to the hand brake which he would keep his hand on to "listen" to the Music. At first I thought it was just the vibarations from the speakers that somehow made him "listen" and feel normal. So one day I decided to see what was really going on. I took over the stereo and played various songs in various random order and without looking ( maybe he knew what number song on what CD was ) He was able to name each song correctly. I was totally dumbfounded.

But I really solidified my friend ship with this group when I felt like I was the deaf one as they all would talk in sign language to each other and I would just sit there looking blank, so I asked If I could have a book that I could learn it from. They were already very nice to me but when they saw me taking an intrest in their world it was totally diffrent. I picked up the pakistani variant of sign language ( I believe even sign language varies from country to country, right ? ) pretty quick. And had blast with my acoustically imparied buddies.

They lived totally normal lives. Drove cars, listened to music as absurd as it might seem, hung out with their friends watched movies. Totally normal and At a lot of times I totally forgot they were deaf. I remember once we were standing in line for something "chating" away and this strangers taps on my shoulder and points to his wrist. I told him the time. And his expression changed for a second and said as if shocked a little. " you can talk"," yeah" then I realised and it came back to that we weren't talking but using sign language and my friends were deaf .

Sadly once I cameback hear I lost touch with them and have never gone back since either. But that was a changing experience. Sorry for the long and boring post but Basically what I'm trying to say they are absolutely normal people and just because once sense is lacking does not make them any diffrent from us. More power to you Sarah and your cause and keep us posted on your efforts and any help you might need. Will try my best to do what I can.

I played rugby with a deaf guy in Edinburgh (a few years ago) He was partially deaf 75% but refused to learn sign, relying instead on a combination of lip reading and the sounds that he could hear.

The amount of times we would scream "watch out" or "man on" to no avail, as another kamakazi tackle would hit him from behind, makes me flinch just to think about it.

His name was Graham Watt (well, thats what we thought!) turns out that his name was Graham Buchan but said "What" so much it became his monicker - and he couldn't be bothered to tell anyone so it stuck.

SarahR1 ,hello my name is ojong . l do that my live in cameroon. how you will be hoping doing live with you fine. l am sorryfor me no money now.

I m deaf u diamond live?