Through the Eyes of my Deaf Teacher

August 31, 2017

Foreground: my Deaf teacher Rey Alfred Lee. Behind him are members of the Silent Steps, Faculty staff of DLS-CSB School of Deaf Education and Applied Studies, as well as GMEFI and UPSEC officers. Also in the photo is PULE film scorer Tumtum Mendoza [in white t-shirt with eyeglasses], a Person with Autism, standing between GMEFI President and me.

Last August 25, PULE: UTAK ng REBOLUSYON, a documentary on our hero, APOLINARIO MABINI was shown for the benefit of the scholars of Gawad Metronian Educational Foundation, Inc. [GMEFI]. The film participants include Deaf students and members of the Deaf playgroup, SILENT STEPS. They interpreted in Filipino Sign Language for the first time after 1898, one of the popular writings of the docu’s subject entitled El Verdadero Decalogo/The True Decalogue. It was voiced by a man paralyzed by Guillain-Barre Syndrome who read Mabini’s writings. The film was scored by a twice-exceptional Person with Autism, his first time to do so.

The screening was held at the UP Film Center in Diliman, Quezon City. Members of the Deaf community from DLS-CSB School of Deaf Education and Applied Studies where I studied Filipino Sign Language came to attend the screening. One of them was my Deaf teachers, Rey Alfred Lee, former President of the Philippine Federation of the Deaf. Below are some of the photos he took.