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Mutes march proud on graduation day

BAGUIO CITY (Apr.2) – Like the other graduates, excitement is registered in their faces. But the two mute graduates doubly feel excitement: they are the first from the handicap to join this year’s graduates during Easter College’s 7th Commencement Exercises which happened last April 1.

Liso P. Agpas Jr. and Christopher L. Kulallad are the first mutes to graduate Bachelor of Secondary Education Major in Special Education (SPED). They are products of the college of Special Action for the Rehabilitation and Advancement of the Handicap (SARAH), a special project of Easter College.

Through an interpreter, Agpas Jr. and Kulallad relayed to NORDIS that they joined regular education classes with other students. A regular class with special students requires a teacher knowledgeable in sign language. In cases where a teacher lacks background in sign language, they request the assistance of the teachers from the SARAH or students to interpret.

In the high school and elementary, there is a distinct curriculum for special classes for the handicap. Speech and sign language is integrated in their subjects.

“But in the college, they join the regular students,” said SARAH teachers Marione Dapliyan and Shirley Fag-ayan.

“Horrible” experience

The son of Benguet Board Member Liso Agpas, Agpas Jr. narrated his experience when he first entered the classroom with the regular students. He experienced problems in adjusting with his classmates where most of them have no knowledge in sign language. This is where the SARAH assisted them. Agpas Jr. added that he sought the help of their teachers in his subjects like Math and English.

The same was experienced by Kulallad, whose parents are from Bontoc, Mountain Province when he entered the college in 1998. He claims he was particularly shocked that they were with regular students. He felt sorry for himself when nobody helped him interpret his idea to regular students, especially after class.

“But I was able to overcome it with the help of our SARAH teachers and handicap friends,” he claimed in sign language interpreted by Fag-ayan to this writer.

School for handicap

Agpas and Kulallad are proud that there is an institution that addresses the education of the handicap like the Easter College’s SARAH project. They urged the government to establish schools with such programs.

The two were schoolmates at the SPED (Special Education) in Baguio City during their elementary years. Kulallad studied at the San Lorenzo Ruiz Institute at Bakakeng in this city. As there are no high schools for them in Baguio and La Trinidad, Agpas was forced to study at the Pasay School for the Deaf. He sacrificed being away with his family just to pursue his high school.

With their achievements, they claimed they can use their education to helptheir fellow handicaps. They said they are willing to serve as volunteers, just as long as they can share their knowledge and experience.

Supporters of the SARAH project claims that education is not only for normal children but also for those with limitations and less privileged. This is a reality that the government should address as their role in national development should also be realized, SARAH teachers said.

The commencement’s guest speaker is Robert F. Kuan, owner of the food chain Chowking and the chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Saint Luke’s Medical Center in Quezon City. # Arthur L. Allad-iw for NORDIS

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