Shanghai’s best sign language services and community groups
Photograph: @ZhengSam via Weibo
There are well over 260,000 deaf people in Shanghai, and they haven’t let a lack of hearing stop them from creating a community all their own. No matter if you’re a hearing impaired person looking for groups to join or simply a hearing person interested in sign language, here are a few organisations and events you can get involved in.
Sui Shou Zhi Meng Sign Language Cultural Centre
Photograph: courtesy Sui Shou Zhi Meng
Started in 2010 after the founder saw a hearing person studying sign language on a bus, the volunteer-run sign language workshop has become a proper sign language school with professional deaf sign language teachers and hearing teaching assistants. The school teaches American and Shanghainese sign language, and it’s also developing a sign language dictionary app with words and expressions all accompanied with videos, visuals and text in both English and Chinese.
📍First Floor, No 6, 35 Wuyi Lu, near Yanan Xi Lu. Search ‘iSigner’ on the App Store to download.
Shanghai International Deaf Film Festival
Photograph: @ZhengSam via Weibo
Established by deaf film director Zheng Xiaosan, the first Shanghai International Deaf Film Festival took place in 2018. It showed dozens of films from different countries including China, Austria, Germany, France, Canada and the UK and also featured filmmaking and acting workshops, deaf artists’ exhibitions and talks aiming to encourage more deaf artists and filmmakers. The second SHIDFF takes place in September 2020 with a lot more film submissions and more diverse representations of the deaf community.
📍Follow official WeChat ID: ‘SHIDFF’ for more info.
Communication Access
Photograph: Yu Zhiming
Project Access is one of Shanghai’s best sign language translation services, committed to building a barrier-free communication environment and safeguarding the equal rights of deaf people. Made up of a team of sign language interpreters, the company provides professional sign language translation and barrier-free consulting services for deaf and hearing individuals, as well as for organisations and enterprises that are conscious about social inclusion.
📍Follow official WeChat ID: ‘goutongwuyou-sh’ for more info or to book its services.
Long Guo Liu Heng: Deaf Runners
Photograph: Zhao Xingyi
The group Long Guo Liu Heng, meaning 'traces left by dragons' in Chinese, is a running group organised by deaf fitness enthusiast Zhao Xingyi. Just like Zhao, his fifty or so other team members are also deaf, but that doesn’t stop them from having fun pushing their limits. Zhao and his running group meet frequently and train mainly for big races such as the Shanghai marathon, the Shanghai half-marathon and even the Spartan Race. Their next conquest, Hong Kong 100 Ultra Trail Race, takes place January 2020.
📍Add WeChat ID: ‘zhaoxingyi1988’ for more info or to join the running group.