History of the sign language education in Malaysia
Over the year, history of deaf education have been appeared in most of every state in Malaysia.An historical overview explains that Malaysia's landmark in the education of the deaf was establishment in 1954, its first and pioneer fully residential school was the Federation School for the Deaf in Penang. A decade later in 1963 special integrated classes or units for the deaf were established to accommodate more deaf children nationwide. However, in this blog a researcher will only focus on the history in two main states namely Kuala Lumpur and Penang.
History of deaf education in Kuala Lumpur:
In the early 1960's a man by the name of Tan Yap was in contact with some deaf children in Johor. (He is now called the “Father of the Deaf” by some of the Deaf.) Mr. Tan Yap was a pharmacist, but he was so moved by the plight of the Deaf in the country that several times he took a short leave of absence without pay from his work in Johor and went to the United States to take courses in sign language and interpreting for the Deaf. In the evenings, Mr. Tan Yap would teach American Sign Language (ASL) to the Deaf children. He also persuaded some nurses to help out and he taught a few other hearing people how to sign.
In 1964 the Social Welfare Department helped him to start a class for the Deaf which was free. At first the school was small with only two or three children, but later it expanded to five or six children, all school dropouts. They were taught the basics of reading, writing and arithmetic, as well as sign language. Eventually there were thirty-five enrolled in the class.
In 1968 Mr. Tan Yap was transferred to Kuala Lumpur where he started another class for about twelve Deaf children who were school dropouts. In the early 1970's the classes were moved to Bukit Nanas. Eventually the school grew to about 200 children before it was moved to a new school in Kelana Jaya built by a Japanese philanthropist in 1993. Mr. Tan Yap retired from the school in 1995, and started the Community Service Centre for the Deaf at the end of the year. The centre is a beehive of activity and offers counselling, help in seeking employment, some education for the Deaf (especially those with special needs), tutoring and other services.
Another entity that has had a major influence on the Deaf in Kuala Lumpur is the YMCA. The Deaf Club there was founded in 1973 by Mr. Tan Yap, the YMCA’s Men’s Club and some other volunteers. There is now also a centre for the Deaf at the YMCA called “Pusat Majudiri Y”. There are a couple of interpreters working there, who help the Deaf with legal problems, arrange for excursions, sports meets, and lectures on various topics for the Deaf, among other things. There are classes in American Sign Language for the hearing, a small kindergarten class to teach sign language to Deaf pre-schoolers and tutoring for older Deaf children. A Laundrette run completely by the Deaf is housed at the YMCA as well.
Mr. Tan Yap introduced the idea of Deaf teachers teaching Deaf children at the Bukit Nanas school. He also invited three Peace Corps volunteers to help there in the early 1970's. More recently an American Deaf lady by the name of Heather joined the teaching staff in the early 1990's. She was a graduate from Gallaudet University and provided an example to the Malaysian Deaf of what can be achieved by a Deaf person who works hard and perseveres.
Mr. Tan Yap is now eighty-three years old, and officially retired, but he is still active in promoting the welfare of the Deaf. In addition to his work as a pharmacist, and work with the Deaf, Mr. Tan Yap has taught American Sign Language (ASL) and Deaf Culture to government officers, and the trainees in the Specialist Teachers’ Training Institute. He also taught ASL to the nurses and pharmacists in several hospitals, the police force and welfare workers in Kuala Lumpur, Ipoh and other cities throughout Malaysia.
History of deaf education in Penang:
The Signed Language Survey began in Penang at the Special Education High School, which is a school for the Deaf. On the same premises there is also a primary school for the Deaf. The primary school was started in 1954 on the initiative of a doctor, C.E. Fields, who learned that nothing was being done to educate Deaf children, although a blind school had been started in 1928. The school was based on oralism and signing was forbidden, though one Deaf man informed us that whenever the teacher would write on the board the students would “whisper” to each other (i.e. make small signs down near their hips). Thus Penang Sign Language was born. Until the introduction of Total Communication5 in 1976, Penang Sign Language (PSL) was the language of communication for the Deaf who studied in Penang. These children came from all over
what is now known as Malaysia, as there were no other classes for Deaf children for several years. There were probably a total of about 4,800 speakers of PSL before American Sign Language was introduced.
One of the most important people in the history of the school in Penang is Dato’ Hajah Saleena Yahaya Isa. She began helping at the school on a voluntary basis in 1954, while still teaching at another school. Eventually she transferred to the Federation School for the Deaf (FSD) as the school was then called, and was made headmistress in 1961. She remained with the school until her retirement in 1987. During her tenure, Eleanor Culas became the first Deaf Student from Malaysia to be accepted into Gallaudet College in Washington, D.C. in the early 1970's. Eleanor persuaded one of her professors, Frances M. Parson, to stop by Penang when she was on a world tour. Professor Parson introduced the concept of Total Communication to Dato’ Saleena and the teachers in the school using American Sign Language (ASL) in 1976. With the permission of the then Minister of Education, Dato Seri Dr. Mahathir bin Mohammad, a pilot class was started on a trial basis for five years. After three years when it was demonstrated that the children in the pilot class were far ahead of their peers, permission was granted to introduce Total Communication in all the classrooms for the Deaf children of Malaysia. Special education teachers from around Malaysia went to Penang to learn the new concepts. As a result of the introduction of ASL, Penang Sign Language (PSL) began to lose its importance. At present mainly older people use it, though some young people have also learned it. Some of the older people told us that they have dropped the use of PSL now and use only ASL, though only one subject achieved a score of 90% on the ASL story during the testing phase of the survey, demonstrating high proficiency with ASL.
