TED ADANA COLLEGE / 10-B
A Touch Away
Naz KURTBOĞANOĞLU
Life is challenging . No one claims that life is perfect and there are no obstacles . Everybody has had to face obstacles at some point in their lives . However , the important thing is to overcome these obstacles and keep going . Some people face challenges in certain aspects of their lives , whereas , some face inherent difficulties . Those have many problems in their lives , but the most significant one is communication .
Humans need communication . However , communication is much tougher for deaf-blind people . Misunderstanding is one of the most common communication issues that they face . They are not understood by others because of the way they express themselves . This leads to educational issues . Most of them cannot even receive fundamental education . In addition , they are struggling to find jobs , too . There are not enough job opportunities for them , and their applications are sometimes automatically turned down because of their disabilities . As one can see , communication is at the heart of all these issues .
However , these communication problems are not unsolvable . The deaf-blind are generally considered to be impossible to communicate . But this is wrong . There is a special language based on touch for the deaf-blind community and it is called ‘ tactile sign language ’. Unlike other sign languages , which are primarily visual in nature , the Protactile is based on touch . The origin of Protactile dates back to Seattle , 2007 and it contains signs from American Sign Language . It helps deaf-blind people to communicate easily and alleviates the effects of their obstacles .
To conclude , everyone faces challenges in their lives , but deafblind people face them more frequently . Misunderstanding , lack of job opportunities , and educational difficulties are the main factors that make their lives worse . We can learn the Protactile language to better assist and empathize with them .