During school lunch break, Yada Chinachote was alone in her homeroom class, preparing teaching materials. Packs of students were outside, speaking to one another on classroom balconies. Yada could not hear them.
The now-70-year-old has been deaf since the age of 11, a result of complications from typhoid fever. Today, Yada works as a sign language teacher at Setsatian School for the Deaf — the institution she has been working with since she was 17 years old.
"I studied here and graduated from here," said Yada, referring to the school. "Now I work and live here. This is my home; the students are my family."
A native of Bangkok, Yada is completely deaf. She can read lips, but only for short sentences at a time. As a result, most of the conversations that took place during her interview with Life were conducted in sign language through a translator. Yada's hearing impairment at a relatively late age means she is able to speak, although her pronunciation is not always clear.
"As a sign language teacher, I hardly speak," she said. "But I am always encouraged by other teachers to speak, because if I don't, my pronunciation is likely to worsen as I become less and less familiar with voice projection."
Setsatian School is Thailand's first school for the hearing-impaired. Founded in 1953, the school came under the royal patronage of HRH Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn in 2002, making it the country's first school for the hearing-impaired that is royally supported.
The school teaches classes for students in kindergarten up to high school. This academic year, there are 162 students. They are taught by approximately 50 teachers, most of whom have no hearing impairment. Approximately 80 students — all female — are boarders.
Before Yada became professionally involved with the school, she worked as a hairdresser in a neighbourhood salon. In the past, career choices for people with disabilities were quite limited, she said.
"Hairdressing is a job that requires communication with customers. When my clients spoke, I could not hear them. Standing behind them doing their hair, I could not see their lips. And so I could not respond. Being hearing-impaired was tough back then, especially when it came to finding the right job."
Teaching sign language, Yada said, was among her limited options.
She did not have a university degree when she started teaching at Setsatian School, only a vocational teaching certificate. She later received a state scholarship to visit academic institutes for the hearing disabled in the United States. This trip was her fuel that spurred her to pursue further education.
Yada eventually earned two bachelor's degrees in education — one from Suan Dusit Rajabhat University, where she majored in kindergarten teaching, and the other from Sukhothai Thammathirat Open University, where she majored in primary school teaching. At both universities, Yada enrolled for an inclusive programme, which meant she studied with her able-bodied peers. At Suan Dusit Rajabhat University, her accumulated grades were the highest in the class.
"When it comes to education for the hearing-impaired, studying with those without hearing impairments is always better than doing so only with hearing-impaired classmates. By doing so you broaden your perspectives."
At Setsatian School, Yada teaches basic sign language to first-, second- and third-graders. According to her, children with hearing impairment should be sent to school to learn sign language, because many families do not teach it to their children. With no knowledge of sign language, hearing-impaired kids will not be able to communicate properly.
"At this primary level, students are taught basic words and numbers, as well as the Thai and English alphabets. If they do not know how to communicate in sign language, they will primarily use their instincts when trying to send their messages across. If they want to eat something, for example, they would have to drag their parents along and point their finger to identify the thing they want. But if they do, they can just use their hands to communicate."
Apart from teaching at the school, Yada provides free sign language lessons to the public. The class is held at Setsatian School every Saturday, from 9am to 11am. The learning materials used in class, including the textbook Pasa Mue Ngai Ngai Style Kru Yada (Basic Sign Language In Yada's Style), were created by Yada.
"People with hearing disabilities are often hesitant to approach normal people, for fear that they will not be understood. Teaching those without hearing impairments how to use sign language will hopefully break that barrier," she said.
"I want sign language to serve as a bridge between the hearing-impaired and the rest of society." Today, choices of careers and public facilities for the hearing-impaired have tremendously improved, said Yada.
The Ministry of Social Development and Human Security, for instance, has initiated a free service by which people with hearing loss can register for assistance from an interpreter to help them when they visit places such as hospitals or state offices.
That said, Yada believes that the hearing-impaired also need to strive to make active contributions to society. They might have a disability, but that doesn't mean they are worthless. Far from it.
"For a person to earn something as a reward, they must first prove that they are worthy of that honour. The same applies to deaf people. For them to get a good job, they must prove that they are capable. Some deaf people lack patience. When they are asked to perform low-grade jobs, they sometimes reject the opportunity.
"In my opinion, however, they must prove they are ready to work their way up the professional ladder, until the day when they are rewarded with the things they rightly deserve."
Yada Chinachote.
A chart showing the Thai alphabet in sign language.
