The video seeks to raise awareness of the lack of access to environmental programs faced by these marginalized communities.
[December 12, 2023 - Puerto Rico] The non-profit organization, Conservation Opportunity (CO), along with the productive and collaborative efforts by Ranger Randy Creative LLC and Hispanic Access Foundation, made the short film “The Environment Through My Eyes”. It covered issues of Puerto Rican culture related to the environment and highlighted the lack of access to outdoor educational programs with sign language interpretation. The documentary was presented during the event Our Heritage, Our Planet Film Week on October 13, 2023. Presents the event coordinated by CO, “Hookeate con la Pesca”.”, which took place on July 22, 2023 in Guajataka, San Sebastian.
“In PR, there are approximately 289k deaf people who are currently deprived of information and do not have accessibility,” said CO's founder, Fabiola Torres.
The founder of CO lamented how the lack of interpreters in activities, initiatives and programs “are visible”. As a result, Torres said that CO seeks to make events more inclusive and accessible to the hearing-impaired community, noting that the deaf “also like to be in the field.
According to the Puerto Rico Institute of Government Statistics, through a survey conducted in 2022, within the hearing-impaired communities, a 86% reports being discriminated against frequently.
It should be noted that people with hearing diversity have different needs, one should not interpret that everyone can easily understand lip reading or the different sign languages such as American Sign Language, Spanish LSE, among others.
“I know how to read and write, but many deaf people can't read. So they need the interpreter, they are two different types of deaf people,” mentioned a participant in the short film, Alberto González Morales.
With these factors, the hearing impaired community expresses the injustices they receive due to the lack of knowledge about the situation.
“As a deaf person, I've experienced what it's like to not receive services both as a patient or as a student and as a professional. I've been on both sides, I know how frustrating it is. First as an interpreter when we come in, they won't let us in, because they think the deaf person doesn't need an interpreter and we have to be fighting to let them know our role. Why the deaf person needs the service to be accessible,” said Advancement in Sign Language Education Services President Yarett Piñeiro Rodriguez.
The impact of inclusion and education
Participants and employees of the “Hookeate con la Pesca” event expressed how this was a unique and educational experience in their lives.
“It's the first time I came here. So I loved it. I loved this whole experience, the history of fishing, how to do it with my own hands, what they taught me here, which I had never done before, I had never tied knots, they taught me everything from beginning to end,” said participant Wilfredo Salgado, using sign language.
The event also featured “a reasonable number” of interpreters. Each group had two interpreters to ensure that “communication was more than effective” and they could rotate, as interpreter Joel Omar put it.
From events such as “Hookeate con la Pesca” along with documentaries such as “El Medio ambiente desde mis ojos”, CO presents an inclusive system that has the capacity to impact communication and learning towards these marginalized communities.
It is emphasized that, as a duty, an event has to meet the needs of people with hearing diversity, however, according to one statistics institute survey, These needs are not being met with the necessary frequency in Puerto Rico.
“As deaf people, we have to be fighting, trying to ensure that the laws are enforced, that our rights are fulfilled so that we can receive an accessible service,” included Piñeiro Rodríguez.
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