THE ONLINE commodification of sign language may take away the deaf community’s capacity to use it as a tool for expression and influencing society, sign language experts said.
UST Department of Filipino instructor Jamil Carvajal argued that the misrepresentation of the Filipino Sign Language (FSL) being taught online could rob the deaf community of the opportunity to teach their own language and cultural knowledge.
“A lot of hearing content creators teach sign language, and I noticed that sometimes there are signs that they get wrong… That is one of the pitfalls that hearing people fall victim to when they are not used to signs,” he said in a forum last Sept. 23.
“Instead of the deaf teaching those who want to learn Filipino Sign Language, the spotlight is being stolen by hearing content creators.”
Describing the practice as a form of “digital colonialism,” Carvajal said the wrong use of signs to make content reduces language into a profit generator, which leads to its commodification and further misrepresentation.
UST Sentro sa Salin at Araling Salin chairperson Prof. Wennielyn Fajilan warned that representing deaf people without giving them agency over their representation would unintentionally contribute to discrimination.
She said FSL should not be reduced to the transfer of words or signs between languages
“I cannot speak for the deaf. I can only speak for the hearing, as someone looking at FSL as a new language I can study,” Fajilan said.
Fajilan noted that the deaf are not passive recipients of information and are able to engage with social and political issues when information is made accessible to them. She encouraged universities to make sign language learning more accessible to students beyond teacher education and special needs programs.
The 2018 Filipino Sign Language Act, which established the national sign language of the Filipino deaf and the official sign language for all government transactions, requires the offering of FSL as an elective in state universities and colleges.
However, Carvajal emphasized that programs should remain deaf-led, with hearing educators and institutions supporting rather than taking over initiatives intended for the deaf community.
The forum, titled “Kumpas ng Karapatan, Wika ng Ingklusyon: Filipino Sign Language sa Batas, Edukasyon, at Lipunan,” was organized by the UST Graduate School of Law in collaboration with the College of Education, Department of Filipino, Elementary Education Department and UST Centro sa Salin at Araling Salin.
Held at the Buenaventura Garcia Paredes, O.P. Communications Bureau, the forum marked the International Day of Sign Languages and the International Week of Deaf People, observed from Sept. 21 to 27. F — M. G. and R. K. G. R.
