1
00:00:21,327 --> 00:00:26,144
[Sofia Kolotourou] Hi! My name is Sofia and I want to tell you about post-linguistic deafness.

2
00:00:26,216 --> 00:00:32,572
When someone is born hearing normally, without any problem, s/he learns to speak.

3
00:00:32,865 --> 00:00:36,728
By the time s/he is 3, a kid has learned to speak very well.

4
00:00:36,789 --> 00:00:44,560
Therefore, if someone loses his/her hearing at the age of 3-4 or more, this means that by then s/he speaks normally.

5
00:00:44,652 --> 00:00:47,972
This is what is called post-linguistic deafness.

6
00:00:48,189 --> 00:00:55,007
People who are post-linguistic deaf speak almost naturally.

7
00:00:55,099 --> 00:01:00,252
Obviously, with the passing of years without hearing their own voice, they can't give proper rhythm to their speech,

8
00:01:00,267 --> 00:01:07,021
as other people do, so their speech sounds odd.

9
00:01:07,098 --> 00:01:17,247
Post-linguistic deaf people go to normal schools where they communicate with the other children by reading their lips.

10
00:01:17,463 --> 00:01:23,690
Most of them don't know sign language at all, as they don't need it to communicate.

11
00:01:23,937 --> 00:01:30,482
The present number of postlinguistic deaf people in Greece is unknown, because their are no records about them.

12
00:01:30,544 --> 00:01:35,371
Deaf people's organizations only address people who know sign language,

13
00:01:35,432 --> 00:01:43,908
and in practice, the needs of post-linguistic deaf people are not covered by any institution or other official authority.

14
00:01:43,969 --> 00:01:50,029
As people don't know about post-linguistic deafness, they are surprised when they meet a deaf person who speaks

15
00:01:50,044 --> 00:01:57,501
and they are very baffled because they think that the person in front of them "cannot" be deaf, as s/he speaks.

16
00:01:58,854 --> 00:02:03,671
Therefore post-linguistic deaf people are doubly excluded because on the one hand,

17
00:02:03,717 --> 00:02:09,758
hearing people find it hard to accept them in their group, because they don't know how to communicate with them.

18
00:02:09,804 --> 00:02:16,213
And on the other hand, deaf people who only communicate in sign language claim that they are the only "real deaf"

19
00:02:16,229 --> 00:02:21,391
and that post-linguistic deaf people "should" learn sign language

20
00:02:21,391 --> 00:02:28,671
and stop communicating in the only way they learned as children, i.e. with their mouth!

21
00:02:29,240 --> 00:02:36,130
For the post-linguistic deaf, the presence of an interpreter is meaningless, because they don't know sign language.

22
00:02:36,268 --> 00:02:45,632
They want other things: In spoken language, they want the speaker to enunciate slightly more slowly and clearly than usually.

23
00:02:45,632 --> 00:02:55,017
They need good light so that they can read his/her lips. And where this is feasible,

24
00:02:55,063 --> 00:03:04,865
they want speeches to be distributed in writing, e.g. in meetings, presentations, discussions, as well as in theaters.

25
00:03:06,388 --> 00:03:16,239
Moreover, it is very easy to distribute written texts, as they are all computer-written and can be printed by pressing a key.

26
00:03:17,100 --> 00:03:24,446
A year ago, the post-linguistic deaf became organized in a facebook groub called "Κουφοχωριό" (Deaf Village)

27
00:03:24,600 --> 00:03:33,155
This group does not exclude the participation of pro-linguistic deaf people, and it encourages the participation of people with cochlear implants.

28
00:03:33,262 --> 00:03:41,668
Cochlear implants are acoustic devices that are surgically inserted.

29
00:03:41,729 --> 00:03:45,767
Children who get a cochlear implant when they are very small are very likely to develop

30
00:03:45,767 --> 00:03:55,405
language and speech, and to speak exactly like the post-linguistic deaf (they even often speak on the phone)

31
00:03:56,129 --> 00:04:04,089
It's time that people should learn about post-linguistic deafness and the swift development of cochlear implants.

32
00:04:04,274 --> 00:04:11,424
The image of deafness is changing in the 21st century, and is very different from the stereotypes in our barins.

33
00:04:13,839 --> 00:04:23,800
My name is Sofia, I'm 39, I'm a cytologist physician and writer, and I have been post-linguistically deaf since I wa very younf.

34
00:04:23,862 --> 00:04:35,024
In 2010, I wrote the book «Κουφός είσαι ρε; Δεν ακούς» ("Are you deaf or what? Can't you hear?") published by KaPsiMi, where I speak about events in my life that are related to post-linguistic deafness.

35
00:04:35,301 --> 00:04:45,207
In 2011 I created the Facebook group Κουφοχωριό (Deaf Village) for the above-mentioned reasons, as well as, recently, a forum with the same name.

36
00:04:45,207 --> 00:04:52,049
Write "Κουφοχωριό" in Google and come and find us to learn more about post-linguistic deafness

37
00:04:52,141 --> 00:04:58,122
but also about the developments in cochlear implants and auxiliary technology.

38
00:04:58,876 --> 00:05:06,937
Via the internet and medical progress, we deaf people can communicate successfully too, without intermediaries.

39
00:05:11,238 --> 00:05:15,540
Deafness does not mean isolation, as it used to. Come and find us in order to learn what deafness means in the 21st century.

40
00:05:15,803 --> 00:05:18,249
Thank you very much.