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Exhibition on Hong Kong’s textile industry promotes inclusion through sign language tours

An exhibition tour on Hong Kong’s industrial past is being led by deaf and hearing guides to promote inclusion at the Centre for Heritage, Arts and Textile (CHAT) in Tsuen Wan starting last month.

The half-hour tour at the centre at The Mills explains how textiles were made including the cotton-spinning process using traditional spinning instruments and the experiences of deaf textile workers in the past in sign language and Cantonese.  

Deaf textile workers in the 1970s prefer afternoon or night shifts as they have trouble hearing the alarm clocks to wake up on time in the morning.

“Various art groups hold several activities for the blind, but there are fewer options available for the deaf community in Hong Kong,” said Law Pik-yu, 32, the deputy curator of CHAT. She hopes the tour will promote collaboration and understanding between the deaf and hearing. 

There were 47,900 deaf people in Hong Kong in 2021, according to the Census and Statistics Department. However, there are less than 60 sign language interpreters, according to the Hong Kong Council Service. 

 “Sometimes we may overlook the deaf when there is a large group of people, so during the tour, I remind participants to pay attention to the sign language used by the deaf tour guide,” said Mak Siu-fun, 51, the hearing tour guide.

Mak learned sign language to communicate with her deaf daughter. During the tour, she said she tried to use it less frequently to give the deaf more chances to express themselves.

CHAT hopes participants can experience different senses, including touch.

During the tour, hearing participants were invited to practice sign language with docents and guess the meaning.

“Deaf and hearing individuals were able to communicate during the tour, something that typically doesn’t happen in my everyday life,” said Cheung Man-ying, 32, a deaf docent. 

Mak Siu-fun (Left) and Cheung Man-ying (Right) use sign language to give their names, which they have designed themselves. Mak’s name means “smile”.

Some participants changed their perceptions of deaf people after joining the tour.

“At first, I was concerned about whether deaf people would be able to express themselves clearly,” said Fung Shuk-ching, 35, a tourist from Guangdong who found this tour online.

After joining the tour, Fung realized she had misjudged the capabilities of deaf individuals, “The sign language incorporated has enriched my experience and helped me better understand the textile-making process,” she said, adding that barrier-free communication is important in society to allow more deaf people to express themselves. 

Hearing participants learn sign language on the tour.

“We didn’t expect to learn about textile, we thought the focus would be on sign language. The tour turned out to be very enriching,” said Coco Chiu, 26. 

It was a brand new experience for Chiu and Jess Yip, 26, as they seldom engage with sign language used by deaf people, only encountering it when interpreters appear on television. 

Coco Chiu (Left) and Jess Yip (Right) display sign language related to the textiles on the tour.

“We want to emphasize that this tour is equal to all people, not just a way to allocate resources only to the deaf community,” said Law. 

CHAT collaborated with the Chinese University of Hong Kong and SLCO Community Resources to launch this tour. 

The tour is every Sunday at CHAT at the Mills in Tsuen Wan through the end of the year. 

《The Young Reporter》

The Young Reporter (TYR) started as a newspaper in 1969. Today, it is published across multiple media platforms and updated constantly to bring the latest news and analyses to its readers.

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