SAN ANTONIO – Joseph Lara, president of the Deaf Association of San Antonio, hosted the city’s first Deaf Festival in years to bring his community together.
“We originally started holding this festival back in the 1980s,” Lara said. “We really wanted to do this for Deaf Awareness Month during the month of September.”
The World Health Organization estimates that about 430 million people are experiencing hearing loss worldwide. However, it’s challenging to accurately track the number of deaf or hard-of-hearing individuals in Texas.
In San Antonio, a community exists to help support those individuals.
“I would like to see more things happen more often that are accessible for all people, whether they’re hearing or they’re deaf,” said Kristy Prado, a teacher at a deaf school.
According to the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, 1 in 8 people in the United States (13%, or 30 million) ages 12 or older has hearing loss in both ears, based on standard hearing examinations.
Lara emphasized that there are many reasons for people who are hearing to attend events hosted by the deaf community.
“It’s important to emphasize that deaf people can really do anything, with the exception of hearing,” Lara said. “They can drive. They can work.”
Attendees had their own reasons for the Deaf Festival being important for them. Many of them are just grateful to be seen and part of something bigger than themselves.
“It was really important for me to come to this event because this was an opportunity for me to see all my friends, meet new people,” Shannon Zarb-Cousin said. “I was able to invite students to come.”
Zarb-Cousin is an ASL teacher at a local high school, where she prides herself on getting students immersed in the deaf community.
“I wanted the students to come and see for themselves, see that it’s OK to come and talk with deaf people,” Zarb-Cousin said. “This is a very loving and welcoming community.”
The Deaf Association of San Antonio plans to make the Deaf Festival an annual event once again.
“I really feel inspired to see this many people come out,” Lara said.
David Cisneros with Deaf Link, Inc. interpreted the visual portion of this story in American Sign Language.
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