"Unheard stories about the life of those who are silent." Film from Armenia
A film about the deaf in Armenia
In Armenia, stereotypes about the deaf are still alive, and they face significant barriers to employment and even forming social lives.
The subjects of this film prove that these stereotypes can be overcome.
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According to official figures, about 3,200 deaf people live in Armenia; these make up a legal disability group. There are many more hearing-impaired people, but there is no exact data on them. Only 600 people are registered in the Armenian Society of the Deaf.
The deaf communicate with each other in Armenian sign language, which still does not have the status of an official language. This is a set of conventional gestures used by the deaf and only approximately expresses the speaker’s thought.
There are no training programs for sign language interpreters in Armenia. Mostly children of deaf parents become interpreters. There are only ten in the whole of Armenia, and only one of them has a license and the right to translate notarial transactions.
Deaf children are thus deprived of their right to education, since there are no interpreters in general education schools. The only school where they can study is a special boarding school for children with hearing impairments in Yerevan; they are thus separated from their parents for the duration of their studies.
According to the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs, there are currently 415 deaf and 412 hearing-impaired children living in Armenia. Only 112 of them study at the boarding school, 337 more are attached to various public schools.
Experts say that the majority of deaf children do not actually receive an education. While the deaf can do almost any job, master any profession, they are actually deprived of many basic rights: to education, to work, to socialization. About 90% of deaf people do not have a permanent job. And this happens because of the stereotypes of society and government inaction.
The three protagonists of this film shatter the stereotypes of Armenian society every day and prove that they can do anything.
A film about the deaf in Armenia
